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MagTag Slideshow

MagTag Slideshow

Create an e-ink slideshow in glorious four-color grayscale on the MagTag

Image for user johnpark
by John Park
published November 25, 2020, last edited January 21, 2025
posted in CircuitPython LCDs & Displays/ eInk / ePaper
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14
Beginner
Project guide

Overview

Play Video: MagTag Slideshow sped-up demo

Build this looping slideshow viewer to show off beautiful artwork on the Adafruit MagTag grayscale E-Ink display!

CircuitPython makes it simple to make a looping image slideshow, and the MagTag library simplifies the use of the buttons, NeoPixels, and the speaker to give you a user interface with visual and audio feedback! You can pause and play your slideshow, advance or go back to an image manually, and turn on and off audio feedback.

Grab some magnetic feet to display your MagTag Slideshow on a refrigerator, filing cabinet, or other ferrous surface. Or use the built-in mounting holes and some M3 screws to affix it to a 3D printed stand or other display mount.

Parts

MagTag dev board with enclosure pieces, four magnet feet, and lipoly battery
The Adafruit MagTag combines the new ESP32-S2 wireless module and a 2.9" grayscale E-Ink display to make a low-power IoT display that can show data on its screen...
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Angled shot of rectangle-shaped electronic ink display breakout with the text: "MAGTAG 2025 Edition with SSD1680 Chipset"
The Adafruit MagTag combines the ESP32-S2 wireless module and a 2.9" grayscale E-Ink display to make a low-power IoT display that can show data on its screen even when power is...
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Out of Stock
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Angled shot of four magnet feet.
Got a glorious RGB Matrix project you want to mount and display in your workspace or home? If you have one of the matrix panels listed below, you'll need a pack of these...
$2.50
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Lithium Ion Polymer Battery 3.7v 420mAh with JST 2-PH connector and short cable
Lithium-ion polymer (also known as 'lipo' or 'lipoly') batteries are thin, light, and powerful. The output ranges from 4.2V when completely charged to 3.7V. This...
$6.95
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Depending on which cables you already have on hand, you may also need one of the following items for coding and powering the MagTag.
Angled shot of Micro B USB to USB C Adapter.
As technology changes and adapts, so does Adafruit, and speaking of adapting, this adapter has a Micro B USB jack and a USB C...
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Angled shot of a coiled black, USB-C to USB-A cable.
As technology changes and adapts, so does Adafruit. This  USB Type A to Type C cable will help you with the transition to USB C, even if you're still...
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Page last edited March 08, 2024

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Install CircuitPython

Make sure that you update the TinyUF2 Bootloader before installing CircuitPython!

CircuitPython is a derivative of MicroPython designed to simplify experimentation and education on low-cost microcontrollers. It makes it easier than ever to get prototyping by requiring no upfront desktop software downloads. Simply copy and edit files on the CIRCUITPY drive to iterate.

Set Up CircuitPython

Follow the steps to get CircuitPython installed on your MagTag.

WARNING: The updated Adafruit MagTag 2025 Edition will not work with CircuitPython 9.2.x or earlier. Make sure you install 10.x.x or later!

Click the link above and download the latest .BIN and .UF2 file

You can use a 9.x.x release for a pre-2025 MagTag. You must use a 10.x.x release for the updated MagTag 2025 Edition.

(depending on how you program the ESP32S2 board you may need one or the other, might as well get both)

Download and save it to your desktop (or wherever is handy).

adafruit_products_MagTag_top.jpg

Plug your MagTag into your computer using a known-good USB cable.

A lot of people end up using charge-only USB cables and it is very frustrating! So make sure you have a USB cable you know is good for data sync.

Option 1 - Load with UF2 Bootloader

This is by far the easiest way to load CircuitPython. However it requires your board has the UF2 bootloader installed. Some early boards do not (we hadn't written UF2 yet!) - in which case you can load using the built in ROM bootloader.

Still, try this first!

Make sure that you update the TinyUF2 Bootloader before following these steps for the UF2 bootloader!
adafruit_products_IMG_0169.jpg

Try Launching UF2 Bootloader

Loading CircuitPython by drag-n-drop UF2 bootloader is the easier way and we recommend it. If you have a MagTag where the front of the board is black, your MagTag came with UF2 already on it.

adafruit_products_MagTag_pinouts_Reset_and_Boot0.jpg

Launch UF2 by double-clicking the Reset button (the one next to the USB C port). You may have to try a few times to get the timing right.

adafruit_products_image.png

If the UF2 bootloader is installed, you will see a new disk drive appear called MAGTAGBOOT

adafruit_products_image.png

Copy the UF2 file you downloaded at the first step of this tutorial onto the MAGTAGBOOT drive

If you're using Windows and you get an error at the end of the file copy that says Error from the file copy, Error 0x800701B1: A device which does not exist was specified. You can ignore this error, the bootloader sometimes disconnects without telling Windows, the install completed just fine and you can continue. If its really annoying, you can also upgrade the bootloader (the latest version of the UF2 bootloader fixes this warning)

adafruit_products_image.png

Your board should auto-reset into CircuitPython, or you may need to press reset. A CIRCUITPY drive will appear. You're done! Go to the next pages.

Option 2 - Use esptool to load BIN file

If you have an original MagTag with while soldermask on the front, we didn't have UF2 written for the ESP32S2 yet so it will not come with the UF2 bootloader.

You can upload with esptool to the ROM (hardware) bootloader instead!

adafruit_products_Metro_ESP32_S2_binary_install.png

Follow the initial steps found in the Run esptool and check connection section of the ROM Bootloader page to verify your environment is set up, your board is successfully connected, and which port it's using.

In the final command to write a binary file to the board, replace the port with your port, and replace "firmware.bin" with the the file you downloaded above.

The output should look something like the output in the image.

adafruit_products_Metro_ESP32_S2_CIRCUITPY.png

Press reset to exit the bootloader.

Your CIRCUITPY drive should appear!

You're all set! Go to the next pages.

Option 3 - Use Chrome Browser To Upload BIN file

If for some reason you cannot get esptool to run, you can always try using the Chrome-browser version of esptool we have written. This is handy if you don't have Python on your computer, or something is really weird with your setup that makes esptool not run (which happens sometimes and isn't worth debugging!) You can follow along on the Web Serial ESPTool page and either load the UF2 bootloader and then come back to Option 1 on this page, or you can download the CircuitPython BIN file directly using the tool in the same manner as the bootloader.

Page last edited March 08, 2024

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Code the MagTag Slideshow Viewer

First, make sure you've installed the fundamental MagTag libraries as shown on the previous page.

Text Editor

Adafruit recommends using the Mu editor for editing your CircuitPython code. You can get more info in this guide.

Alternatively, you can use any text editor that saves simple text files.

Code

To use with CircuitPython, you need to first install a few libraries, into the lib folder on your CIRCUITPY drive. Then you need to update code.py with the example script.

Thankfully, we can do this in one go. In the example below, click the Download Project Bundle button below to download the necessary libraries and the code.py file in a zip file. Extract the contents of the zip file, open the directory Magtag_Slideshow/ and then click on the directory that matches the version of CircuitPython you're using and copy the contents of that directory to your CIRCUITPY drive.

Your CIRCUITPY drive should now look similar to the following image:

CIRCUITPY

Image Prep

You can use the images included with the .zip download as a guide for making new images -- and we've got a whole guide on preparing graphics for e-ink displays called, wait for it... Preparing Graphics for E-Ink Displays!

The recommended specifications for the MagTag Slideshow* images are as follows:

  • .bmp file format
  • 4-bit indexed (these are nice and small, and it's a four-shades-of-grey display, so these look just as good as any higher bit depth)
  • 296 x 128 pixels

*note, there are different methods in CircuitPython for displaying images on e-ink displays, so for other projects you may need to use different bit-depths.

circuitpython_slides.jpg
Download Project Bundle
Copy Code 
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 John Park for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

# Magtag Slideshow
# auto plays .bmp images in /slides folder
# press left and right buttons to go back or forward one slide
# press down button to toggle autoplay mode
# press up button to toggle sound

import time
import terminalio
from adafruit_magtag.magtag import MagTag
from adafruit_slideshow import PlayBackOrder, SlideShow, PlayBackDirection

magtag = MagTag()


def blink(color, duration):
    magtag.peripherals.neopixel_disable = False
    magtag.peripherals.neopixels.fill(color)
    time.sleep(duration)
    magtag.peripherals.neopixel_disable = True


RED = 0x880000
GREEN = 0x008800
BLUE = 0x000088
YELLOW = 0x884400
CYAN = 0x0088BB
MAGENTA = 0x9900BB
WHITE = 0x888888

blink(WHITE, 0.3)

# pylint: disable=no-member
magtag.add_text(
    text_font=terminalio.FONT,
    text_position=(
        5,
        (magtag.graphics.display.height // 2) - 1,
    ),
    text_scale=3,
)
magtag.set_text("MagTag Slideshow")
time.sleep(5)
magtag.add_text(
    text_font=terminalio.FONT,
    text_position=(3, 120),
    text_scale=1,
)
magtag.set_text("  back        mute      pause/play     fwd", 1)
time.sleep(8)

timestamp = time.monotonic()
sound_toggle = True  # state of sound feedback
autoplay_toggle = True  # state of autoplay
auto_pause = 60  # time between slides in auto mode

# Create the slideshow object that plays through alphabetically.
slideshow = SlideShow(
    magtag.graphics.display,
    None,
    auto_advance=autoplay_toggle,
    folder="/slides",
    loop=True,
    order=PlayBackOrder.ALPHABETICAL,
    dwell=auto_pause,
)

while True:
    slideshow.update()
    if magtag.peripherals.button_a_pressed:
        if sound_toggle:
            magtag.peripherals.play_tone(220, 0.15)
        blink(YELLOW, 0.4)
        slideshow.direction = PlayBackDirection.BACKWARD
        time.sleep(5)
        slideshow.advance()

    if magtag.peripherals.button_b_pressed:
        if not sound_toggle:
            magtag.peripherals.play_tone(660, 0.15)
            blink(CYAN, 0.4)
        else:
            blink(MAGENTA, 0.4)
        sound_toggle = not sound_toggle

    if magtag.peripherals.button_c_pressed:
        if not autoplay_toggle:
            if sound_toggle:
                magtag.peripherals.play_tone(440, 0.15)
            blink(GREEN, 0.4)
            autoplay_toggle = True
            slideshow.direction = PlayBackDirection.FORWARD
            slideshow.auto_advance = True
        else:
            if sound_toggle:
                magtag.peripherals.play_tone(110, 0.15)
            blink(RED, 0.4)
            autoplay_toggle = False
            slideshow.auto_advance = False

    if magtag.peripherals.button_d_pressed:
        if sound_toggle:
            magtag.peripherals.play_tone(880, 0.15)
        blink(BLUE, 0.4)
        slideshow.direction = PlayBackDirection.FORWARD
        time.sleep(5)
        slideshow.advance()

    time.sleep(0.01)
View on GitHub

How It Works

Libraries

We import libraries to take care of the heavy lifting, in this case:

Download File
Copy Code 
import time
import terminalio
from adafruit_magtag.magtag import MagTag
from adafruit_slideshow import PlayBackOrder, SlideShow, PlayBackDirection

The time library allows us to do some pausing between steps.

In order to easily display a title and some labels, the terminalio library gives us a typeface to use.

The adafruit_magtag library makes it very simple to set up the MagTag's display, use the buttons, NeoPixels, and speaker.

The adafruit_slideshow library similarly is a convenience library that makes it a snap to run a slideshow on the device!

Setup

There are a number of setup steps we'll take next. First, we create the MagTag() object named magtag (all lower-case is easier to type anyway!).

Next, we'll create a function called blink() in order to solve the Riemann Hypothesis. OK, OK, just kidding; it'll be used to blink the NeoPixels.

Download File
Copy Code 
def blink(color, duration):
    magtag.peripherals.neopixel_disable = False
    magtag.peripherals.neopixels.fill(color)
    time.sleep(duration)
    magtag.peripherals.neopixel_disable = True

Notice how there's no need for a separate NeoPixel setup, we can simply call them with the magtag.peripherals.neopixels commands.

The function has two arguments -- color and duration -- which make it simple to blink a particular color for a particular time period.

Next, we'll define some color variable names.

Download File
Copy Code 
RED = 0x880000
GREEN = 0x008800
BLUE = 0x000088
YELLOW = 0x884400
CYAN = 0x0088BB
MAGENTA = 0x9900BB
WHITE = 0x888888

And then we will flash the lights white upon startup:

blink(WHITE, 0.3)

Text

Next up, we'll use the magtag library's text commands to put a title and some instructional labels on screen.

Download File
Copy Code 
magtag.add_text(
    text_font=terminalio.FONT,
    text_position=(
        5,
        (magtag.graphics.display.height // 2) - 1,
    ),
    text_scale=3,
)
magtag.set_text("MagTag Slideshow")
time.sleep(5)
magtag.add_text(
    text_font=terminalio.FONT,
    text_position=(3, 120),
    text_scale=1,
)
magtag.set_text("  back        mute      pause/play     fwd", 1)

Note that each instance of text can be referred to by index number, so the first one is index 0, and the second is index 1, which appears as the second argument in this line:

magtag.set_text(" back mute pause/play fwd", 1)

Variables

We set a few variables that will used to track states and timing.

Download File
Copy Code 
sound_toggle = True  # state of sound feedback
autoplay_toggle = True  # state of autoplay
auto_pause = 60  # time between slides in auto mode

Slideshow Setup

The final bit of setup is to create the slideshow object:

Download File
Copy Code 
slideshow = SlideShow(
    magtag.graphics.display,
    backlight_pwm=None,
    auto_advance=autoplay_toggle,
    folder="/slides",
    loop=True,
    order=PlayBackOrder.ALPHABETICAL,
    dwell=auto_pause,
)

This sets up the slideshow to:

  • use the MagTag display
  • there is no backlight! so don't try
  • sets the auto advance on (initially)
  • specifies the folder for bitmaps
  • sets looping on, the playback order is alphabetical (RANDOM is the other option)
  • the dwell time between slides is set to 60 seconds

Main Loop

In the main loop of the program, the slideshow.update() line is all that's needed to run the slideshow with the initial settings! Everything else in the code here is for using the buttons.

Download File
Copy Code 
if magtag.peripherals.button_a_pressed:
        if sound_toggle:
            magtag.peripherals.play_tone(220, 0.15)
        blink(YELLOW, 0.4)
        slideshow.direction = PlayBackDirection.BACKWARD
        time.sleep(5)
        slideshow.advance()

    if magtag.peripherals.button_b_pressed:
        if not sound_toggle:
            magtag.peripherals.play_tone(660, 0.15)
            blink(CYAN, 0.4)
        else:
            blink(MAGENTA, 0.4)
        sound_toggle = not sound_toggle

    if magtag.peripherals.button_c_pressed:
        if not autoplay_toggle:
            if sound_toggle:
                magtag.peripherals.play_tone(440, 0.15)
            blink(GREEN, 0.4)
            autoplay_toggle = True
            slideshow.direction = PlayBackDirection.FORWARD
            slideshow.auto_advance = True
        else:
            if sound_toggle:
                magtag.peripherals.play_tone(110, 0.15)
            blink(RED, 0.4)
            autoplay_toggle = False
            slideshow.auto_advance = False

    if magtag.peripherals.button_d_pressed:
        if sound_toggle:
            magtag.peripherals.play_tone(880, 0.15)
        blink(BLUE, 0.4)
        slideshow.direction = PlayBackDirection.FORWARD
        time.sleep(5)
        slideshow.advance()

The A button and D button are used for reversing and advancing the slideshow by one slide, respectively. You can see the we play a quick beep sound if sound is enabled. The NeoPixels are also blinked a unique color depending on the direction.

The B button toggles the sound on or off each time it is pressed.

And, finally, the C button will toggle the auto advance state on and off.

Load up some images and give it all a try! When the player starts it will automatically advance and loop the slides. 

Press the C button to pause playback, press it again to resume. You'll see the NeoPixels blink red for "pause" and "green" for resume. 

Want to advance to the next slide, just press the D button. You can go back one slide by pressing the A button.

Oh, and lastly, if you don't want to hear beeps when you press the buttons, you can toggle sound by pressing the B button.

Page last edited March 08, 2024

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