micropython-samples/SSD1306

ssd1306: Introduction

The official SSD1306 OLED display driver supports a single 8x8 pixel monospaced font. Users of the 128x64 displays in particular may wish to use larger fonts. This provides a means of extending the official driver to support this. Suitable font files may be created from standard ttf or otf files using the utility presented here.

Requires firmware dated 1st Dec 2017 or later.

A few users have pointed out limitations in the Writer class. While it works it is a rather minimal "proof of concept" for the font creator. PR's offering enhancements will be gratefully considered.

The font file format is something of a "given" as it is used elsewhere. So any PR requiring this to be changed is unlikely to find favour.

Main README

Release notes

V0.21 21st March 2017 The Writer class now uses the framebuf blit method. This works for monochrome devices using 1-bit colour mapping. Example code is provided for rendering to colour devices: the framebuf class does not yet offer an effective way to handle colour mapping when blitting between buffers with differing colour maps.

Note that framebuf scrolling does not clear the exposed region of the screen. This is by design but see issue #2692.

Files

1. ssd1306_test.py A simple test program.
2. ssd1306.py A snapshot of the current official driver.
3. writer.py A generic Writer class. Keeps track of the text insertion point over multiple fonts, handles newline and vertical scrolling if required.

In addition several font files are provided as samples.

Getting started

The file ssd1306_test.py may need editing to match your hardware notably the values of WIDTH and HEIGHT which are set to 128x64 (w*h) pixels. Wiring details are included in code comments but may be changed if required as soft I2C and SPI interfaces are specified.

Its principal testing was performed on Pyboards but I'd expect it to be portable to any device supporting the official driver and the machine module.

Copy files 1-3 and freesans20.py to the target and issue

import ssd1306_test
ssd1306_test.test() # If it uses an I2C connection
ssd1306_test.test(True) # If it uses SPI

Principle of Operation

Font files are converted to Python modules for ease of use and also (optionally) to enable the modules to be frozen as bytecode to reduce RAM requirements.

The user program should import all fonts which are to be used and declare a Writer instance for each one. Rendering text at the current insertion point is then simply a matter of issuing the appropriate writer's printstring method. After issuing all such calls required by your application the display should be updated by issuing

ssd.show()

The Writer class

The principal interaction with the driver is via this class. One instance should be created for each font in use. Its function is to keep track of the text insertion point over successive uses with multiple fonts and to handle newline characters and vertical scrolling. Its behaviour when text overruns the end of a line or the bottom of the screen may be controlled using its set_clip method.

Methods

1. Constructor This takes the ssd display instance and the font module as mandatory args.
2. printstring Takes a text string as argument and renders it at the current insertion point. Respects newline characters.

Class methods

1. set_textpos Mandatory integer args row, col defined in pixels relative to the top left hand corner of the display. Sets the current text insertion point. The coordinates of a glyph refer to its top left corner. The initial default is (0,0) with text being rendered at the top left of the display.
2. set_clip Mandatory boolean args row_clip, col_clip. These define behaviour when text overruns the physical width or height of the display. By default text overrunning the display width will continue on the next row. Setting col_clip overrides this such that overrunning text is lost. Similarly, by default text overrunning the bottom of the display will cause text above to scroll up to accommodate it. Setting row_clip will override this behaviour causing text to be clipped.

Use of font_to_py.py

To convert font files to Python for use with this driver the default (vertical) mapping and bit order should be used. The only optional argument which may be needed is -f if fixed-width rendering is desired.

License

Any code placed here is released under the MIT License (MIT).
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Peter Hinch
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.