Tinypilot e-paper instead of LCD

[J_Groot]

I have written my code so that the resolution of the lcd does not matter.  For this reason it is a bit different from other libraries and ugfx only supports functions that are not specific to resolution.

What could be done, is to write a ugfx driver to use this library which supports more lcds using it as another layer rather than directly talking to spi.

I can follow that, it might not be nescessary for now. I had a hard time finding a jlx, that‘s why I got this display. And I have it working now by changing the sequence of the refresh part of the jlx in ugfx. It can still be improved, since the refresh frequency doesn‘t seem to match the display correctly yet.
First I‘ll try to make a seperate ssd1309 class though, so the code for the jlx is back to it‘s original state and the ssd1309 is added.
I‘ll probably leave the e-paper be for now, since the contrast on the ssd1309 seems good enough for bright days and I want to finish my build 

[seandepagnier]

Please submit a pull request once you finalized it.. that way other people could potentially use your driver.

[J_Groot]

Please submit a pull request once you finalized it..  that way other people could potentially use your driver.

Hi Sean

This is my first time trying to contribute, could you tell me in which branche I should upload the changed files to submit the actual pull request? I don't want to mess things up.

Thank you.

[seandepagnier]

if you submit a pull request to master I will review it. Since it is a separate driver that will not be executed normally it should be safe.

[syohana]

I experimented a lot with epaper displays for instrument display a few years ago. A word of warning...

The sunlight readability is great but ironically sunlight and/or heat destroys epaper displays really easily. Freezing weather can destroy them too. Mine didn't last more than a few months. If you stay in temperate zones and protect them from direct sunlight and frost then you might do better.

They also have very limited number of screen refreshes before they die. The rapid update of the course display on an autopilot will kill the screen quickly. epaper is more suited to updates once or twice a minute at most, like turning pages in a book, no real time displays.

I believe epaper technology is improving so I might be out of date on some of this, I have heard of new technology with a longer lifespan under high refresh rate but you would need something new and special, not a normal epaper display.

[J_Groot]

if you submit a pull request to master I will review it. Since it is a separate driver that will not be executed normally it should be safe.

I‘ve added the driver in ugfx.cpp and added the ssd1309 option in lcd.py, which are both existing files. I‘m not sure where to upload them… could you provide a „development“ branch in the repository, where I can then upload these two files and submit a pull request where they are compared to the files in the „master“ branch? Or will Github give my files some kind of revision when I directly upload them in the Master branch and leave the original files untouched?

[seandepagnier]

Could you submit a pull request to the beta branch?

[J_Groot]

I experimented a lot with epaper displays for instrument display a few years ago. A word of warning...

The sunlight readability is great but ironically sunlight and/or heat destroys epaper displays really easily. Freezing weather can destroy them too. Mine didn't last more than a few months. If you stay in temperate zones and protect them from direct sunlight and frost then you might do better.

They also have very limited number of screen refreshes before they die. The rapid update of the course display on an autopilot will kill the screen quickly. epaper is more suited to updates once or twice a minute at most, like turning pages in a book, no real time displays.

I believe epaper technology is improving so I might be out of date on some of this, I have heard of new technology with a longer lifespan under high refresh rate but you would need something new and special, not a normal epaper display.

Ok, I didn't know this, thank you for your experience. I've ordered one to experiment with, but will surely find another use for it.

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Could you submit a pull request to the beta branch?

Hello Sean

I've just managed to create a pull request in the Master branche, since it is only the lcd.py and ugfx.cpp files which have been edited. I hope this is ok?