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  • Author Author: ralphjy
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Merry Christmas Element14!

ralphjy

Last month scottiebabe inspired me with her post A simple game on the RPi Pico to buy a Pi Pico LCD.  I doubt that I'll ever develop a game for it, but it seemed like a piggyback display with buttons would be a perfect addition to a Pico W.

I didn't get the Pimoroni version, but got a Waveshare version on Amazon that has a slightly larger 240x240 display and a joystick in addition to the 4 buttons - and was slightly cheaper.

image

Alas, as with much that I buy from Amazon - I received it in 2 days, but haven't had time to do much with it.  I thought maybe I could use it with the Pimoroni Micropython version that Scottie is using, but that didn't run.  Not sure how hard it would be to port to this display.  

I decided to try a simple "Christmas Card", so I loaded CircuitPython and some Adafruit libraries.  I'll admit that I don't do any fancy display stuff with either Micropython or CircuitPython.

So, here it is - wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to the E14 community:

image

and the requisite bouncing ball video:

Hope everyone has safe holidays and best wishes for the New Year!

Ralph

  • in reply to DAB

    It is amazing how small some displays are getting these days. It is a conundrum that tiny displays are not optimal for ergonomics even though the primary function of displays is user interface.  

  • in reply to ralphjy

    I'd say it's a Christmas miracle, but it is actually because this community and its members are so awesome.

  • Nice project.

    It is way too small for my old eyes, but I can see where it could be useful.

  • Merry Christmas to you ralphjy! and thanks for the kind words you have shared with me!

    image

    I have one of 240x135 waveshare displays, I believe it should be a simple change to run this on a 240x240 display.

     

    # Merrry Christmas Element14!
# -scottiebabe 2022
# for a 240x240 display I believe you can just use DISPLAY_PICO_EXPLORER
# and assign the correct pins
from machine import Pin
from pimoroni_bus import SPIBus
from picographics import PicoGraphics, DISPLAY_PICO_DISPLAY, PEN_RGB332
Pin(12,Pin.OUT)(1)# set display reset high

spibus = SPIBus(cs=9, dc=8, sck=10, mosi=11)
display = PicoGraphics(display=DISPLAY_PICO_DISPLAY, bus=spibus, pen_type=PEN_RGB332,rotate=0)


display.set_pen(0x00)
display.clear()

red = 0xE0
green = 0x1C
display.set_font('cursive')
# Write 'Merry'
s = 'Merry'
xi = 10
for i in range(len(s)):
    display.set_pen(red if i&1 else green)
    display.text(s[i],xi,20,200,1.2)
    xi+=display.measure_text(s[i], 1.2)

# Write 'Christmas'
s = 'Christmas!!'
xi = 50
for i in range(len(s)):
    display.set_pen(red if i&1 else green)
    display.text(s[i],xi,50,200,1.2)
    xi+=display.measure_text(s[i], 1.2)
    

display.set_font('bitmap8')
display.text('Thanks ralphjy :)',20,90,200,2)
display.update()

    Thanks to having shabaz and baldengineer on each of my shoulders telling me to buy it and a moose mug in hand I bought a TS80P usb-c soldering iron. It was supposed to arrive yesterday but with the weather and holiday shipping volume it didn’t make it yet. Hopefully it will arrive soon!

    Thanks again ralphjy and the element14 community for all the fun blogs, projects, and discussions of 2022. Element14 is definitely the best electronics community on the internet!