Volumio with lcd 20x4 customized

SimonF · November 24, 2024, 11:13am

Hi Edrian

I’ve just tried my box of bits build and couldn’t get the LCD to work either… there seems to be a new notice about buster end of life during the pydpiper install:

DEPRECATION WARNING
Progress: 70
Status :Installing necessary utilities
This Linux distribution (raspbian buster) reached end-of-life and is no longer supported by this script.

Not sure if that’s the problem yet. Will keep looking…

/S

SimonF · November 24, 2024, 1:20pm

Hi Edrian

Still not sure about why this is happening, but managed to get it working by taking a working docker image and copying it to a new 3.631 install.

1, Install pydpiper as normal, so that it shows up in the Volumio plugin UI
2, Download this to your /home/volumio directory as a TAR file
file (link only valid for 7 days)
3, Replace the not working docker container with the downloaded one by typing sudo docker load -i ./pydpiper.tar (it takes a little while to extract and copy)
4, check your pydpiper settings via the plugin UI and click “Save” to restart the service
5, wait…

That worked for me at least

(edited to fix docker command line)

/S

Edrian_Lois_Villanue · November 25, 2024, 8:46pm

Thanks mate, I’ll try these later appreciate your help

Edit: should i use filezilla to transfer this file to home/volumio directory?

Edrian_Lois_Villanue · November 27, 2024, 3:50am

Done! Plugin Successfully Installed
Plugin installed successfully!
volumio@volumio:~$ sudo load -i ./pydpiper.tar
[sudo] password for volumio:
sudo: load: command not found

Edrian_Lois_Villanue · November 27, 2024, 4:11am

SimonF · November 28, 2024, 8:15am

Sorry!

should be: sudo docker load -i ./pydpiper.tar

Edrian_Lois_Villanue · November 28, 2024, 11:02am

ill try again, thanks
btw. how do i modify the text/script/code on my LCD
like changing position of text and changing the opening text like welcome volumio

SimonF · November 28, 2024, 3:31pm

you need to edit the Pages file in /home/volumio/pydpiper specifiied at the bottom of pydpiper UI and set the mount pount to “Local directory”:

You might have to change the ownership of the pydpiper folder so you can edit the file with:

sudo chown +R ./pydPiper

There’s a short guide to the content of the pages file here: display-configuration

The opening text is found in the splash widget section.

Widgets are placed in a canvas and then a sequence will call one or more canvas items.

Hope some of that helps.

Edrian_Lois_Villanue · November 29, 2024, 3:05am

Hi @SimonF,
Finally made to work with old ver.
My other concerns is i try to run to a latest version, the plugin is manage to install and showing lcd time time and start pyd and exiting pyd… But if i play a song nothing comes out.

SimonF · November 29, 2024, 8:53am

That’s my experience also.

I think it’s related to an update in the newer version of the socket.io component. PydPiper is requesting player state data and the new socket.io isn’t responding

SimonF · February 22, 2025, 10:37am

Hi @Edrian_Lois_Villanue

Have a look at this fork of Pydpiper: https://github.com/cedricp/pydPiper

It works with the latest volumio version and is much faster and smaller as it doesn’t use Docker anymore.

/S

Edrian_Lois_Villanue · February 22, 2025, 11:01am

Awesome! Thanks again @SimonF

SimonF · February 22, 2025, 11:10am

Only downside is that it’s not a plugin - all the config is held in /home/volumio/pydPiper/pydPiper.cfg

SimonF · February 22, 2025, 3:22pm

Fot anyone wanting to try this:

Save any files that you have customised!
Uninstall the pydPiper plugin from the Volumio UI
Open SHH with putty or similiar to the IP address of your Volumio
Clone the git repo from CedricP: git clone https://github.com/cedricp/pydPiper
Update packages: sudo apt-get update && upgrade
Install Python3: sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip netcat
Change to the pydPiper directory: cd /home/volumio/pydPiper
Install: pip3 install -r requirements.txt
edit pydPiper config: nano pydPiper.cfg - I only changed the i2c address, width, height and pagefile - YMMV
Ctrl+X to exit and save
test: python3 -m app.pydPiper
If it all works, add it as a service →
copy to /etc/systemd/system with sudo cp pydpiper.service /etc/systemd/system
change permissions: sudo chmod 777 /etc/systemd/system/pydpiper.service
reload systemctl: systemctl daemon-reload
start the service: systemctl start pydpiper.service
check with: systemctl status pydpiper.service
enable it at startup: systemctl enable pydpiper.service

If you do use this, please go and give some love to CedricP on GitHub

Karsten66 · November 21, 2025, 3:17pm

Hello experts,

perhaps you can help an old (63 years old) beginner.
I’d like to connect my Raspberry Pi 5/8GB RAM, HifiBerry DAC+ to my 20x2 HD44780 VFD display
or 20x4 LCD display using your PydPiper plugin.
Which Raspberry Pi version do I need to write to the microSD card?
And how can I install it using PuTTY?
As I said, I’m not very familiar with programming.
It would be great if you could get in touch.

Best regards,
Karsten

schroedingersdog · February 18, 2026, 1:55pm

Hi Karsten, sorry for the late reply.

You won’t need to install a RaspberryPi OS.

Instead, you will install Volumio (which basically includes a “pre-customized Raspberry OS” on its own). Official download is at Get Started - Volumio

After downloading and installing Volumio, start by configuring Volumio so that it works for you (e.g. with your music sources etc.)

Once done, you will install the PydPiper plugin (because it’s a Volumio plugin, it needs to be installed in volumio) and go through the configuration steps.

Note that your Raspberry device will then act as a dedicated MediaPlayer. This means you won’t be able to install other stuff, like with a Raspberry Pi OS. (There are options to do work around that but this is out of scope here)

Hope this helps/clarifies, regards, Thomas

Michael_B · March 3, 2026, 9:34am

Hi everyone,

i’m trying to get a 1602A-Display (Driver hd44780) working with latest volumio v4.096.
I connected the display to the GPIO-PINS:
Enable - pin 8
R/S - pin 7
D4 - pin 25
D5 - pin 24
D6 - pin 23
D7 - pin 27

I tried the dhrone pydPiper, but it didn’t work. After that i tried the instruction by simonF

Question: the second step “Uninstall the pydPiper plugin from the Volumio UI”

i can’t find any pydPiper plugin in my UI, so i didn’t do anything at this point. Problem?

Question: At the point “Install Python3” i get following error:

E: Package ‘netcat’ has no installation candidate
BUT i get the followin response: “Package netcat is a virtual package provided by:
netcat-traditional 1.10-47
netcat-openbsd 1.129-1
You shoul explicitly select one to install.”
I install both an go on.

Question: at ‘pip3 install -r requirements.txt’ i get following error:
“externally-managed-environment”
I’m stuck at this point.

Can anyone help me here?

hjf · March 12, 2026, 2:36pm

Hello ,
I’m on Volumio 4 and have no luck to get my 4x20 Display runing .
Does a newer plugin exists for Volumio 4 ?