The Raspberry Pi Thread [6]

This "should" work on the PICO Explorer Base, if I didn't miss something.

Code:

# This example lets you plug a BME280 breakout into your Pico Explorer to make a little indoor weather station, with barometer style descriptions.

import utime

from breakout_bme280 import BreakoutBME280
from pimoroni_i2c import PimoroniI2C

# Pico Explorer boilerplate
import picoexplorer as display
width = display.get_width()
height = display.get_height()
display_buffer = bytearray(width * height * 2)
display.init(display_buffer)

PINS_BREAKOUT_GARDEN = {"sda": 4, "scl": 5}
PINS_PICO_EXPLORER = {"sda": 20, "scl": 21}

i2c = PimoroniI2C(**PINS_PICO_EXPLORER)
bme = BreakoutBME280(i2c)

# lets set up some pen colours to make drawing easier
tempcolour = display.create_pen(255, 255, 255)  # this colour will get changed in a bit
humidcolour = display.create_pen(255, 255, 255)  # this colour will get changed in a bit
presscolour = display.create_pen(255, 255, 255)  # this colour will get changed in a bit
white = display.create_pen(255, 255, 255)
black = display.create_pen(0, 0, 0)
red = display.create_pen(255, 0, 0)


# converts the temperature into a barometer-type description and pen colour
def describe_temperature(temperature):
    global tempcolour
    if temperature < 0:
        description = "very cold"
        tempcolour = display.create_pen(0, 0, 255)
    elif 0 <= temperature < 20:
        description = "cold"
        tempcolour = display.create_pen(255, 255, 0)
    elif 13 <= temperature < 25:
        description = "temperate"
        tempcolour = display.create_pen(0, 255, 0)
    elif 25 <= temperature < 30:
        description = "hot"
        tempcolour = display.create_pen(255, 140, 0)
    elif temperature >= 30:
        description = "very hot"
        tempcolour = display.create_pen(255, 0, 0)
    else:
        description = ""
        tempcolour = display.create_pen(0, 0, 0)
    return description

# converts pressure into barometer-type description
def describe_pressure(pressure):
    global presscolour
    if pressure < 982:
        description = "storm"
        presscolour = display.create_pen(255, 0, 0)
    elif 982 <= pressure < 1004:
        description = "rain"
        presscolour = display.create_pen(255, 255, 0)
    elif 1004 <= pressure < 1026:
        description = "change"
        presscolour = display.create_pen(0, 255, 0)
    elif 1026 <= pressure < 1048:
        description = "fair"
        presscolour = display.create_pen(0, 0, 255)
    elif pressure >= 1048:
        description = "dry"
        presscolour = display.create_pen(255, 140, 0)
    else:
        description = ""
        presscolour = display.create_pen(0, 0, 0)
    return description


# converts humidity into good/bad description
def describe_humidity(humidity):
    global humidcolour
    if humidity < 30:
        description = "dry"
        humidcolour = display.create_pen(255, 140, 0)
    elif 30 <= humidity <= 60:
        description = "good"
        humidcolour = display.create_pen(0, 255, 0)
    elif 60 < humidity < 80:
        description = "humid"
        humidcolour = display.create_pen(255, 255, 0)
    elif humidity >= 80:
        description = "humid"
        humidcolour = display.create_pen(255, 0, 0)        
        
    return description


while True:
    # read the sensors
    temperature, pressure, humidity = bme.read()

    # pressure comes in pascals which is a reight long number, lets convert it to the more manageable hPa
    pressurehpa = pressure / 100

    # draw a thermometer/barometer thingy
    display.set_pen(125, 125, 125)
    display.circle(190, 190, 40)
    display.rectangle(180, 45, 20, 140)

    # switch to red to draw the 'mercury'
    display.set_pen(red)
    display.circle(190, 190, 30)
    thermometerheight = int(120 / 30 * temperature)
    if thermometerheight > 120:
        thermometerheight = 120
    if thermometerheight < 1:
        thermometerheight = 1
    display.rectangle(186, 50 + 120 - thermometerheight, 10, thermometerheight)

    # drawing the temperature text
    display.set_pen(white)
    display.text("temperature:", 10, 10, 240, 3)
    display.set_pen(tempcolour)
    display.text('{:.1f}'.format(temperature) + 'C', 10, 30, 240, 5)
    display.set_pen(white)
    display.text(describe_temperature(temperature), 10, 60, 240, 3)

    # and the pressure text
    display.set_pen(white)
    display.text("pressure:", 10, 90, 240, 3)
    display.set_pen(presscolour)
    display.text('{:.0f}'.format(pressurehpa) + 'mb', 10, 110, 240, 5)
    display.set_pen(white)
    display.text(describe_pressure(pressurehpa), 10, 140, 240, 3)

    # and the humidity text
    display.set_pen(white)
    display.text("humidity:", 10, 170, 240, 3)
    display.set_pen(humidcolour)
    display.text('{:.0f}'.format(humidity) + '%', 10, 190, 240, 5)
    display.set_pen(white)
    display.text(describe_humidity(humidity), 10, 220, 240, 3)

    # time to update the display
    display.update()

    # waits for 1 second and clears to black
    utime.sleep(1)
    display.set_pen(black)
    display.clear()

It goes in spurts for me. I'll tinker for a while, then take a break. Sometimes its a short break sometimes its a long break. Depends on what else is going on and how I'm feeling pain wise.
My order is supposed to be here Wednesday. Most of it will be put away for Christmas but there are a few extra odds and ends I can tinker with. Extra stuff for small side projects. I'll catch up on yard work etc in the mean time and take a break from Pi stuff until it gets here.

One way to do it without getting lost in the process is to make a text file with the instructions in it. Make each line a different step etc. "Copy" the text file to the PC or Pi your doing it on, and edit the copied file as you go. Delete what you do as you do it. I've done it a few times, I use this method when setting up a RTC on a Pi. Doing it this way you can just clip and past the terminal commands in instead of typing them and maybe making a typo
As an example:

Enable i2c via raspberry Pi Configuration

sudo pip3 install rv3028

or

git clone https://github.com/pimoroni/rv3028-python`
cd rv3028-python
sudo ./install.sh

Run set-time.py and then get-time.py from examples folder

Then open a terminal window and run

sudo i2cdetect -y 1

The RV3028 shows up as 52

Then edit the config.txt
sudo nano /boot/config.txt
and add

dtoverlay=i2c-rtc,rv3028

ctrl x, y, enter
sudo reboot

Then open the terminal window and run
sudo i2cdetect -y 1
The 52 is now UU which means its under system control

Next disable the “fake hwclock” which interferes with the "real" hwclock

sudo apt-get -y remove fake-hwclock
sudo update-rc.d -f fake-hwclock remove
sudo systemctl disable fake-hwclock

Now with the fake-hw clock off, you can start the original ‘hardware clock’ script.

sudo nano /lib/udev/hwclock-set
and comment out these three lines:

#if [ -e /run/systemd/system ] ; then
# exit 0
#fi

Also comment out the two lines

#/sbin/hwclock --rtc=$dev --systz --badyear
#/sbin/hwclock --rtc=$dev --systz

ctrl x, y, enter

Sync time from Pi to RTC

sudo hwclock -w
sudo hwclock -r

sudo reboot

I've been doing some micro python sleuthing for the last few days.
How to use Pico Breakout Garden Base Rear SPI socket? - Support - Pimoroni Buccaneers

Tried a bunch of hunches that didn't work and then got lucky. It's easy peasy in regular Python, and wasn't hard at all to figure out. How its done in Micro Python is similar but actually quite different. It also appears to depend on who wrote the library / driver. I had to dig through all kinds of Pimoroni github files for clues. It was all giberish to me but there were clues in there. It was very satisfying to figure it out.

Pimoroni order just arrived.