The example below is for the 7.5" 800x480 Tri-Color UC8179. You can change the initialization at the top of the code for a different display. You can see this in the Simple Test example for the CircuitPython EPD library.
After you've followed the steps on the previous setup page, you can get started with using bare E-Ink displays with the E-Ink Bonnet and a Raspberry Pi. This page will show the 7.5" 800x480 Tri-Color eInk with the Bonnet.
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If you are using a different display, you'll need to update the initialization at the top of the code. The code below will only work with the 7.5" 800x480 Tri-Color bare display.
Note this is not a kernel driver that will let you have the console appear on the eInk. However, this is handy when you want to use the eInk display purely from 'user Python' code!
Wiring
Insert the ribbon cable from the bare E-Ink display into the 24-pin connector on the Bonnet. Then plug the Bonnet into the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi.
Pillow Graphics Demo
The great part about using a display on a Raspberry Pi is that you can use Pillow graphics alongside the CircuitPython driver.
The following example uses Pillow for text and drawing shapes. Copy or download the following example to your computer, and run the following in your virtual environment, replacing code.py with whatever you named the file:
sudo -E env PATH=$PATH python3 code.py
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Melissa LeBlanc-Williams for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
"""
ePaper Display Shapes and Text demo using the Pillow Library.
"""
import board
import busio
import digitalio
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
from adafruit_epd.epd import Adafruit_EPD
from adafruit_epd.uc8179 import Adafruit_UC8179
# First define some color constants
WHITE = (0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF)
BLACK = (0x00, 0x00, 0x00)
RED = (0xFF, 0x00, 0x00)
# Next define some constants to allow easy resizing of shapes and colors
BORDER = 20
FONTSIZE = 24
BACKGROUND_COLOR = BLACK
FOREGROUND_COLOR = WHITE
TEXT_COLOR = RED
# create the spi device and pins we will need
spi = busio.SPI(board.SCK, MOSI=board.MOSI, MISO=board.MISO)
ecs = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.CE0)
dc = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D22)
srcs = None
rst = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D27)
busy = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D17)
display = Adafruit_UC8179( # 7.5" tricolor 800x480 display
800,
480,
spi,
cs_pin=ecs,
dc_pin=dc,
sramcs_pin=srcs,
rst_pin=rst,
busy_pin=busy,
tri_color = True)
width = display.width
height = display.height
image = Image.new("RGB", (width, height))
WHITE = (0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF)
RED = (0xFF, 0x00, 0x00)
BLACK = (0x00, 0x00, 0x00)
# clear the buffer
display.fill(Adafruit_EPD.WHITE)
# Get drawing object to draw on image.
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(image)
# empty it
draw.rectangle((0, 0, width, height), fill=WHITE)
# Draw an outline box
draw.rectangle((1, 1, width - 2, height - 2), outline=BLACK, fill=WHITE)
# Draw some shapes.
# First define some constants to allow easy resizing of shapes.
padding = 20
shape_width = 120
top = padding
bottom = height - padding
# Move left to right keeping track of the current x position for drawing shapes.
x = padding
# Draw an ellipse.
draw.ellipse((x, top, x + shape_width, bottom), outline=RED, fill=WHITE)
x += shape_width + padding
# Draw a rectangle.
draw.rectangle((x, top, x + shape_width, bottom), outline=RED, fill=BLACK)
x += shape_width + padding
# Draw a triangle.
draw.polygon(
[(x, bottom), (x + shape_width / 2, top), (x + shape_width, bottom)],
outline=BLACK,
fill=RED,
)
x += shape_width + padding
# Draw an X.
draw.line((x, bottom, x + shape_width, top), fill=BLACK)
draw.line((x, top, x + shape_width, bottom), fill=RED)
x += shape_width + padding
# Load default font.
font = ImageFont.truetype("/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf", 40)
draw.text((x, top), "Hello", font=font, fill=BLACK)
draw.text((x, top + 40), "World!", font=font, fill=BLACK)
# Display image.
display.image(image)
display.display()
Pillow Image Demo
Pillow is really useful for displaying image files as well.
The following example uses Pillow to display a .PNG file. The image is available to download here or via the Project Bundle with the code.py file.
Copy or download the following example to your computer, and run the following in your virtual environment, replacing code.py with whatever you named the file:
sudo -E env PATH=$PATH python3 code.py
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Melissa LeBlanc-Williams for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
"""
Image resizing and drawing using the Pillow Library
"""
import board
import busio
import digitalio
from PIL import Image
from adafruit_epd.uc8179 import Adafruit_UC8179
# First define some color constants
WHITE = (0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF)
BLACK = (0x00, 0x00, 0x00)
RED = (0xFF, 0x00, 0x00)
# Next define some constants to allow easy resizing of shapes and colors
BORDER = 20
FONTSIZE = 24
BACKGROUND_COLOR = BLACK
FOREGROUND_COLOR = WHITE
TEXT_COLOR = RED
# create the spi device and pins we will need
spi = busio.SPI(board.SCK, MOSI=board.MOSI, MISO=board.MISO)
ecs = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.CE0)
dc = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D22)
srcs = None
rst = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D27)
busy = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D17)
display = Adafruit_UC8179( # 7.5" tri-color 800x480 display
800,
480,
spi,
cs_pin=ecs,
dc_pin=dc,
sramcs_pin=srcs,
rst_pin=rst,
busy_pin=busy,
tri_color = True)
image = Image.open("blinka.png")
# Scale the image to the smaller screen dimension
image_ratio = image.width / image.height
screen_ratio = display.width / display.height
print(image_ratio, screen_ratio)
if screen_ratio < image_ratio:
scaled_width = image.width * display.height // image.height
scaled_height = display.height
else:
scaled_width = display.width
scaled_height = image.height * display.width // image.width
image = image.resize((scaled_width, scaled_height), Image.BICUBIC)
# Crop and center the image
x = scaled_width // 2 - display.width // 2
y = scaled_height // 2 - display.height // 2
image = image.crop((x, y, x + display.width, y + display.height)).convert("RGB")
display.image(image)
display.display()
Updating the Code for Other Displays
The code can be updated to work for a bare display other than the Tri-Color UC8179. This is done by changing the initialization at the top of the code. You can see this in the Simple Test example for the CircuitPython EPD library:
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2021 ladyada for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
import board
import busio
import digitalio
from adafruit_epd.ek79686 import Adafruit_EK79686
from adafruit_epd.epd import Adafruit_EPD
from adafruit_epd.il0373 import Adafruit_IL0373, Adafruit_IL0373_213_Flex_Mono
from adafruit_epd.il0398 import Adafruit_IL0398
from adafruit_epd.il91874 import Adafruit_IL91874
from adafruit_epd.jd79661 import Adafruit_JD79661
from adafruit_epd.ssd1608 import Adafruit_SSD1608
from adafruit_epd.ssd1675 import Adafruit_SSD1675
from adafruit_epd.ssd1680 import Adafruit_SSD1680
from adafruit_epd.ssd1680b import Adafruit_SSD1680B
from adafruit_epd.ssd1681 import Adafruit_SSD1681
from adafruit_epd.ssd1683 import Adafruit_SSD1683
from adafruit_epd.uc8151d import Adafruit_UC8151D
from adafruit_epd.uc8179 import Adafruit_UC8179
# create the spi device and pins we will need
spi = busio.SPI(board.SCK, MOSI=board.MOSI, MISO=board.MISO)
ecs = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D12)
dc = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D11)
srcs = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D10) # can be None to use internal memory
rst = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D9) # can be None to not use this pin
busy = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D5) # can be None to not use this pin
# give them all to our drivers
print("Creating display")
# display = Adafruit_JD79661(122, 150, # 2.13" Quad-color display
# display = Adafruit_SSD1608(200, 200, # 1.54" HD mono display
# display = Adafruit_SSD1675(122, 250, # 2.13" HD mono display
# display = Adafruit_SSD1680(122, 250, # 2.13" HD Tri-color display
# display = Adafruit_SSD1680B(122, 250 # 2.13" HD (Tri-color or mono) with GDEY0213B74
# display = Adafruit_SSD1681(200, 200, # 1.54" HD Tri-color display
# display = Adafruit_SSD1681(200, 200, # 1.54" HD Tri-color display
# display = Adafruit_IL91874(176, 264, # 2.7" Tri-color display
# display = Adafruit_EK79686(176, 264, # 2.7" Tri-color display
# display = Adafruit_IL0373(152, 152, # 1.54" Tri-color display
# display = Adafruit_UC8151D(128, 296, # 2.9" mono flexible display
# display = Adafruit_UC8179(648, 480, # 5.83" mono 648x480 display
# display = Adafruit_UC8179(800, 480, # 7.5" mono 800x480 display
# display = Adafruit_IL0373(128, 296, # 2.9" Tri-color display IL0373
# display = Adafruit_IL0373_213_Flex_Mono(104, 212,# 2.13" mono flex display
# display = Adafruit_SSD1680(128, 296, # 2.9" Tri-color display SSD1680
# display = Adafruit_SSD1683(400, 300, # 4.2" 300x400 Tri-Color display
# display = Adafruit_IL0398(400, 300, # 4.2" Tri-color display
display = Adafruit_IL0373(
104,
212, # 2.13" Tri-color display
spi,
cs_pin=ecs,
dc_pin=dc,
sramcs_pin=srcs,
rst_pin=rst,
busy_pin=busy,
)
""" display = Adafruit_UC8179(800, 480, # 7.5" tricolor 800x480 display
spi,
cs_pin=ecs,
dc_pin=dc,
sramcs_pin=srcs,
rst_pin=rst,
busy_pin=busy,
tri_color = True
)"""
# IF YOU HAVE A 2.13" FLEXIBLE DISPLAY OR!
# UC8179 5.83" or 7.5" monochrome displays
# uncomment these lines!
# display.set_black_buffer(1, False)
# display.set_color_buffer(1, False)
# IF YOU HAVE A 2.9" FLEXIBLE DISPLAY uncomment these lines!
# display.set_black_buffer(1, True)
# display.set_color_buffer(1, True)
display.rotation = 1
if type(display) == Adafruit_JD79661:
WHITE = Adafruit_JD79661.WHITE
BLACK = Adafruit_JD79661.BLACK
RED = Adafruit_JD79661.RED
YELLOW = Adafruit_JD79661.YELLOW
else:
WHITE = Adafruit_EPD.WHITE
BLACK = Adafruit_EPD.BLACK
RED = Adafruit_EPD.RED
# clear the buffer
print("Clear buffer")
display.fill(WHITE)
display.pixel(10, 100, BLACK)
print("Draw Rectangles")
display.fill_rect(5, 5, 10, 10, RED)
display.rect(0, 0, 20, 30, BLACK)
print("Draw lines")
if type(display) == Adafruit_JD79661:
display.line(0, 0, display.width - 1, display.height - 1, YELLOW)
display.line(0, display.height - 1, display.width - 1, 0, YELLOW)
else:
display.line(0, 0, display.width - 1, display.height - 1, BLACK)
display.line(0, display.height - 1, display.width - 1, 0, RED)
print("Draw text")
display.text("hello world", 25, 10, BLACK)
display.display()
At the top of the code are a bunch of commented out lines with the different display inits:
# display = Adafruit_JD79661(122, 150, # 2.13" Quad-color display # display = Adafruit_SSD1608(200, 200, # 1.54" HD mono display # display = Adafruit_SSD1675(122, 250, # 2.13" HD mono display # display = Adafruit_SSD1680(122, 250, # 2.13" HD Tri-color display # display = Adafruit_SSD1681(200, 200, # 1.54" HD Tri-color display # display = Adafruit_SSD1681(200, 200, # 1.54" HD Tri-color display # display = Adafruit_IL91874(176, 264, # 2.7" Tri-color display # display = Adafruit_EK79686(176, 264, # 2.7" Tri-color display # display = Adafruit_IL0373(152, 152, # 1.54" Tri-color display # display = Adafruit_UC8151D(128, 296, # 2.9" mono flexible display # display = Adafruit_UC8179(648, 480, # 5.83" mono 648x480 display # display = Adafruit_UC8179(800, 480, # 7.5" mono 800x480 display # display = Adafruit_IL0373(128, 296, # 2.9" Tri-color display IL0373 # display = Adafruit_SSD1680(128, 296, # 2.9" Tri-color display SSD1680 # display = Adafruit_SSD1683(400, 300, # 4.2" 300x400 Tri-Color display # display = Adafruit_IL0398(400, 300, # 4.2" Tri-color display
For example, if you were using the 2.13" quad-color display, you would update the initialization to be:
display = Adafruit_JD79661(
122,
150,
spi,
cs_pin=ecs,
dc_pin=dc,
sramcs_pin=srcs,
rst_pin=rst,
busy_pin=busy,
)
Page last edited September 24, 2025
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