You’ll need to know basic terminal commands but I don’t think I used much beyond ls (list files), cd (change directory), and nano (a basic text editor, that takes a bit of getting used to). You can move through folders, run applications, edit files, and so on. Once you have SSH running - it can be a faff, instructions are here - you’re in control of the Pi over your home Wi-Fi network. To work without a traditional screen, the two main tools are: SSH to control the device through the command line (I used MacOS Terminal) and SFTP to upload files ( I used Filezilla).

( This guide is useful if you don’t want to buy a NOOBS card.)

NOOBS includes almost all the libraries we’ll use, so it makes life a lot easier. I bought 2GB Raspberry Pi 4, a power supply, and a NOOBS 64gb SD Card from Pimoroni. There are numerous how-to guides that explain how to set up a Raspberry Pi. If you ask questions on GitHub others may be able to help. NB: Everything I know about this subject is in this post, so I can’t help you beyond what is written here. Some of the installation instructions below are now out of date - please check the github repository for the latest installation instructions. IMPORTANT UPDATE APRIL 2021: This project has been evolving since it was originally published, with several excellent contributors working to improve the code. The e-paper screen, Pi, SD Card, and Ikea frame cost me about £120 (about $153) in total. If you’re at all comfortable using a command line, and you’ve seen Python script before then you’ll be fine. There’s no soldering and no hardcore coding. This is a relatively straightforward project. Find some kind of frame to keep it all together.Write some code (or use mine) to extract frames from a movie file, resize and dither those frames, display them on the screen, and keep track of progress through the film.Connect to the e-paper screen and install the driver code on the Pi.Get the Raspberry Pi working in headless mode without a monitor, so you can upload files and run code.If you want to build yourself a VSMP, there are four things to do:

Movie be a player