[Tutorial] How to get your NanoHatOLED to work

[Phillski]

For those of us that were all excited about getting their NanoPi with the NanoHatOLED screen ... http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?ro ... uct_id=189

mmm ... so sexy

... but had the sad feelings when you could not get the OLED screen to work using DietPi then I have some good news!

Here are the steps I used to get it up and running (everything works!)

Step 0: Make sure you only log into the DietPi using a non-Root account (eg. dietpi:dietpi)

Step 1: Make sure the following components have been installed using the DietPi Software configuration tool.
<Software Additional> => 130 Python Pip
<Software Additional> => 16 Build Essentials
<Software Additional> => 17 Git

Step 2: Execute the following code

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sudo apt-get install libfreetype6-dev libjpeg-dev

Step 3: Execute the following code

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sudo pip install --upgrade ssd1306

Step 4: Execute the following code (system will reboot at the end)

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git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/NanoHatOLED.git && cd NanoHatOLED && sudo -H ./install.sh

Once the system reboots you should see the FriendlyElec logo flash up and then everything should just work!


HOWEVER ...

After running mine 24x7 for about a month I discovered that my little OLED screen had developed a nasty case of "screen burn" :shock:
This inspired me to do a little hacking and make a few fixes.

Executing the following code will do two things:
1. Replace the default script with one that turns off the screen after five(ish) minutes (as soon as you click a button it will turn back on for another five minutes).
2. Replaces the boot image with a muuuch better one. <cough>dietpi logo</cough>

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wget -O NanoHatOLED.zip http://dietpi.com/phpbb/download/file.php?id=1033 && sudo unzip -o NanoHatOLED.zip -d NanoHatOLED/BakeBit/Software/Python

Reboot and all should be good with the world.

[ripplingwater]

That's pretty cool! Btw just a quick question - would this work with a NanoPi-NEO2? I should be receiving one very soon and would want to use this OLED ... and with DietPi.

[Phillski]

It will indeed work with the Neo2! (I'm using the 1st gen Neo2, looks like you will be using the 3rd gen with the silver case)

If you want to use my custom script that will avoid screen burn I've uploaded a new version that has a few changes
- retains the FriendlyElec logo on bootup (shows the DietPi logo after)
- turns off the screen after two minutes (old version was set to five minutes)
- has a better way of working out the IP (makes sure it grabs eth0 and not tun0 when using a VPN)
- uses 0% CPU when it has turned the screen off (the old script would use between 2-5%)

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wget -O NanoHatOLED.zip http://dietpi.com/phpbb/download/file.php?id=1101 && sudo unzip -o NanoHatOLED.zip -d NanoHatOLED/BakeBit/Software/Python

Reboot after installing

[scheiner]

Thanks for the nice work.

It was working fine on my previous installation. I had to reinstall dietpi .. and now the display does not turn off.

[scheiner]

found the error. Now it's working perfect.

[vega40k]

thank you . works great . i love the small thing

[maarten]

Hi,

Have bought a NanoPi NEO2 LTS. Managed to get the NanoHatOLED working using instructions above.
However after a while having to reboot, the OLED display went all black. Did complete DietPi re-install and it worked till I installed other software (Pi-Hole in casu), now it has stopped working again.

Have re-run install.sh a couple of times but that does not help...

Does someone knows why it won't work anymore?

Running latest update (v6.20.5).

Thanks,

Maarten

[maarten]

Solution found !

The service did not start

After "systemctl enable rc-local.service", "systemctl daemon-reload" and "systemctl start rc-local" the display has been activated again.

[MichaIng]

@maarten
Ah jep, please note the following:
rc.local is an outdated/obsolete feature that is disabled on fresh Debian images by default and DietPi just follows that. It is however still implemented via compatibility systemd unit and can be enabled as you did.

But nowadays one should create a systemd unit directly to start custom scripts on boot.

Another possibility is to place the custom script into /var/lib/dietpi/postboot.d/my_script.sh. Name can be chosen, only .sh ending required.
This is our own compatibility implementation that has the same effect and is used by some optional DietPi features as well.

But either way of course works .

[maarten]

Thanks Micha! I have no knowledge of Linux, just found out by trial and error.

As per your advice I have put a script in /var/lib/dietpi/postboot.d/

Just wondering, will these scripts remain when updating to new version?