Scaredi-Pi: The Simple COVID Ambient Reporting E-ink DIsplay for Pi
Credit: original code by Anna Powell-Smith (I was inspired by this original Tweet)
Script to obtain the latest normalised confirmed COVID-19 case numbers in a UK local authority, and display then on an e-paper screen powered by a Raspberry Pi. Run this as a cron job to update the numbers as often as you like.
This is running on a Raspberry Pi Zero W with Bullseye Raspberry Pi OS, and 1.54 inch V2 Waveshare e-paper display. I'm running via an hourly cron job. I've used an original Pi Zero for my setup, because this is a simple "one task" piece of code that doesn't warrant a full Pi, or the more powerful new Pi Zero 2 W.
Case numbers are obtained from the official UK coronavirus dashboard API, then multiplied by an estimate for the actual prevalence in the population, to reach an estimate of the approximate real case rate.
Requires the waveshare_epd Python library
Usage
- Attach the screen to the Pi via the pins described on the Hardware/Software setup tab on the Waveshare wiki
- Enable the SPI interface using
raspi-config - Install requirements
pip install -r requirements.txtpip install -e "git+https://github.com/waveshare/e-Paper.git#egg=waveshare_epd&subdirectory=RaspberryPi_JetsonNano/python"- Add a TTF font file of your choice to the
assetsdirectory - Update the constants in the script for your chosen font and local authority
- Update the
waveshare_epdimport and drawing commands as needed for your own e-paper screen