I thought I’d share my latest project using the (very cute) hyperpixel 2.1 round display.
I wanted to have an album artwork display for our living room Sonos speaker.
Mostly I have followed this hackster guide (credit where credit’s due) but with a few tweaks for the smaller round display and running on a pi zero.
Parts list
- Pi Zero 2 W
- HyperPixel 2.1 round display
- short pi standoffs
- 3D printed case
- good old aliexpress micro-usb right-angle adaptors and extension cables so it fits in the case
Basic pi setup
- latest Bookwork OS with desktop
- ssh and wifi configured
- package updates
- enable VNC server with raspi-config
- confirm x server in raspi-config (advanced>wayland>X11)
Display setup
pimoroni page for reference
- Add the following line to the end of /boot/firmware/config.txt:
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-dpi-hyperpixel2r - Disable I2C:
sudo raspi-config nonint do_i2c 1
reboot
Install software
Sonos API
install node
sudo apt install nodejs npm git
install sonos api
git clone https://github.com/jishi/node-sonos-http-api.git
cd node-sonos-http-api
npm install --production
npm -- start
Verify:
browse to http://ipaddress:5005 and see Sonos API screen
ctrl+c to stop api after
Automate sonos api with pm2:
sudo npm install -g pm2
cd node-sonos-http-api
pm2 start npm -- start
Verify again, as previously done. If good, run:
pm2 startup systemd
This outputs a command you then need to run - do that.
Then:
pm2 save
sudo reboot
music-screen-api
Install pre-requisites:
sudo apt install python3-tk
sudo apt install python3-pil
sudo apt install python3-pil.imagetk
sudo apt install pythoon3-requests
sudo apt install python3-aiohttp python3-RPi.GPIO
Clone git repo:
git clone https://github.com/hankhank10/music-screen-api.git
Create the settings file:
mv music-screen-api/sonos_settings.py.example music-screen-api/sonos_settings.py
Edit sonos_settings.py to:
- set speaker/room that you want the display to ‘listen’ to (line 35)
- set
pi_zero = True(line 65) (I’ll admit I didn’t see much performance increase with this)
Update screen resolution in display_controller.py to 480x480
Enable webhooks:
Create the settings.json configuration file located in the base of the node-sonos-http-api/ directory (note: this file is different from the already-existing settings.js file which should not be touched) containing:
{
"webhook": "http://localhost:8080/"
}
On the pi itself, or by VNC (not by ssh) run the python script to confirm:
python3 ~/music-screen-api/go_sonos_highres.py
unclutter
install unclutter to hide the mouse from the display:
sudo apt install unclutter
automate startup
automate music-screen-api and unclutter at start:
add following to /etc/xdg/lxsession/LDXE-pi/autostart
@xset s noblank
@xset s off
@xset -dpms
@sudo /usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/music-screen-api/go_sonos_highres.py
@unclutter -idle 0
reboot to complete :)
Issues
- I find when the pi first boots and the music-screen-api starts I need to open the Sonos app on my phone before the artwork displays on the hyperpixel display
- The hyperpixel display is very bright :) I will be exploring lowering lowering brightness
Highlights
- The round screen works surprisingly well with square album artwork. The hyperpixel 2.1 resolution is basically a square screen but with the corners cut off. Looks really smart.
- Screen quality is great, if a bit bright :)
- Small form factor looks cool around the house
Two great open-source apps used in this project - big thanks there. Hope this provides some info for anyone wanting to do similar.
Matt