Raspberry Pi Weather & Time Wallpaper Generator

This is a time and weather station for your Raspberry Pi. It displays the current time and weather conditions with beautiful, AI-generated wallpapers that change based on the time of day and weather.

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Features

• Time × Weather combinations: Loops through every entry in both JSON maps.
  • Time examples: sunrise, morning, midday, afternoon, sunset, dusk, evening, night
  • Weather examples: CLEAR, PARTLY_CLOUDY, RAIN, SNOW, THUNDERSTORM, etc.
• Style packs: Choose from multiple art directions (e.g., minimal-gradient, flat-illustration, neon-glow).
• Prompt saving: Each generated image has its prompt stored in _prompts/ for audit/re-use.
• Auto-resize/crop: Images are automatically resized to match your configured window dimensions (default: 1000x600).
• CLI options: Control style, size, backoff timing, output directories, etc.

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Requirements

• Raspberry Pi OS (Bookworm/Bullseye) on a Pi 4 or Pi 5
• Python 3.11+ recommended 3.13
• OpenAI API key
• Dependencies: openai, pillow, PyQt5

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🛠 Complete Raspberry Pi Setup Guide

1️⃣ System Preparation

Update your Raspberry Pi system and install basic dependencies:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y git python3 python3-pip python3-venv
python3 --version

✅ Recommended: Python 3.13

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2️⃣ Clone and Setup Project

Navigate to your preferred project directory and clone the repository:

cd ~/repos  # or your preferred location
git clone mobjack/weatherPi
cd weatherPi

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3️⃣ Create Virtual Environment

Create and activate a Python virtual environment:

cd <to path where clone was downloaded>
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip wheel

Confirm it's active:

python -V

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4️⃣ Install PyQt5

This project uses PyQt5 for the on-screen user interface. Choose one of these options:

🔵 Option A — Install PyQt5 via apt (Recommended)

This installs the prebuilt Qt and PyQt5 packages for Raspberry Pi OS:

sudo apt install -y python3-pyqt5 pyqt5-dev-tools qtbase5-dev qt5-qmake

If you want the apt-installed PyQt5 accessible inside your virtual environment, recreate it with system packages visible:

deactivate  # if your venv is active
python3 -m venv .venv --system-site-packages
source .venv/bin/activate

Test that PyQt5 works:

python -c "from PyQt5 import QtCore; print(QtCore.QT_VERSION_STR)"

This is the fastest and most reliable option on Raspberry Pi.

🟢 Option B — Build PyQt5 from Source (pip only)

If you prefer PyQt5 isolated inside the virtual environment, you can build from source:

1. Install the Qt development headers and required libraries:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install -y build-essential python3-dev qtbase5-dev qtbase5-dev-tools qtchooser qt5-qmake libgl1-mesa-dev libxkbcommon-x11-0 libxcb-xinerama0

2. Activate your venv and install PyQt5:

   source .venv/bin/activate
   pip install --upgrade pip wheel sip
   pip install PyQt5>=5.15.11

3. Verify qmake exists if build errors occur:

   which qmake || echo "qmake missing"
   qmake -v

⚠️ Building may take several minutes. For Python 3.13, consider using Option A.

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5️⃣ Install Project Dependencies

Install the remaining project dependencies:

If your project has a requirements.txt file:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Otherwise install manually:

pip install openai pillow

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6️⃣ Configure Application Settings

Copy the example configuration file and update it with your settings:

cp conf/weather.conf.example conf/weather.conf

Edit conf/weather.conf and update these required settings:

Required API Keys:

• OPENAI_API_KEY - Your OpenAI API key for AI-generated wallpapers
• OPENWEATHER_API_KEY - Your OpenWeatherMap API key for weather data

Location Settings:

• LOCATION_ZIP_CODE - Your zip code for weather data
• LOCATION_NAME - Your city and state name

Optional Settings (defaults work fine):

• USE_TEXT_ICONS / USE_IMAGE_ICONS - Choose between text or image weather icons
• TIME_UPDATE_INTERVAL - How often time display updates (default: 1 minute)
• WEATHER_UPDATE_INTERVAL - How often weather data refreshes (default: 30 minutes)
• WINDOW_WIDTH / WINDOW_HEIGHT - Window dimensions in pixels (default: 1000x600)
• MOTION_SENSOR_PIN - GPIO pin for motion sensor (default: 18)
• DISPLAY_TIMEOUT - How long display stays on after motion (default: 60 seconds)
• MOTION_TEST_MODE - Set to true for testing without hardware

Window Configuration:

The application window size can be customized to match your display or preferences:

# Window Configuration
# Window dimensions (width x height)
WINDOW_WIDTH=1000
WINDOW_HEIGHT=600

Common display sizes:

• Raspberry Pi 7" Touchscreen: WINDOW_WIDTH=800 WINDOW_HEIGHT=480
• Standard Desktop: WINDOW_WIDTH=1000 WINDOW_HEIGHT=600
• Wide Display: WINDOW_WIDTH=1200 WINDOW_HEIGHT=800
• Full HD: WINDOW_WIDTH=1920 WINDOW_HEIGHT=1080

The wallpaper generator will automatically use these same dimensions to ensure perfect fit.

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7️⃣ Test the Installation

Run your application to confirm everything works:

source .venv/bin/activate
python bin/weather_ui.py

You should see your PyQt5 interface display without errors.

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🧠 Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
qmake not found	sudo apt install -y qt5-qmake
"xcb plugin" error	sudo apt install -y libxcb-xinerama0
No PyQt5 wheel for Python 3.13	Use Option A (apt) or downgrade to Python 3.11
GUI fails under Wayland	Install X11: sudo apt install -y xserver-xorg
Wrong Python version	python3 -m venv --upgrade .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
API key not found	Ensure OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable is set

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🚀 Running the Application

Once setup is complete, you can run the application:

# Activate virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

# Run the main weather application
python bin/weather_app.py

# Or run the wallpaper generator
python bin/generate_wallpapers.py

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This setup ensures consistent behavior across macOS (development) and Raspberry Pi (deployment) environments using PyQt5.