Setup & Running
For a fresh clone of the full workspace, see Developer onboarding — it walks through meta/bootstrap.sh, which is the canonical entry point.
Requirements
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
- MicroSD card with Raspbian Lite flashed
- SSH or UART access for initial setup
See Prerequisites for the full list of dependencies.
Running in dev mode
Dev mode uses a Unix socket for frame output. No e-ink hardware required.
# Start Xvfb (virtual framebuffer)
Xvfb :1 -screen 0 800x480x24 &
# Start the runtime, which boots the launcher (a Ren'Py game)
DISPLAY=:1 python3 -m runtime --output socket
Running on hardware
Requires the GDEM0397T81P panel connected over SPI.
Xvfb :1 -screen 0 800x480x24 &
DISPLAY=:1 python3 -m runtime --output spi
Dev vs. production output
| Mode | Output target | Use case |
|---|---|---|
--output socket | Unix socket → local viewer | Development, no hardware needed |
--output spi | C SPI driver → GDEM0397T81P | Production, real hardware |