FeatherWing Display Stand by Ruiz Brothers project Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[Tom_Henry]

Sunday, July 3rd

I am doing the eInk FeatherWing Display Stand by Ruiz Brothers project.

I am using the Feather M4 Express plugged in to the Adafruit 2.13" HD Tri-Color eInk / ePaper Display FeatherWing - 250x122 RW Panel with SSD1680, Product ID: 4814.

I have attached my code.py file. The file I am using is tricolor.bmp.

I have attached a screen shot of the files on my CIRCUITPY Feather M4 Express.

I run the code.py program and here is the output:

Creating display
File opened
Size: 66200
Image offset: 54
Header size: 40
Width: 212
Height: 104
Bit depth: 24
Image OK! Drawing...
Finished drawing

Code done running.

However my display does not change at all. It’s just as I received it from Adafruit. See attached photo.

Any suggestions on why nothing is changing on the display?

Thanks,

Tom Henry

[dastels]

You might have the wrong code (at least using the wrong display module).

Different displays (and sometimes different versions of a display use various display controller chips. Specifically:

The newer 250x122 HD Tri-Color breakout display and 250x122 HD Tri-Color FeatherWing use the Adafruit_CircuitPython_SSD1680 library. Copy the adafruit_ssd1680.mpy file from the bundle to the lib folder on your CIRCUITPY drive.

For more information see https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-2-13-eink-display-breakouts-and-featherwings/circuitpython-usage.

Dave

[Tom_Henry]

Dave,

Ok, I replaced these 3 items in the lib folder with the latest Adafruit 7: adafruit_bus_devices folder, adafruit_epd folder, and adafruit_framebuf.mpy. The adafruit_epd folder contains what you see in attached screen shot.

It does contain a file called ssd1680.mpy


Here is my output:

code.py output:
Creating display
File opened
Size: 66200
Image offset: 54
Header size: 40
Width: 212
Height: 104
Bit depth: 24
Image OK! Drawing...
Finished drawing

Code done running.

The Adafruit 2.13" HD Tri-Color eInk / ePaper Display FeatherWing - 250x122 RW Panel with SSD1680, Product ID: 4814
Is still showing no change.

Tom Henry

[dastels]

Well, the code you posted is using the IL037, not SSD1680.

Dave

[Tom_Henry]

Dave,

Ok, now I am a bit confused.

Can you please point me to the example code that works with the Adafruit 2.13" HD Tri-Color eInk / ePaper Display FeatherWing - 250x122 RW Panel with SSD1680, Product ID: 4814?

I was reading over all the various postings on Adafruit, and was not sure which example code actually works with the newest 2.13" Tri-Color-Color eInk display that I just purchased.

Thanks,

Tom Henry

[dastels]

See https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-2-13-eink-display-breakouts-and-featherwings/circuitpython-usage.

Dave

[Tom_Henry]

One last question: Do you know of any Adafruit projects that have learning guides for The Adafruit 2.13" HD Tri-Color eInk / ePaper Display FeatherWing, Product ID: 4814 and the Feather M4 Express?

I really enjoy the Ruiz Brother projects but I noticed the project I was following was from 2019 and utilized discontinued products.

Thanks,

Tom Henry

[dastels]

Off hand, no. It's pretty quick to search through the guides, though. The Feather wouldn't matter too much. And look at projects using eInk breakouts as well. They're the same except with a header row instead of Feather headers.

Dave

[Tom_Henry]

Wednesday afternoon

Dave,

I am back trying to make my 2.13” Tri-Color eInk, product 4814 work with one of Adafruit test scripts and a Feather M4 Express running under CircuitPython 7. See attache code.py.

The test script says:

"""Simple test script for 2.13" 250x122 tri-color display.
Supported products:
* Adafruit 2.13" Tri-Color eInk Display Breakout
* https://www.adafruit.com/product/4947
* Adafruit 2.13" Tri-Color eInk Display FeatherWing
* https://www.adafruit.com/product/4814
“""

I am using these pinout that are supposed to work with the Feather M4:

# This pinout works on a Feather M4 and may need to be altered for other boards.
spi = board.SPI() # Uses SCK and MOSI
epd_cs = board.D9
epd_dc = board.D10
epd_reset = board.D5
epd_busy = board.D6

I have the 2.13” Tri-Color display hooked up to my Mac and am running the code.py in the Mu editor. The only item in my library folder is adafruit_ssd1680.mpy.

I check the serial output and I am getting no output, no errors, nothing.

What do you suggest I change or try?

Tom Henry

[dastels]

What do you mean by "I have the 2.13” Tri-Color display hooked up to my Mac and am running the code.py in the Mu editor. "

Anyway, are you running code.py on the Feather?

Dave

[Tom_Henry]

Yes, I am running code.py on the Feather.

I am just using the Mu Editor to view the code.py.

Have attached a screen shot of my Feather's CIRCUITPY.

Tom

[dastels]

I would add some print() calls to trace its progress. E.g. just after the imports, after releasing the displays, after creating display_bus, display, g, etc. That will give some insight into what's going on.

Dave

[Tom_Henry]

Dave,

I have entered 4 print statements in the code.py program, see attached.

Here is the Serial output from Mu:

Press any key to enter the REPL. Use CTRL-D to reload.
soft reboot

Auto-reload is on. Simply save files over USB to run them or enter REPL to disable.

code.py output:

Tom Henry 1
Tom Henry 2
Tom Henry 3

Does not print the Tom Henry 4

Nothing happens to the Tri-Color display.

Then if I try closing Mu and opening it again and try running it, nothing happens in the Serial output of Mu.

To make it work again, I have to reset the Feather M4 Express, open a simple code.py program with just a single print statement like print(“Tom Henry”), and get an output of Tom Henry.

Then I go to the CIRCUITYPY on my Mac, open it. Change the name of my simple program to something like codeTom.py and rename my program with all the print statements back to code.py and in the Serial output of Mu I immediately see the 3 printings of Tom Henry 1, 2, and 3 and again the program halts.

I am really not sure what to try next.

Any ideas?

Tom Henry

[dastels]

More informative message are generally better ;)

Also more granular. Maybe one after creating display (e.g.f print("created display")), g, pic, t, the append, and the show. There's a lot that could wrong between TH3 & TH4 (which is redundant since print("refreshed") is there.

Dave

[Tom_Henry]

Dave,

Here is the recommended page to follow for these eInk displays by M. LeBlanc-Williams.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-2-1 ... atherwings

Adafruit 2.13" eInk Display Breakouts and FeatherWings
By M. LeBlanc-Williams
Easy E-Paper With Built-in Memory

"Easy e-paper finally comes to microcontrollers with these breakouts, shields and friends that are designed to make it a breeze to add a tri-color eInk display."

I am not sure who this person is, but my limited experience with these eInk displays does not agree with her statement “are designed to make it a breeze”.

I have successfully built and used many many Adafruit CircuitPython projects and especially enjoy those in the Learning section of Adafruit and especially those of the Ruiz Brothers. My take is current Ruiz Brothers projects just work, and I will do my best to stay away from their projects with discontinued parts.

I will park my 2 recent purchases:

Adafruit 2.13" Monochrome eInk / ePaper Display FeatherWing - 250x122 Monochrome with SSD1680
Product ID: 4195

And

Adafruit 2.13" HD Tri-Color eInk / ePaper Display FeatherWing - 250x122 RW Panel with SSD1680
Product ID: 4814

In my drawer and wait until someone like the Ruiz Brothers creates an up to date project that actually works.

Thanks for your continued help.

Tom Henry