Inspired by other projects, that put eInk displays into picture frames, and showed various data, I decided I also wanted to make one for myself.

I was also annoyed by having to check different apps, to get some info about my apartment and the weather outside, when I could just look at a dashboard on my wall.

It's split into three parts:

1. backend service, that fetches all the data (from my thermostats and a weather api)
2. backend service, that uses the data, and renders it into an image. The image is formatted, so it can be sent directly to the display
3. the device, an esp32, is connected to an eink display. It connects to my wifi, fetches the generated image, and updates the display. The whole thing is contained in a picture frame

The device only needs to be charged every couple months. The esp32 only is active for a couple seconds every hour (but not during the night), otherwise it's in deep sleep.

This was also a big reason, I added more features to opsCanvas. Like text and svg rendering.