Story

Hi HN,

I wanted a dashboard for my home that didn't glow in the dark or look like a computer screen. I built this using a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a Waveshare 7.5" E-Ink display.

Instead of the common approach of running a headless browser and taking screenshots (which is slow and resource-heavy), I render the image directly using Python and Pillow (PIL). This brings the refresh time down significantly and runs smoothly on the Pi Zero.

I wrote a blog post about the build process, the hardware I used, and the code structure.

I also ended up writing a short book/guide for those who want a complete step-by-step walkthrough to build the exact same setup, which is linked in the post.

Happy to answer any questions you might have to build your own display!