Presto Photos

An Immich photo-slideshow app for the Pimoroni Presto (RP2350 + touchscreen).

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Requirements

Requirement	Notes
Pimoroni Presto	RP2350, capacitive touchscreen, 16 MB flash
Immich server	v1.90+ self-hosted, reachable on your LAN

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Installing

Download the latest presto-photos.uf2 from the Releases page, then:

1. Hold BOOTSEL on the Presto while plugging in USB
2. A drive named RPI-RP2 (or similar) mounts on your PC
3. Drag presto-photos.uf2 onto that drive
4. The Presto reboots directly into Presto Photos

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First boot flow

Power on
  │
  ├─ No WiFi saved?
  │    └─ Hotspot: "Presto-Photos" / password: presto1234
  │       • QR code appears on screen – scan to join and open http://192.168.4.1
  │       • Enter your home WiFi SSID + password → Presto reboots
  │
  ├─ Connects to WiFi → shows IP address
  │
  ├─ No Immich configured?
  │    └─ Open http://<presto-ip> in a browser on the same network
  │       • Step 1: Enter Immich URL (e.g. http://192.168.1.50:2283) and API key
  │       • Step 2: Select albums to show (leave all unchecked = show everything)
  │       • Set slideshow interval (seconds) → Presto reboots
  │
  └─ Slideshow starts!

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Getting your Immich API key

1. Log in to Immich → click your profile picture → Account Settings
2. Scroll to API Keys → New API Key → copy the key

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Touchscreen gestures

Gesture	Action
Tap right half	Next photo
Tap left half	Previous photo
Tap top edge	Info overlay (filename + date)
Long press (~1.5 s)	Reset Immich config → re-run setup

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Re-configuring

• Change WiFi: hold the BOOTSEL button while powering on, then delete config.json
  via Thonny/mpremote and reboot.
• Change Immich settings: long-press the screen for ~1.5 seconds.

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Project structure

main.py              – Boot orchestration
config_manager.py    – JSON config storage (/config.json on device)
wifi_manager.py      – WiFi STA/AP helpers
display_utils.py     – PicoGraphics UI helpers
ap_mode.py           – Captive-portal hotspot for WiFi setup
config_server.py     – Web UI for Immich configuration
immich_client.py     – Immich REST API client
slideshow.py         – Photo fetch, decode, touch handling
lib/
  qrcode.py          – Self-contained QR code generator (Level M, v1-6)

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
White screen on boot	Wrong MicroPython build – use Pimoroni's
"No jpegdec" message	Use Pimoroni MicroPython, not the official RP2040 build
Immich connection refused	Check URL includes port, e.g. http://192.168.1.10:2283
Photos very slow to load	Switch _THUMB_SIZE in slideshow.py from preview to thumbnail
QR code won't scan	Try a pure-white background; increase module size by narrowing the margin in display_utils.draw_qr

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Building from source

If you want to modify the app and build your own UF2, you'll need:

Requirement	Notes
Python 3.10+ on your PC	For running build_uf2.py
littlefs-python	pip install littlefs-python

# 1. Install the one dependency
pip install littlefs-python

# 2. Build the firmware (downloads Pimoroni firmware automatically)
python build_uf2.py

# → writes presto-photos.uf2

If you already downloaded the Pimoroni firmware separately:

python build_uf2.py --firmware pimoroni-presto-vX.Y.Z-micropython.uf2

Manual file upload (alternative)

Use Thonny or the mpremote CLI to upload files directly. You must first flash the Pimoroni MicroPython firmware separately (it includes the required jpegdec, picographics, and presto modules).

pip install mpremote

mpremote cp main.py config_manager.py wifi_manager.py display_utils.py \
           ap_mode.py config_server.py immich_client.py slideshow.py :
mpremote mkdir lib
mpremote cp lib/qrcode.py :lib/qrcode.py