PI-hole Mini PiTFT issue

[Didier9]

I just bought a Pi-Hole with the TFT display https://www.adafruit.com/product/4475. The project page https://learn.adafruit.com/pi-hole-ad-b ... w?view=all describes an OLED display. Not surprisingly, while the pi-hole software works (web page coming up), the display remains dark.
Is there a page I missed for the pi-hole with the Mini TFT display?

[Didier9]

Further information: I have a second R-Pi W with the NOOB distribution. I have installed the Mini PiTFT LCD drivers per this page:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-min ... thon-setup
and the LCD works. I tried it with the stat.py script from that page:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-min ... thon-stats
but after I installed the same libraries on the pi-hole, the LCD is still not working, even with the LCD example rgb_display_minipitfttest.py
Maybe I need to restart from scratch because I did not install in the proper order?

[Didier9]

Or maybe installing the OLED library was a mistake since this is an LCD even though I did eventually install the LCD library?
It would be helpful to have installation instructions for the actual hardware that is being sold.
Otherwise I like the little color LCD display, colors are bright and text is crisp.

[brubell]

There are instructions for it - are you not able to see this page?

https://learn.adafruit.com/pi-hole-ad-b ... mini-pitft

- brent r.

[Didier9]

There are instructions for it - are you not able to see this page?

https://learn.adafruit.com/pi-hole-ad-b ... mini-pitft

- brent r.

This appears to point to the same pages I used to install the LCD library. As I wrote in my earlier posting, I was able to get the mini TFT display to work on the second R-Pi I have with the NOOB distribution, but not on the pi-hole. I suspect that since I first installed the OLED library on the pi-hole as instructed, the LCD library did not get associated with the pi-hole.

It would be nice to have a set of instructions from start to finish specifically for the LCD, where the OLED library is not installed. I suspect there may be some interaction between the two.

I was not planning on making a big experiment out of this, I wanted to see how effective it was at eliminating ads, the LCD was just something extra I wanted to evaluate. I can still check the pi-hole as an ad blocker since it looks like the pi-hole software works (the web server works) but because of the distraction with the LCD, I have spent most of my weekend fooling with the LCD and did not actually manage to check the pi-hole main functionality...

I bought the second display for the other R-Pi-W I already had and it is working there, so I know I can't be very far.

[brubell]

It would be nice to have a set of instructions from start to finish specifically for the LCD, where the OLED library is not installed. I suspect there may be some interaction between the two.

You may try uninstalling the OLED library by running sudo pip3 uninstall adafruit-circuitpython-ssd1306, although I do not see why there would be a conflict. The code only imports the library (and initializes the LCD) which it's using.

I was not planning on making a big experiment out of this, I wanted to see how effective it was at eliminating ads, the LCD was just something extra I wanted to evaluate. I can still check the pi-hole as an ad blocker since it looks like the pi-hole software works (the web server works) but because of the distraction with the LCD, I have spent most of my weekend fooling with the LCD and did not actually manage to check the pi-hole main functionality...

It may be possible that your PiTFT is defective or plugged in incorrectly. Are you able to see anything on the display if you run: sudo python3 stats.py

Could you please post the code for the LCD you're running below?

[Didier9]

The LCD code that is running on the NOOB distro is the stats.py example: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-min ... thon-stats
I installed the LCD library per the tutorial there: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-min ... thon-setup
I did not do the kernel install.

I have swapped the SD cards between the two RPi and the problem follows the pi-hole card so the hardware seems OK for both boards. I also swapped the LCD displays and both work when plugged into the NOOB board (I have been doing this long enough that I know better than to have just one of anything if I am serious about it :) I am not using the serial interface so the only thing plugged into the board is the USB connector for power. It is not even plugged into the computer, just a 2A USB charger.

I can access both devices via SSH, there was no issue connecting and the one with the pi-hole installation does have the web server running apparently normally.

I will try uninstalling the OLED library later today.

I have installed the same LCD library and stats.py on the pi-hole (or at least I believe I did). When I try to run the stats.py script on the pi-hole, I get this:

Code: Select all

pi@pi-hole:~ $ sudo python3 stats.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_bus_device/i2c_device.py", line 163, in __probe_for_device
    self.i2c.writeto(self.device_address, b'')
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/busio.py", line 84, in writeto
    return self._i2c.writeto(address, buffer, stop=stop)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_blinka/microcontroller/generic_linux/i2c.py", line 38, in writeto
    self._i2c_bus.write_bytes(address, buffer[start:end])
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/Adafruit_PureIO/smbus.py", line 256, in write_bytes
    self._device.write(buf)
OSError: [Errno 121] Remote I/O error

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_bus_device/i2c_device.py", line 169, in __probe_for_device
    self.i2c.readfrom_into(self.device_address, result)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/busio.py", line 74, in readfrom_into
    return self._i2c.readfrom_into(address, buffer, stop=stop)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_blinka/microcontroller/generic_linux/i2c.py", line 44, in readfrom_into
    readin = self._i2c_bus.read_bytes(address, end-start)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/Adafruit_PureIO/smbus.py", line 155, in read_bytes
    return self._device.read(number)
OSError: [Errno 121] Remote I/O error

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "stats.py", line 50, in <module>
    disp = adafruit_ssd1306.SSD1306_I2C(128, 32, i2c)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_ssd1306.py", line 181, in __init__
    self.i2c_device = i2c_device.I2CDevice(i2c, addr)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_bus_device/i2c_device.py", line 67, in __init__
    self.__probe_for_device()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_bus_device/i2c_device.py", line 171, in __probe_for_device
    raise ValueError("No I2C device at address: %x" % self.device_address)
ValueError: No I2C device at address: 3c
pi@pi-hole:~ $

"No I2C device at address: 3c"

I must have missed something during installation of the LCD stuff.

[brubell]

ValueError: No I2C device at address: 3c

Are the I2C/SPI interfaces enabled?

What do you get when you run: ls /dev/i2c* /dev/spi*

[Didier9]

Yes they are:

Code: Select all

pi@pi-hole:~ $ ls /dev/i2c* /dev/spi*
/dev/i2c-1  /dev/spidev0.0  /dev/spidev0.1

I verified one more time that I can swap the displays between the two units and either display works on the unit with the NOOBS distro.

[brubell]

Which distro is on the working SD card? Narrowing it down...

[Didier9]

Raspbian 9 (stretch)

[brubell]

OH!

Code: Select all

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "stats.py", line 50, in <module>
    disp = [b]adafruit_ssd1306[/b].SSD1306_I2C(128, 32, i2c)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_ssd1306.py", line 181, in __init__
    self.i2c_device = i2c_device.I2CDevice(i2c, addr)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_bus_devic

You're running the SSD1306 OLED version of Stats.py, not the one for the PiTFT. It's looking for the OLED display, which doesn't exist.

You need to run...

Code: Select all

sudo pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-rgb-display
sudo pip3 install --upgrade --force-reinstall spidev

Then, save the code below as stats.py in your home directory on your Raspberry Pi.
https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Ci ... ftstats.py


and run sudo python3 stats.py

[Didier9]

Well, it looked like this should have been it.
But no dice. I do not get any error message any more but the display is still dark. The script is not crashing.
Rebooted for good measure, same thing :(
I also tried the minipitfttest.py script and that also does not work on this unit (it works on the other distro).

I looked in /var/log/messages and syslog for any relevant info but did not see anything.

So there is still something missing.

I feel bad your spending so much time on this. Feel free to go to more productive endeavors...
I will use it as is, the web interface is just fine but I would encourage Adafruit to have an install procedure for the display that is being sold with the kit.

Sometimes I buy things with the clear purpose to tinker with them. At other times, I just want to evaluate the product. This was the latter case.

On the positive side, I have actually been using the pi-hole as the ad blocking DNS server it is supposed to be (its intended purpose) and it works fine!
That was my main goal so I will call it success!

Thank you for your efforts!

[brubell]

I feel bad your spending so much time on this. Feel free to go to more productive endeavors...

This is very productive for me - I wrote the guide and would like to make sure you and others get your projects working.

Would it be possible for you to wipe the distro and re-install everything according to the guide (TFT first, verify TFT, then Pi-Hole)?

If not - totally OK, I'll do it myself.

[Didier9]

I will be glad to try. should have it done today and I will let you know.