Add display toggle switch

README.md

@@ -204,6 +204,19 @@ RAINFALL_ENABLED = True
 
 [![Example Weather Chart](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ColinWaddell/FlightTracker/refs/heads/master/assets/weather.jpg)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ColinWaddell/FlightTracker/refs/heads/master/assets/weather.jpg)
 
+### On/off switch
+A toggle switch can be wired to a GPIO on the Raspberry Pi which can then turn the display on or off, as well as pause or resume API calls.
+
+Connect your switch to pull the GPIO pin to ground when flipped on, since the pin will
+be configured with the pullup resistor enabled.
+
+To enable this, add the following to your `config.py`. Adjust `ON_OFF_SWITCH_GPIO_PIN`
+to match your setup, and make sure it is not the same GPIO pin as the loading LED.
+
+```
+ON_OFF_SWITCH_GPIO_PIN = 19
+```
+
 # License Update:
 As of April 2025, Flight Tracker is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0
 

display/__init__.py

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+import os
 import sys
 
+from gpiozero import Button
 from setup import frames
 from utilities.animator import Animator
 from utilities.overhead import Overhead
@@ -17,7 +19,6 @@
 from rgbmatrix import graphics
 from rgbmatrix import RGBMatrix, RGBMatrixOptions
 
-
 def callsigns_match(flights_a, flights_b):
     get_callsigns = lambda flights: [f["callsign"] for f in flights]
     callsigns_a = set(get_callsigns(flights_a))
@@ -48,6 +49,11 @@ def callsigns_match(flights_a, flights_b):
     # If there's no experimental config data
     LOADING_LED_ENABLED = False
 
+try:
+    # Attempt to load on/off switch config
+    from config import ON_OFF_SWITCH_GPIO_PIN
+except (ModuleNotFoundError, NameError, ImportError):
+    ON_OFF_SWITCH_GPIO_PIN = 0
 
 class Display(
     WeatherScene,
@@ -61,6 +67,12 @@ class Display(
     Animator,
 ):
     def __init__(self):
+        # Setup on/off switch, if configured
+        if ON_OFF_SWITCH_GPIO_PIN:
+            self.on_off_switch = Button(ON_OFF_SWITCH_GPIO_PIN, bounce_time=0.1)
+            self.on_off_switch.when_pressed = self.enable_display
+            self.on_off_switch.when_released = self.disable_display
+
         # Setup Display
         options = RGBMatrixOptions()
         options.hardware_mapping = "adafruit-hat-pwm" if HAT_PWM_ENABLED else "adafruit-hat"
@@ -77,7 +89,8 @@ def __init__(self):
         options.pixel_mapper_config = ""
         options.show_refresh_rate = 0
         options.gpio_slowdown = GPIO_SLOWDOWN
-        options.disable_hardware_pulsing = True
+        # Only disable hardware pulsing if we are not root
+        options.disable_hardware_pulsing = (os.getuid() != 0)
         options.drop_privileges = True
         self.matrix = RGBMatrix(options=options)
 
@@ -159,8 +172,27 @@ def grab_new_data(self, count):
         ):
             self.overhead.grab_data()
 
+    def enable_display(self):
+        if not self.enabled:
+            # only enable if currently off
+            print("Switch on")
+            self.enabled = True
+
+    def disable_display(self):
+        if self.enabled:
+            # only disable if currently on
+            print("Switch off")
+            self.enabled = False
+            # blank the display as well
+            self.canvas.Clear()
+
     def run(self):
         try:
+            # If enabled, read the initial state of the on/off switch
+            # so that the state doesn't get inverted when it's off during poweron
+            if ON_OFF_SWITCH_GPIO_PIN and not self.on_off_switch.is_pressed:
+                self.disable_display()
+
             # Start loop
             print("Press CTRL-C to stop")
             self.play()

requirements.txt

@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ Brotli==1.1.0
 certifi==2025.7.9
 charset-normalizer==3.4.2
 FlightRadarAPI==1.4.0
+gpiozero==2.0.1
 idna==3.10
 requests==2.32.4
-RPi.GPIO==0.7.1
 soupsieve==2.7
 typing_extensions==4.14.1
 urllib3==2.5.0

scenes/clock.py

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def __init__(self):
 
     @Animator.KeyFrame.add(frames.PER_SECOND * 1)
     def clock(self, count):
-        if len(self._data):
+        if len(self._data) or self._reset_scene:
             # Ensure redraw when there's new data
             self._last_time = None
 

scenes/date.py

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def __init__(self):
 
     @Animator.KeyFrame.add(frames.PER_SECOND * 1)
     def date(self, count):
-        if len(self._data):
+        if len(self._data) or self._reset_scene:
             # Ensure redraw when there's new data
             self._last_date = None
 

scenes/day.py

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def __init__(self):
 
     @Animator.KeyFrame.add(frames.PER_SECOND * 1)
     def day(self, count):
-        if len(self._data):
+        if len(self._data) or self._reset_scene:
             # Ensure redraw when there's new data
             self._last_day = None
 

scenes/loadingled.py

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
+from gpiozero import LED
 from utilities.animator import Animator
 from setup import frames
 from time import sleep
-import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
 import sys
 
 # Attempt to load config data
@@ -22,10 +22,8 @@ def __init__(self):
 
     def gpio_setup(self):
         try:
-            GPIO.setwarnings(False)
-            GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
-            GPIO.setup(LOADING_LED_GPIO_PIN, GPIO.OUT)
-            GPIO.output(LOADING_LED_GPIO_PIN, GPIO.HIGH)
+            self.led = LED(LOADING_LED_GPIO_PIN)
+            self.led.on()
             self.gpio_setup_complete = True
         except:
             print("Error initializing GPIO", file=sys.stderr)
@@ -40,12 +38,11 @@ def loading_led(self, count):
 
         if self.overhead.processing:
             if self.gpio_setup_complete:
-                GPIO.output(
-                    LOADING_LED_GPIO_PIN,
-                    GPIO.HIGH if count % 2 else GPIO.LOW
-                )
-
+                if count % 2:
+                    self.led.on()
+                else:
+                    self.led.off()
         else:
             # Not processing, leave LED on
             if self.gpio_setup_complete:
-                GPIO.output(LOADING_LED_GPIO_PIN, GPIO.HIGH)
+                self.led.on()

scenes/weather.py

@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ def rainfall(self, count):
         if not RAINFALL_ENABLED:
             return
 
-        if len(self._data):
+        if len(self._data) or self._reset_scene:
             # Don't draw if there's plane data
             # and force a redraw when this is visible
             # again by clearing the previous drawn data

utilities/animator.py

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ def __init__(self):
         self.frame = 0
         self._delay = DELAY_DEFAULT
         self._reset_scene = True
+        self._enabled = True
 
         self._register_keyframes()
 
@@ -37,29 +38,43 @@ def reset_scene(self):
 
     def play(self):
         while True:
+            while self._enabled:
+                for keyframe in self.keyframes:
+                    # If divisor == 0 then only run once on first loop
+                    if self.frame == 0:
+                        if keyframe.properties["divisor"] == 0:
+                            keyframe()
+
+                    # Otherwise perform normal operation
+                    if (
+                        self.frame > 0
+                        and keyframe.properties["divisor"]
+                        and not (
+                            (self.frame - keyframe.properties["offset"])
+                            % keyframe.properties["divisor"]
+                        )
+                    ):
+                        if keyframe(keyframe.properties["count"]):
+                            keyframe.properties["count"] = 0
+                        else:
+                            keyframe.properties["count"] += 1
+
+                self._reset_scene = False
+                self.frame += 1
+                sleep(self._delay)
+
+            # Animator became disabled, wait until it is enabled again
+            while not self._enabled:
+                sleep(self._delay)
+
+            # Animator enabled again, start over
+            self.frame = 0
+            self._reset_scene = True
             for keyframe in self.keyframes:
-                # If divisor == 0 then only run once on first loop
-                if self.frame == 0:
-                    if keyframe.properties["divisor"] == 0:
-                        keyframe()
-
-                # Otherwise perform normal operation
-                if (
-                    self.frame > 0
-                    and keyframe.properties["divisor"]
-                    and not (
-                        (self.frame - keyframe.properties["offset"])
-                        % keyframe.properties["divisor"]
-                    )
-                ):
-                    if keyframe(keyframe.properties["count"]):
-                        keyframe.properties["count"] = 0
-                    else:
-                        keyframe.properties["count"] += 1
-
-            self._reset_scene = False
-            self.frame += 1
-            sleep(self._delay)
+                if keyframe.properties["divisor"]:
+                    # Force an update for each scene - otherwise it could
+                    # take minutes for some scenes to return
+                    keyframe(0)
 
     @property
     def delay(self):
@@ -69,6 +84,13 @@ def delay(self):
     def delay(self, value):
         self._delay = value
 
+    @property
+    def enabled(self):
+        return self._enabled
+
+    @enabled.setter
+    def enabled(self, value: bool):
+        self._enabled = value
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":