How to set up the WaveShare Raspberry Pi PoE HAT Type (B) with display

setup-poe-hat.sh

#!/bin/bash
# 2022-01-01 Charles Godwin
#  Derived from https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/PoE_HAT_(B)
# enable i2c interface if necessary
# Read the following for details
# https://gist.github.com/CharlesGodwin/adda3532c070f6f6c735927a5d6e8555#file-waveshare-poe-hat-md
#
IS_I2C=`sudo raspi-config nonint get_i2c`
[ $IS_I2C -ne 0 ]&&sudo raspi-config nonint do_i2c 0
# install required packages
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-pip python3-pil libatlas-base-dev
sudo pip3 install RPi.GPIO smbus numpy
# cleanout artifacts if necesary
[ -d ~/PoE_HAT_B_code ] && rm -rf ~/PoE_HAT_B_code
[ -f ~/PoE_HAT_B_code.7z ] && rm -rf ~/PoE_HAT_B_code.7z
# install Waveshare libraries and examples
wget https://www.waveshare.com/w/upload/8/8b/PoE_HAT_B_code.zip
unzip -o  PoE_HAT_B_code.zip -d .
# move required parts to ~/.poe-hat directory
[ -d ~/.poe-hat ] && rm -rf ~/.poe-hat
mkdir -p ~/.poe-hat
mv PoE_HAT_B_code/python/examples/main.py ~/.poe-hat/
mv PoE_HAT_B_code/python/lib/waveshare_POE_HAT_B ~/.poe-hat/
mv PoE_HAT_B_code/python/readme_EN.txt ~/.poe-hat/PoE_HAT_B_readme.txt
# cleanup
rm PoE_HAT_B_code.zip
rm -rf PoE_HAT_B_code
rm -f $0
#
# define and enable service
#
PYTHON=`which python3 |head -n1`
cat <<EOF >poe-hat.service
[Unit]
Description=Waveshare Poe Hat B
After=network.target

[Service]
Environment=systemd=true
ExecStart=${PYTHON} ${HOME}/.poe-hat/main.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=30

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
sudo mv -f poe-hat.service /etc/systemd/system
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable poe-hat.service --now
sudo systemctl status poe-hat.service --no-pager

waveshare-poe-hat.md

I have reviewed this git project and think it's a superior solution. Try it!

This script has been tested on Raspberry Pi OS, Buster (Legacy) and Bullseye only. This installation is simpler that the Waveshare provided instructions.

The supplied program will control the fan but for it to work you must slide the FAN switch on the HAT to the P0 position.

To use the script you can download the zip file and unzip it or, copy and paste the RAW version setup-poe-hat.sh and paste it into an editor. I reccomend you use nano setup-poe-hat.sh in a Pi terminal or ssh session.

Then run bash setup-poe-hat.sh

When finished it will delete itself and any files needed only for installation. This script can be rerun. It will do a new install of the Waveshare software.

When complete a systemd service named poe-hat.service will run and start on every boot.

to remove run these commands

sudo systemctl disable poe-hat.service
sudo systemctl stop poe-hat.service
rm -rf ~/.poe-hat

Hey,

I tried another approach.

Personally I don't like having a lot dependencies around - like python. Especially for such a simple task like setting a string or turning the fan on and off. For that reason I wrote a very simple c++ which program you are able to call in your shell.

It's possible to view up to 4 rows. The text size is adapted automatically.

It comes with a very simple bash script that you can customize in any way you like. It simply calls that c++ program and doesn't need to be recompiled.

In case you are running docker, you might want to try the alpine based image.

Here are some example calls..

foo@bar:~$ sudo ./waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli fan on
foo@bar:~$ sudo ./waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli fan off
foo@bar:~$ sudo ./waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli oled "row1"
foo@bar:~$ sudo ./waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli oled "row1" "row2"
foo@bar:~$ sudo ./waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli oled "row1" "row2" "row3"
foo@bar:~$ sudo ./waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli oled "row1" "row2" "row3" "row4"

https://github.com/pietmacom/waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli
https://hub.docker.com/r/pietmacom/waveshare-poe-hat-b-cli

Hope that helps!

Marti

Wow! I like that. It has possibilities.
@mpietruschka Thanks

UPDATE: Deleted unnecessary text.

Hey everyone, I built a thing, might be of interest for some of you: https://github.com/klamann/raspi-poe-mon

I wasn't happy with the information the example library was giving us (oh, the fan is on? thanks, I didn't notice 😆), so I decided to make better use of the limited screen space ;)

Looks great. I'll try it out.

Hey everyone, I built a thing, might be of interest for some of you: https://github.com/klamann/raspi-poe-mon

I wasn't happy with the information the example library was giving us (oh, the fan is on? thanks, I didn't notice 😆), so I decided to make better use of the limited screen space ;)

i can't install it i get error(-bash: pip: command not found) and e: unable to locate package libtiff5)

i can't install it i get error(-bash: pip: command not found) and e: unable to locate package libtiff5)

Please follow the install instructions in the readme. The part that starts with sudo apt install is probably relevant for you :)

i can't install it i get error(-bash: pip: command not found) and e: unable to locate package libtiff5)

Please follow the install instructions in the readme. The part that starts with sudo apt install is probably relevant for you :)

No it's NOT going to work

I tried and found there is a libtiff6 that may work. But I'm handicapped by the manufacture changing software and OS changing things.

You can try changing the install to libtiff6 or use this git project instead. It's better software.

@qatar2030 I haven't tested the setup with older versions of raspi OS. Maybe try pip3 instead of pip? And you can use apt-cache search libtiff to find whatever version of libtiff is available for your distribution, but the software might also work without libtiff

@klamann I got it up and running but it is switching between what you have created and what I originally had on the screen. I am assuming I need to remove that from a file somewhere but I don't remember how I originally set this up. Help would be appreciated.

well, if you've been using @CharlesGodwin's script before, you can stop this service and deactivate autostart with sudo systemctl disable poe-hat.service --now. But depending on your distribution and other things you have modified on your system, this might not do the trick. If you're struggling with this, you can ask the community on https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/

Now after re-install OS lite 64 on RP4 both of @CharlesGodwin's script and your script NOT working any more any help please?

"NOT working" is not very informative. How is it not working? error in the install? screen not lighting up? fan not working? send whatever you can. If my script doesn't work, go to "https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/PoE_HAT_(B)" and follow their instructions. If that doesn't work, contact them.

well, if you've been using @CharlesGodwin's script before, you can stop this service and deactivate autostart with sudo systemctl disable poe-hat.service --now. But depending on your distribution and other things you have modified on your system, this might not do the trick. If you're struggling with this, you can ask the community on https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/

Thanks @klamann! I got this up and running, Works great! My CPU temp is up a few degrees since changing over but I also decided to use a USB thumb drive as a boot device so I'm not sure which has caused the increase in temp. When the fan is on, is it running at 100%?

Hey guys!
I was also looking for a better alternative to the PoE HAT script. Unfortunately I did not find any alternatives that fully satisfy my needs.
So after seeing what @klamann created I got inspired and made my own version written in Rut 😃
Because it's written in Rust it has very low resource usage (I'm seeing less than 4MB memory and barely any cpu)
If you want try it out and let me know what you think!
https://github.com/jackra1n/RustBerry-PoE-Monitor

@jackra1n this looks really good! makes my implementation pretty much obsolete. Well, at least my idea for the UI lives on 😄