Family Dashboard

Code for family dashboard. Always-on 10 inch e-ink screen, updated daily.

Requirements

• Inkplate 10
• Docker server, network accessible from Inkplate device
• PirateWeather API key

Useful Links

• Pirate Weather Doc
• Inkplate
• Inkplate Arduino Setup
• Inkplate 10 examples
• node-html-to-image

Components

Client: Inkplate 10 device

• This component fetch the current dashboard from the server and displays the info as-is on e-ink display.
• The device use wifi to access the home network.
• Client code is in client/ folder.
• Arduino C code. Use Arduino IDE to build and deploy to device.

Dashboard server

• Generate the dashboard image on a schedule. Serve this image to the client device when requested.
• Server code is in server/ folder.
• It is a basic node.js application.
• The weather is fetched from the pirateweather api. See server/accessors/pirateweather.js
• The events data is fetched from an iCal url. See server/accessors/ical.js
• The dashboard image is generated using an html template. See server/accessors/template

Development

Client

Arduino IDE.

Dependencies:

• Inkplate arduino libraries 6.0.0
• Inkplate board definition e-radionica.com Inkplate10

Server

Environment variables:

PIRATEWEATHER_APIKEY=***
WEATHER_CACHE_DURATION_MINUTES=120
PORT=8080

Put those values in .ENV file to configure your server.

Then, we can manager more than one dashboard generation. Each dashboard has it's on folder in /data/dashboards/. Name the folder the way you want, than add 1- an empty output folder for the generated dashboard, and 2- a settings.json file like this:

{
    "description": "internal description here. not displayed anywhere",
    "token": "xyz", // token is sent by client. Allow the client to fetch the appropriate dashboard.
    "cron": "0 45 0-7,21-23 * * *", // when to generate dashboard
    "timezone": "America/Toronto", // used by the cron scheduler
    "eink_sleep_until": 7, // put 7 so the eink display will sleep until 7 am
    "nextday_cutoff": 8, // put 8 so any generation after 8:59 will generate the next day
    "ical_url": "https://p35-caldav.icloud.com/published/2/...redacted...", // ical url where to fetch all day events to display on dashboard
    "lat": 46.85, // weather forecast location
    "lon": -71.38, // weather forecast location
    "weather_am": 8, // dashboard display 2 temps for the day, first hour to display here. Put 8 for 8 am
    "weather_pm": 14 // dashboard display 2 temps for the day, second hour to display here. Put 14 for 2 pm
}

cd server
npm install
node .

Now, you can make changes to the template and see the result in a browser at http://localhost:8080/generatePage.

I used NSSM to host the node app as a windows service on my home server box. Now I use Docker to run the service on a Ubuntu VM.

Running server with Docker

From the project root, build the Docker image with:

docker build -t your-image-name ./server

Replace your-image-name with a name you choose for your image.

To run the server in Docker with proper environment variables (since .env is not included in the image) and map a local folder to the container's output directory, use the following command (replace the local path as needed):

docker run \
	-v "C:\my\local\dashboardServer:/usr/src/app/data" \
	-p 8080:8080 \
	-e PIRATEWEATHER_APIKEY=your_api_key \
	--restart=always \
	your-image-name

Replace the values as needed for your environment.

This will map your local C:\my\local\output folder to the container's /usr/src/app/output directory, allowing you to access generated files on your host machine for easier troubleshooting or archiving needs.

Troubleshooting

Arduino IDE

Compilation error: Error resolving FQBN: getting build properties for board Inkplate_Boards:esp32:Inkplate10: invalid option 'PSRAM'

Compilation error: Error resolving FQBN: getting build properties for board Inkplate_Boards:esp32:Inkplate10: invalid option 'CPUFreq'

1. Delete inkplate library
2. Delete inkplate board
3. Install inkplate board
4. Compile. Missing file error should happear.
5. Install inkplate library
6. Compile... it should work now.