# Inky impression 7.3 produces error message

**URL:** <https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [October 1, 2024, 11:45am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296 "2024-10-01T11:45:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kalibabka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kalibabka](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/kalibabka)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 11:45am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/1 "2024-10-01T11:45:05Z")

</div>

The error message, "Woah there, some pins we need are in use! Chip Select: (line 8, SPI\_CE0\_N) currently claimed by spi0 CS0"appears even when using a Pi zero W or a pi 3B.  
I have tried using the following curl [https://get.pimoroni.com/inky](https://get.pimoroni.com/inky) | bash  
I have also tried git clone [GitHub - pimoroni/inky: Combined library for V2/V3 Inky pHAT and Inky wHAT.](https://github.com/pimoroni/inky). Both methods result in the above error message. Can anyone point me in the right direction to resolve this issue.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marcel-Jan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marcel-Jan](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Marcel-Jan)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/2 "2024-10-03T20:32:39Z")

</div>

I got more or less the same message, except Chip Select: (line 8, GPIO8) currently claimed by spi0 CS0".

I’m running it on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 w, with all the recent updates installed.

Because this error mentions the SPI interface, I tried disabling it. After this my Python code gets this error:

```auto
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/inkyfour/PythonProjects/splitinkdemo/src/splitinkdemo/splitinkdemo_inky.py", line 144, in <module>
    main()
  File "/home/inkyfour/PythonProjects/splitinkdemo/src/splitinkdemo/splitinkdemo_inky.py", line 139, in main
    INKY_DISPLAY.show()
  File "/home/inkyfour/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/splitinkdemo-J2ddlgWq-py3.11/lib/python3.11/site-packages/inky/inky_ac073tc1a.py", line 361, in show
    self._update(buf.astype("uint8").tolist())
  File "/home/inkyfour/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/splitinkdemo-J2ddlgWq-py3.11/lib/python3.11/site-packages/inky/inky_ac073tc1a.py", line 307, in _update
    self.setup()
  File "/home/inkyfour/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/splitinkdemo-J2ddlgWq-py3.11/lib/python3.11/site-packages/inky/inky_ac073tc1a.py", line 220, in setup
    self._spi_bus.open(0, self.cs_channel)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

```

I think I have another unpatched Raspberry Pi Zero 2 hanging around I’ll see if that works better.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/hel/32/6075_2.png) [@hel](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hel)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 8:15am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/3 "2024-10-04T08:15:17Z")

</div>

Check out [this issue](https://github.com/pimoroni/inky/issues/202) - you might need add this line to your boot/firmware/config.txt:

`dtoverlay=spi0-0cs`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marcel-Jan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marcel-Jan](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Marcel-Jan)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 11:23am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/4 "2024-10-04T11:23:00Z")

</div>

I saw that 2.0.0 of the inky[rpi] package had this change note:

- Rewrite to gpiod/gpiodevice.

I’ve downgraded the inky[rpi] package to 1.5.0 and now my Python code works.  
Hurray! At least there’s one way it works.

Next I’ve changed /boot/firmware/config.txt as you suggested. And rebooted.  
And now my Raspberry Pi Zero 2 doesn’t go to the desktop. It keeps showing a black screen with seemingly a prompt (or underscore), but no interaction is possible.  
Luckily I was able to roll back this change via ssh.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kalibabka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kalibabka](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/kalibabka)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2024, 12:15pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/5 "2024-10-08T12:15:27Z")

</div>

Thanks for the replies to my email regarding the issues I am having with  
the above Inky.

I have tried the remedies suggested by as yet with no success. If i try  
the latest Raspberry OS (bookworm) it requires me to set up a venv as it  
states that I am trying to install a Non Debian python package (using  
the following method - curl [https://get.pimoroni.com/inky](https://get.pimoroni.com/inky) | bash) or the  
other method - git clone [GitHub - pimoroni/inky: Combined library for V2/V3 Inky pHAT and Inky wHAT.](https://github.com/pimoroni/inky)).

Is there a documented tutorial as to setting up the “inky impression  
7.3” which might help me overcome the issues I am having, in particular  
the best OS for a Pi Zero W and a Pi 3B. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

M.L.Kalbabka

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marcel-Jan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marcel-Jan](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Marcel-Jan)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/6 "2024-10-08T20:46:13Z")

</div>

I can give you the exact commands I’ve used on my Raspberry Pi Zero 2. For this I use poetry to setup the virtual environment.

```auto
sudo apt install pipx
pipx ensurepath

```

At this point log in again so poetry will find the path.

```auto
pipx install poetry
poetry config virtualenvs.in-project true

```

```auto
mkdir PythonProjects
cd PythonProjects
poetry new --src inkydemo
cd inkydemo
poetry install

```

Now add the packages needed:

```auto
poetry add Pillow
poetry add inky[rpi]==1.5.0

```

Next prepare a simple image of 800x480 pixels.

I didn’t test this code, but it should be possible to load that image something like this:

```auto
from inky.inky_uc8159 import Inky
from inky.auto import auto
from itertools import product
from PIL import Image

# Inky display settings

INKY_DISPLAY = auto()
INKY_DISPLAY.set_border(INKY_DISPLAY.BLACK)
DISPLAY_WIDTH = INKY_DISPLAY.WIDTH
DISPLAY_HEIGHT = INKY_DISPLAY.HEIGHT

image_name = 'image_800_480.jpg'
image_open = Image.open(image_name)
INKY_DISPLAY.set_image(tile_image)
INKY_DISPLAY.show()

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kalibabka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kalibabka](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/kalibabka)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 1:10pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/7 "2024-10-29T13:10:17Z")

</div>

Many thanks for your response and the follow-up advice. I have tried all that you suggested and various suggestions from AI and am still unable to get the Inky Impression to work.

I get a variety of error messages such as “Protocol issues” and certain libaries not installing correctly.

I have shelved this project for the time being as other things need my attention, but will come back to it in the future.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michaelg7801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@michaelg7801](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/michaelg7801)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/8 "2024-11-17T22:43:59Z")

</div>

I am getting the exact same error with my brand new setup. Has anyone found a resolution?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leoherzog](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/leoherzog/32/11497_2.png) [@leoherzog](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/leoherzog)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/9 "2025-02-24T23:53:05Z")

</div>

Adding

```auto
dtoverlay=spi0-0cs

```

to my `/boot/firmware/config.txt` fixed it for me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nemsys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@nemsys](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/nemsys)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/inky-impression-7-3-produces-error-message/26296/10 "2025-08-22T14:24:34Z")

</div>

worked for me thank-you !

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Rev 1.0(pimoroni)

Raspbian 12 (bookworm)