Waveshare 4.26" ePaper Display - TypeScript Library

A TypeScript library for controlling the Waveshare 4.26 inch ePaper display (800x480) on Raspberry Pi via SPI interface.

Features

• SPI communication with the ePaper display
• GPIO control for display management
• Buffer-based drawing operations
• Basic graphics primitives (lines, rectangles)
• Sending of 1-bit bmp images to the display
• Compatible with Raspberry Pi 5 (and earlier models)

Hardware Requirements

• Raspberry Pi (tested on Pi 5, compatible with Pi 3/4, including Zero i theoretically)
• Waveshare 4.26 inch ePaper display (800x480) HAT or any other compatible model of Waveshare.
• SPI connection enabled on Raspberry Pi

Installation instructions on the Raspberry Pi

1. Enable SPI on your Raspberry Pi:

sudo raspi-config
# Navigate to: Interface Options -> SPI -> Enable
# Reboot
sudo reboot
# Install gpiod for GPIO control
sudo apt update
sudo apt install gpiod
# check the gpio chip number,probably 0, do you see gpio pins?
gpioinfo -c0
# Edit /boot/firmware/config.txt and add
spidev.bufsiz=48000
# This will allow us to write a full image to the display buffer in one go
# as 800x480/8=48000 bytes. Divided by 8 because each byte holds 8 pixels (1 bit per pixel)
# if you have a different display size, adjust accordingly.
# if you get : Error writing to SPI device: spi xfer/read/write failed, you miscalculated the buffer size and set it too small.

2. Install Node:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash
# restart terminal or source ~/.bashrc
nvm install 22

3. Clone the project:

git clone https://github.com/mmolhoek/waveshare.git
cd waveshare

4. Install dependencies:

npm install

Usage

npm run example

Troubleshooting

SPI not available

Make sure SPI is enabled:

ls /dev/spi*

You should see /dev/spidev0.0 and /dev/spidev0.1.

Permission denied

Run with sudo or add user to spi and gpio groups:

sudo usermod -a -G spi,gpio $USER

Then log out and back in.

Display not responding

• Check all pin connections. see the layout on the waveshare wiki.

Notes

• The ePaper display retains its image even when powered off.
• Deep sleep mode significantly reduces power consumption.
• Always call cleanup() when done to properly release GPIO resources.

References

• Waveshare 4.26" ePaper HAT Manual
• Waveshare GitHub Repository

License

MIT

Publishing to npm (for maintainers)

To publish this package to npm, follow these steps:

1. Make sure you are logged in to npm:

npm login

2 Build the project:

npm run build

3 Publish the package:

npm run publish:npm

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.