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Testing the small i2c OLED SSD1306 128x64 display on Raspberry Pi

- more notes for backup and a bad memory - -
These notes will be upgraded at random times
This first hack is WORKING but not yet tidy, , , ,

Objective - use the display to follow the execution of a long program
(this just needs a simple display of large text)

This is the i2c version (not my screen display - I just show big text across the top)



Many thanks to http://codelectron.com/setup-oled-display-raspberry-pi-python/

I record below the key lines from this site in case it goes down
apt-get install i2c-tools
i2cdetect 1                -  the device has i2c address 0x3C

For the OLED with SSD1306
install this library
https://github.com/rm-hull/luma.oled

sudo apt-get install python-dev python-pip libfreetype6-dev libjpeg-dev build-essential
sudo -H pip install --upgrade luma.oled
if it fails do -
sudo pip install -U pip

git clone https://github.com/codelectron/codelectron_projects
cd codelectron_projects/Rpi/OLED
python first.py
--------------------------------------------------------------------
My code
Display "Start again" on the top line for 2 seconds

# python /home/pi/codelectron_projects/Rpi/OLED/start_again.py
from luma.core.interface.serial import i2c
from luma.core.render import canvas
from luma.oled.device import ssd1306, ssd1325, ssd1331, sh1106
import time
from PIL import ImageFont, ImageDraw

serial = i2c(port=1, address=0x3C)
device = ssd1306(serial, rotate=0)

# Box and text rendered in portrait mode
with canvas(device) as draw:
    font = ImageFont.truetype('/home/pi/luma.examples/examples/fonts/Volter__28Goldfish_29.ttf',20)
    draw.text((0, 0), "Start again", font=font, fill=255)
time.sleep(2)

At the start line in my big Blassic basic control program I include -
SHELL "python /home/pi/codelectron_projects/Rpi/OLED/start_again.py"
Blassic runs start_again.py
At other points in the program I have different displays of text to show where the control program has got to.

Another page gives similar help -
https://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2018/04/i2c-oled-display-module-with-raspberry-pi/

I loaded all the software on offer here and tested the examples
(There is loads of room on a Pi SD card - I may have used parts of SSD1306 code in some tests)

sudo apt install -y git
Then clone the repository using the following command :
git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_SSD1306.git

Once that completes navigate to the library’s directory :
cd Adafruit_Python_SSD1306

and install the library for Python 2 :
sudo python setup.py install

and/or Python 3 :
sudo python3 setup.py install

CONCLUSION

The display is very small and with some fonts you need young eyes

A simple 16x2 display with i2c driver may be better for text output!
Less than £2 on eBay

Please email me if you want to swap notes

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