Inky wHAT - Large e-Ink Display

by Pimoroni

Inky wHAT is a 400x300 pixel electronic paper (ePaper / eInk / EPD) display for Raspberry Pi, a larger version of our popular Inky pHAT display, with more than 5x the number of pixels, and available in three colour schemes - red/black/white, yellow/black/white, and black/white.

The larger display opens up many more possibilities, with significantly more space to display information. Like Inky pHAT, the display is crisp and readable in bright sunlight.

Use Inky wHAT as a detailed weather display, as a calendar, for daily news reports, to list household chores, or you could even use it as a tiny DIY e-reader to read your e-books. 

Features

  • 4.2" EPD display (400x300 pixels)
  • 40-pin female header included to boost height for full-size Pis
  • Standoffs included to securely attach to your Pi
  • Additional pins, including I2C and SPI, broken out
  • Inky wHAT pinout
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
  • Python library
  • Comes fully assembled

Multi-colour EPD displays, like the one on Inky wHAT, use ingenious electrophoresis to pull coloured particles up and down on the display. The coloured particles reflect light, unlike most display types, meaning that they're visible under bright lights. It takes approximately 25 seconds to refresh the display.

Everything comes fully-assembled, and there's no soldering required! The display is securely stuck down to the Inky wHAT PCB and connected via a ribbon cable. Just pop Inky wHAT on your Pi and run our installer to get everything set up!

We've also broken out some handy pins including I2C and SPI, on the back of Inky wHAT, letting you connect additional devices like our breakouts and allowing you to show their data right on the display.

Inky wHAT work with any 40-pin version of the Pi, including Pi Zero and Pi Zero W.

Software

Our Python library takes the stress out of displaying text and images on Inky wHAT, and we've put together a few examples to show off Inky wHAT's capabilities. 

Notes

  • The Inky wHAT display is made from glass so it's pretty fragile. Be careful not to drop it or press too hard on it, or it will crack. When fitting the wHAT, grip at the edges of the board rather than pressing on top.
  • Overall dimensions: 91x77x8.5mm (WxHxD, depth includes header and display)
  • Display usable area dimensions: 84.8x63.6mm (WxH), 4.2" diagonal

11 customer reviews

2 years ago
ARRR GEEE BEEEE! I'm driving it with a microcontroller + circuitpython by adapting an Adafruit LCD library for the ST7565 (almost the same as the ST7567 in the GFX hat) and porting the Pimoroni SN3218 library to circuitpython. Works great! I don't need capacitive touch so not bothering with that.
by Tobias about GFX HAT - Retro LCD with RGB Backlight via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Prompt delivery. Worked out of the box with their examples. Great price at discounted price of £9. Perhaps some more detailed documentation would be useful.
by Andrew about GFX HAT - Retro LCD with RGB Backlight via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
An incredibly priced device, great screen, the buttons work very well and the LEDs for each buttons are very appreciated. The RGB backlight with individually control zones is a great touch. I am currently using it with a pi to received and display SMS messages.
by Ryan about GFX HAT - Retro LCD with RGB Backlight via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Lovely upgrade to my display-o-tron, and inky phat... and though it’s not as higher resolution as the inky Phat, the ability to refresh the data quicker makes it much more useful
by neil about GFX HAT - Retro LCD with RGB Backlight via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
Just bought my second one of these, great for small embedded projects. Pimoroni is becoming a favourite here too, I've bought quite a few things now and the goodies have always arrived quickly.
by Brian about GFX HAT - Retro LCD with RGB Backlight via REVIEWS.io

User photos