Stuck at `Loading PIL font` message

[smokedclam]

Testing with a raspberry pi 4b. I followed the instructions to "Install with pip to virtualenv."

I get stuck at this message and the screen does not fade to black.

$ time papertty_venv/bin/papertty --driver EPD4in2 scrub
Loading PIL font /home/cam/papertty_venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/papertty/resources/tom-thumb.pil. Font size is ignored.
^C
Aborted!

real	13m0.912s
user	0m1.659s
sys	0m0.552s

Any advice?

The display is brand new and perhaps the hardware has changed since the EPD4in2 driver was written? I will repeat this test with some other displays to see if this display is the issue.

[smokedclam]

I just tried with a brand new 2.13" Touch e-Paper HAT. The screen definitely darkened but didn't seem to fade back to white. Though should I expect to see more output messages?

$ time papertty_venv/bin/papertty --driver EPD2in13v2 scrub
Loading PIL font /home/cam/papertty_venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/papertty/resources/tom-thumb.pil. Font size is ignored.
^C
Aborted!

real	0m44.182s
user	0m0.885s
sys	0m0.121s

[smokedclam]

I just tried with a third display. The display did not seem to change color in any noticeable way.

$ time papertty_venv/bin/papertty --driver EPD7in5v2 scrub
Loading PIL font /home/cam/papertty_venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/papertty/resources/tom-thumb.pil. Font size is ignored.
^C
Aborted!

real	1m10.403s
user	0m1.058s
sys	0m0.258s

$ time papertty_venv/bin/papertty --driver EPD7in5v2 terminal
Loading PIL font /home/cam/papertty_venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/papertty/resources/tom-thumb.pil. Font size is ignored.
^C
Aborted!

real	0m47.088s
user	0m1.034s
sys	0m0.195s

[nicola-mazzoni]

Hi @smokedclam I'm having the same issue. Were you able to solve it? But I have a 5.79-inch screen that isn't officially supported. I'd rather not buy another display with compatible drivers and run into the same problem. This is for a project and I absolutely need to use the terminal on an e-paper screen. I don't think the solution is to develop a kernel framebuffer module....