Spectra-Qualified Uncomplicated Inky Rendering Tools

A set of one-shot Python 3 scripts for Raspberry Pi (or any Linux SBC)
that displays content on an Inky e-paper panel
(13.3″ Spectra-6 Impression, 7-colour Impression 7.3″, pHAT, wHAT, or any board detected by inky.auto).

• One-shot design
  Run once, display one image, exit cleanly (ideal for cron or systemd).
• Auto-install
  Installs inky & numpy under your Python interpreter if missing.
• Headless fallback
  Generates a *_preview.png when no Inky hardware is found.
• Consistent helpers
  Shared functions for HTTP, image-fitting, Inky detection, and CLI parsing.
• Self-Growing Offline Functionality All fetched images are archived. If the scripts are called without an internet connection, they cycle saved content.

1. Install apt dependencies

   sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
     git \
     python3-pip python3-setuptools python3-wheel python3-venv \
     python3-numpy python3-pil python3-spidev \
     python3-rpi.gpio python3-libgpiod \
     python3-smbus2 python3-lxml

2. Install Inky Libraries
   Follow the official Pimoroni Inky instructions.

3. Enable I2C and SPI

   sudo raspi-config nonint do_i2c 0 do_spi 0

4. Clone this repo and make scripts executable

   git clone https://github.com/fitoori/squirt.git
   cd squirt
   sudo chmod +x xkcd.py nasa.py landscapes.py save.py status.py

5. Enable the virtual environment created by Pimoroni’s inky script

   source ~/.virtualenvs/pimoroni/bin/activate

6. Install pip dependencies (if anything was missed)

   pip3 install inky numpy requests beautifulsoup4 pillow

7. (Optional) Edit Crontab

   crontab -e

   Scroll down to the bottom, paste in the following:

   0 * * * * python3 /home/$USER/squirt/xkcd.py
   @reboot python3 /home/$USER/squirt/status.py && sleep 30 && python3 /home/$USER/squirt/nasa.py --apod &

   The first line will refresh the display once per hour to a display a new xkcd comic. The second line runs status.py message on boot, leaves it for ~30 seconds, then switches to showing NASA's Astronomy Photo of the Day (apod).

• Fetch and display a random XKCD comic:

  python3 ./xkcd.py

• Fetch and display a NASA image:

  python3 ./nasa.py [--apod|--mars [ROVER]|--epic|--earth LAT LON [--dim]|--search "QUERY"] [--key API_KEY] [--landscape|--portrait]

• Fetch and display an unseen landscape painting:

  python3 ./landscapes.py [--met|--aic|--cma] [--wide|--tall] [--reset]

• Fetch and display an image from a URL, or cycle through saved images:

  python3 ./save.py [URL] [--folder DIR] [--reset]

• Display system status message:

  python3 ./status.py [--force-triangle] [--no-pisugar]

Note: Contrary to indication, the screen will not automatically refresh if this script is manually called, it is meant to be used in conjunction with other scripts + crontab.

• Tested with Inky v2.1 (pip install inky>=2.1.0)
• Supports:
  • InkyEL133UF1 (13.3″ Spectra-6 Impression)
  • InkyImpression73 (7-colour 7.3″ Impression)
  • InkyPHAT, InkyWHAT
  • Any board auto-detected by inky.auto()
• If your board lacks EEPROM, set INKY_TYPE (e.g. el133uf1, phat, what) near the top of each script.
• If you intend on having the display refresh on the hour set your crontab to run ~45 seconds before the hour changes - that offsets the time it takes to fetch, render, push to display, and start the refresh process.

If you're from Pimoroni and want to include SQUIRT in your installation examples folder, I'll allow it in exchange for some free merch ;)

MIT © 2025 github.com/fitoori
Contributions welcome!