---
title: "Garmin Eink"
date: 2026-02-20T15:42:06Z
draft: false
image: /projects/garmin-eink/featured.jpg
summary: "Using an Eink display with an ESP32 to track and motivate me for a virtual running challenge"
tags: ["ESP32", "Self-Hosting"]
---

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### 📋 Project Highlights
* **Goal:** Show my running progress on my desk
* **Tech Stack:** Python, ESP32, C#
* **Outcome:** A clean and simple setup that works reliably

For christmas my wife got me a virtual running challenge. I have to run 80km with a smart watch and at the end I get a nice Scooby-Doo medal. The issue is, now that everything requires its own app I forget to open it. My Garmin watch tracks all my running and syncs it to the running app but I wanted a way see my progress, clearly on my desk in the hope it will motivate me to get out and run more.

I had a waveshare 4.2" eink display in my drawer that ive been looking to find a good use for. A quick search only and I found a python wrapper that can pull data from Garmin connect and suddenly I had all the pieces to put this project together.
---

### Step 1 - Getting the Garmin Data

I found this brilliant tool online called [Python Garmin Connect](https://github.com/cyberjunky/python-garminconnect) that allows you to input your Garmin account details and pull specific data from their API. The tool was installed and setup up as a system service on my server and the results servered with a Caddy web server.

### Step 2 - Displaying data on the eink screen

In VS Code I installed platform IO and connected my ESP32. The code was written to connect to wifi, grab the data from the web server and display it to the eink. I gave it a title and a progress bar with percentage to clearly show how much I have completed. I also added a Last Updated time stamp and logic to put the ESP to deep sleep and only update each morning after my typical workout time slot.

![Early basic setup](./basic-setup.jpg)

I later decided it made more sense to show todays date at the botton my the page, making it double as a basic daily calender. 

One of the greatest challenges was my desicion to include an image. An easier option would have been to buy an ESP32 with a micro SD card slot to give me an easier way of storing the image. Wanted to make this work without buying anything new I decided to stream the image from my Caddy server directly ro the display. With some AI magic I had a bash script that would convert any image I gave it to a resized monochrome bitmap suitable for the basic eink display. The great thing about using this approach is it makes changing the image for a different future challenge much easier. 

The case comes from [printables](https://www.printables.com/model/495094-waveshare-42-e-paper-stand/comments) and felt like the cleanest option. 

### 🏁 Summary & Lessons Learned
Wrap up your project here. What would you do differently next time? This provides that "closing" feel for a future employer.