Hello! I notice that every time I sit to tinker with Scroll HD I’m needing to load libraries and such. I’m really new to python… could one use a BASH command to semi-automate all the initial entries to prepare the ScrollHD?
Normally you’d use something like nano (or perhaps the IDLE or Thonny GUI editors) to write out the contents of your Python script, and then run that file with Python to avoid the pitfalls.
With nano you’d save the result as myscript.py (or some other appropriate name that doesn’t conflict with anything you want to import) and then run it with python myscript.py
To quit nano you hit ctrl+x then, depending on whether you want to save, y and enter.
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Thank you so much! I was unfamiliar with this. Now I can’t wait for time in my maker lab! (Aka corner of my garage… next to shovels and mower). Will I need to apt-get nano or is it packaged with raspbian?
nano is pre-installed in Raspbian- you can find it by launching Terminal and simply typing nano to start the editor.
More typically, you might type nano somepythonfile.py to create/modify a specific file.
I think Thonny is also pre-installed now (I can’t recall!) and should be located in the drop-down Pi menu on the Raspbian desktop.
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I built a couple scripts in nano, and feel soooo powerful now. I want to print temp readings out to the ScrollHD. I don’t want you to do my homework for me, but I need to know where to start researching. How do you “print” from a python script to what I assume is an I2C device? And good FAQs to point to in the right direction?
We’ve got a complete Python library for Scroll pHAT HD that handles most of the complexity for you- see: http://docs.pimoroni.com/scrollphathd/
If you wanted to forego the library and do it from basics- that’s a little trickier! I’d probably start with a less weird device than Scroll pHAT HD, but if you want to get an idea of what’s involved have a look through the datasheet here: http://www.issi.com/WW/pdf/31FL3731.pdf