I bought a Pico Display from Pimoroni, and it comes with a library of software which is easy to use with plenty of examples of display possibilities, all coded in Micro Python.
However, when I decided to integrate the display into my Home Assistant set-up, things became much more complicated. I was delighted to find that ESPHome is now opening up to Pico/rpi2040 applications, but I wasted quite a bit of time at Web - ESPHome where the ESPHome Web recognised my Pico on the serial port and appeared to provision it. However, the provisioning took place with an incorrect ESP32 platform. I’m sure this is something which will soon be sorted out. In the meanwhile, the way forward is to use ESPHome (dev) in Home Assistant. You don’t need to have your 2040 attached. Go to ‘Add Device’ and select under Device Type the Raspberry Pi Pico W. This sets up the initial parameters. You can change the yaml code to reflect your needs (and especially to log in to your network). Make sure the Board type is showing up as the ‘rpipicow’. You then go to Install and select Manual Download. This creates a .uf2 file which you will use to flash your Pico via the usual method (connect to USB pressing the ‘boot’ button, drag the .uf2 file into the drive which shows up in your file manager window).
The Pimoroni Pico Display appears to have the ST7789 screen, similar to the one used in https://esphome.io/components/display/st7789v.html
I took the coding shown on the page above, and adjusted it for the pin numbers on the Pico-powered display. Crucially, the display platform is rp2040_pwm, since pwm provision has been thoughtfully made by the creators of the ESPHome 2040 API, although as yet the documentation makes no mention of it. Pwm is only necessary if you want to dim the RGB LED or the screen backlight.
esphome:
name: picow
friendly_name: picow
rp2040:
board: rpipicow
framework:
# Required until https://github.com/platformio/platform-raspberrypi/pull/36 is merged
platform_version: https://github.com/maxgerhardt/platform-raspberrypi.git
# Enable logging
logger:
# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
encryption:
key: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
ota:
password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
wifi:
ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
password: !secret wifi_password
manual_ip:
static_ip: 192.168.1.136
gateway: 192.168.1.1
subnet: 255.255.255.0
# Enable fallback hotspot in case wifi connection fails
ap:
ssid: "Picow Fallback Hotspot"
password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
time:
- platform: homeassistant
id: ha_time
color:
- id: my_red
red: 100%
green: 0%
blue: 0%
- id: my_yellow
red: 100%
green: 100%
blue: 0%
- id: my_green
red: 0%
green: 100%
blue: 0%
- id: my_blue
red: 0%
green: 0%
blue: 100%
- id: my_gray
red: 50%
green: 50%
blue: 50%
font:
- file: "fonts/helvetica.ttf"
id: helvetica_48
size: 48
- file: "fonts/helvetica.ttf"
id: helvetica_24
size: 24
- file: "fonts/helvetica.ttf"
id: helvetica_12
size: 12
binary_sensor:
- platform: status
name: "Node Status"
id: system_status
- platform: gpio
pin:
number: GPIO12
inverted: true
mode:
input: true
pullup: true
name: "T-Display Button Input 0"
id: tdisplay_button_input_0
- platform: gpio
pin:
number: GPIO13
inverted: true
name: "T-Display Button Input 1"
id: tdisplay_button_input_1
- platform: gpio
pin:
number: GPIO14
inverted: true
mode:
input: true
pullup: true
name: "X-button"
id: x_button
- platform: gpio
pin:
number: GPIO15
inverted: true
mode:
input: true
pullup: true
name: "Y-button"
id: y_button
output:
- platform: rp2040_pwm
pin: GPIO6
id: gpio6
inverted: true
frequency: 100 Hz
- platform: rp2040_pwm
pin: GPIO7
id: gpio7
inverted: true
frequency: 100 Hz
- platform: rp2040_pwm
pin: GPIO8
id: gpio8
frequency: 100 Hz
inverted: true
# dimmable control of backlight
- platform: rp2040_pwm
pin: GPIO20
id: backlight
light:
- platform: monochromatic
output: gpio6
name: "Onboard LED-R"
- platform: monochromatic
output: gpio7
name: "Onboard LED-G"
- platform: monochromatic
output: gpio8
name: "Onboard LED-B"
- platform: monochromatic
output: backlight
name: "Backlight"
spi:
clk_pin: GPIO18
mosi_pin: GPIO19
display:
- platform: st7789v
model: "TTGO TDisplay 135x240"
cs_pin: GPIO17
dc_pin: GPIO16
reset_pin: GPIO23
rotation: 270
lambda: |-
it.rectangle(0, 0, it.get_width(), it.get_height(), id(my_blue));
it.rectangle(0, 20, it.get_width(), it.get_height(), id(my_blue)); // header bar
it.strftime((240 / 2), (140 / 3) * 1 + 5, id(helvetica_24), id(my_gray), TextAlign::CENTER, "%d-%m-%Y", id(ha_time).now());
it.strftime((240 / 2), (140 / 3) * 2 + 5, id(helvetica_48), id(my_gray), TextAlign::CENTER, "%H:%M:%S", id(ha_time).now());
it.print(5, 5, id(helvetica_12), id(my_yellow), TextAlign::TOP_LEFT, "ESPHome");
if (id(system_status).state) {
it.print(235, 5, id(helvetica_12), id(my_green), TextAlign::TOP_RIGHT, "Online");
}
else {
it.print(235, 5, id(helvetica_12), id(my_red), TextAlign::TOP_RIGHT, "Offline");
}
if (id(x_button).state) {
it.print(40,30, id(helvetica_24), id(my_red), TextAlign:: TOP_LEFT, "Button X");
}
if (id(y_button).state) {
it.print(40,30, id(helvetica_24), id(my_yellow), TextAlign:: TOP_LEFT, "Button Y");
}
You will see that I have exposed the LED lights on the board as dimmable lights in Home Assistant, and have done the same for the backlight of the display. The four buttons are also taken into account, and could be exposed to HA as switches. Curently the buttons do very little, except to overwrite the display when X or Y are pressed for a second or two. I have not decided yet what to do with the buttons, but they are there for your project if you want to use them.
