Overview

Simple Bash scripts to automate configuration and operation of the Ulanzi TC001 Smart Pixel clock with the alternative AWTRIX 3 firmware.

Getting Started

These instructions will show how to install, configure, test and automate the operation of your Smart Pixel clock.

Prerequisites

• Bash
• jo, a small utility to create JSON objects on the command line (https://github.com/jpmens/jo)
• Cron (for automation)
• A small system which runs 24/7 (ideally), e.g. Raspberry Pi or LXC

Installation

1. Clone the repository
2. Copy config.sh.example to config.sh
3. Set IP address or name of the Smart Pixel clock in config.sh
4. Configure colors and messages in smartclock_operate

Running

Currently, three scripts are implemented: smartclock_notify, smartclock_operate, smartclock_power.

Display a custom message

./smartclock_notify "message"

Displays a message on the Smart Pixel clock. Messages longer then the display will be scrolled. The message will disappear after a couple seconds.

Set clock mode depending on time

./smartclock_operate

Depending on current time (hour only), the script sets a different configuration on the Smart Pixel clock. For testing, the hour can be overriden in the file itself.

Switch LED matrix on and off

./smartclock_power

The script will toggle the LED matrix on and off. For this, it uses a toggle file, which is configured in config.sh. The location of the file needs to be writeable for the user running the script.

Automation

1. Copy CRON.example to /etc/cron.d/smartclock and chown to root:root
2. Choose a user to run the script under
3. Set smartclock_operate to run every hour
4. If you want to turn the matrix display off e.g. during the night, set smartclock_power to run when to switch off and on again

License

See LICENSE for licensing information.

Links

• https://www.ulanzi.com/products/ulanzi-pixel-smart-clock-2882 (Hardware)
• https://github.com/Blueforcer/awtrix3 (AWTRIX 3 firmware)
• https://blueforcer.github.io/awtrix3/#/api (API)