This is a small program to control a split flip display (type OM 3021) with a raspberry pi (B+). You can find some rough overview of the required hardware at the schematics supplied in doc folder.
There is now way to control these displays without additional hardware. You need at least some 48V supply for the display motor and you need some connection (board) between the rapsberry pi and the display as well. The rest is all about the timing of the control.
The program requires the WiringPi library to work. Just install it as described there.
git clone https://github.com/WiringPi/WiringPi.git
cd WiringPi/
./build debian
mv debian-template/wiringpi-3.0.deb .
sudo apt install ./wiringpi_3.0.deb
cd ..If you have successfully installed WiringPi on your raspberry pi, you can donwload and compile this clock program.
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/absorb-it/split-flap/main/clock.c
gcc -o clock clock.c -l wiringPiYou should get some program named clock, which you can use to control your split flip display (if you have connected the display the right way to your raspberry pi).
You can see some usage example in the uploaded video. The program will understand some positional argument as well as some time (seprated with space) as an argument.
./clock 22 # positional argument given, must be between 0 and 62
./clock 13 45 # will be read as hours minutes and converted into positionIt's a prototype implementation, but maybe helpful to somebody. Works for me! :)