James Lawler

PiVSMP

Python Raspberry Pi

PiVSMP is the short name of a python project I built called Pi Very Slow Movie Player. There already existed such a concept of using an e-ink display attached to a raspberry pi to display frames from a movie, but I wanted to create a simple to use tool similar to PiVPN to replicate the functionality.

Unfortunately my e-ink display cable snapped and so I am unable to use it anymore, but the code is still available.

Code

The project's code is available on my GitHub in the PiVSMP repository. Written in Python, the project is a command line interface that sits on top of the waveshare driver, which powers the e-ink display.

Installation

By following the PiVPN approach, the project is installable via a single bash command

bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jameslawler/pivsmp/main/install.sh)

Usage

Run pivsmp to see all commands provided by the program.

Copy a movie to your ~/.pivsmp/movies folder. The movie must be inside a folder with the name of the movie. You can use a SFTP program on your main machine to copy the movie to the Pi.

In your Pi console run pivsmp configure.

Architecture

Within the project repository, the src folder contains a cleanly organised set of python scripts to run the program.

The program uses a few 3rd party libraries to make the project work.

PiVSMP architecture

Future

This project is in a functioning state and works with a variety of different waveshare drivers to support different e-ink screen sizes. As I no longer have access to a working e-ink display it is unlikely I will be adding further features to the project.