Digital Scorekeeping Made Easy: Raspberry Pi Scoreboard

This is a simple project that tries to use the Raspberry Pi as a Scoreboard.. on a character LCD

What we will do in this project is write a python script that will use httplib and rplcd to connect to the internet and display the score..

if you are not aware of Raspberry Pi or the Python programming language, there are plenty of resources on-line. I personally learned python from the python monk and learnpython

It is a matter of a few hours before you are well versed in both.

I was making a Cricket scoreboard as part of the Google Hackathon, you can use the same method to do many other tasks, from facebook notifications to tweeter.

make sure that your RPi has a running OS and is connected to the INTERNET. refer to my 1 minute RPi setup blog post for instructions on the same

The Score:

First of all i needed a web API provider who does it for free. (not easy to find). google helped me here and i was lucky..

I found this somewhat immature API that gives out some basic scores at http://cricscore-api.appspot.com/

please bear in mind that this was my first python program so i was happy that it worked, there may be some mistakes but it worked.

the way this works is I create a connection to the website and read the response.

Con = httplib.HTTPConnection(‘cricscore-api.appspot.com’)

Con.request(“GET”, “/csa”)

Response = Con.getresponse()

return eval(Response.read()) ## Disputed

and once the score was recorded i decode it according to the format that the API provided the result in. Now this part is highly API specific and would vary from API to API, so i do not think that it will be a great idea to go through that mess, as you would end up doing that all over again for your set of API.

Just remember that you have recorded the response and would have to act on it accordingly.

In my case i had to get the Match ID for my favorite teams, and then get the score string in the type i required (detailed or short) and then display it on to the LCD “periodically”.

The LCD:
for using the LCD i used he RPLCD library.. its available on GITHUB https://github.com/dbrgn/RPLCD
you can clone this library, follow the README  and install it using pip. (comment if facing any difficulties)
This command has to be run on your RPi, if you are facing difficulties connecting to your RPI , have a look at my 1 minute RPi setup blog post, that would seriously help.

 sudo pip install RPLCD
as for the connections of the character LCD on the Pi this is the schematic..
connect the Vcc, Ground and other connections to the 5v and ground pins that are available on the GPIO. use the 3.3 v pin for connecting the LED pins. as you can see you are not out of pins here.

Setting up the layout of the display is finally your choice.
for a start you can use my script.
change the Favorite Teams list and add your cricket team , if there is a match on a particular

day, it will show up

if you look at the display i have added Date and time display too.

here is the script

Source: Raspberry Pi Scoreboard

About The Author

Ibrar Ayyub

I am an experienced technical writer holding a Master's degree in computer science from BZU Multan, Pakistan University. With a background spanning various industries, particularly in home automation and engineering, I have honed my skills in crafting clear and concise content. Proficient in leveraging infographics and diagrams, I strive to simplify complex concepts for readers. My strength lies in thorough research and presenting information in a structured and logical format.

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Ibrar Ayyub

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