Pi-Chrome Project

Objective: Learn how to connect an OLED display to the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins and display some metrics, most importantly, your Raspberry Pi’s IP address.

Materials: Chromebook, Ethernet Cable, Micro SD card w/ Ubuntu Linux 22.04 LTS Image, OLED Display, Raspberry Pi, soldering flux (optional), soldering iron (optional), solder (optional), USB-C Power Supply

In this lesson we are going to connect an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) to our Raspberry Pi.  This will alleviate having to use a separate display and keyboard every time we want to log into our Raspberry Pi.  The end goal here is to have the OLED display show several metrics upon boot, most importantly, the Raspberry Pi’s IP address.  If we know this, we can log into our Raspberry Pi using our Chromebook along with the Secure Shell extension.

This entire process is modeled closely after Michael Klements article on adding an OLED display to a Raspberry Pi.  The article describes the process when using the Raspberry Pi’s OS Bullseye, but we’ll follow along using the linked GitHub Gist, which describes how to get the OLED display going for our Ubuntu Server.  Michael Klements has many DIY articles and a dedicated YouTube channel.  If you enjoy tinkering with microcomputers, microcontrollers, and other tech, I would highly encourage you to check out this resource.

First, we need to physically connect the OLED display to our Raspberry Pi.  Please follow the video tutorial below.

Next, we need to follow the steps outlined in the GitHub Gist.

And finally, we need to test our display to make certain we can see our broadcasted IP address.

We’ll also temporarily secure our OLED display to our Raspberry Pi using electrical tape.  In a future lesson, I’ll show you how to 3D print a modified Canakit case that can hold the display.

Resource Links:

GitHub Gist for OLED display setup on Ubuntu Server: https://gist.github.com/Nguimjeu/6e86eff080beb3ed1589c7bd3d3b8e7f

Michael Klements DIY YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelKlements

Michael Klements OLED Display Article: https://www.the-diy-life.com/add-an-oled-stats-display-to-raspberry-pi-os-bullseye/

Pictures:

Parts for OLED Installation

Wire Wrap Connections on GPIO Pins on Raspberry Pi

Wire Wrap Connections on OLED (Picture 1)

Wire Wrap Connections on OLED (Picture 2)

Videos:

Physically Connecting an OLED Display to a Raspberry Pi