At Vilros, one of the most rewarding parts of our work is hearing about the incredible things our customers make. In this post, we’re highlighting two standout Raspberry Pi projects from the Vilros community. Whether you’re just getting started or looking for your next challenge, we hope these builds spark your imagination.

Project #1: Stock Ticker Display

Tony Provenzano is a Vilros customer from Oklahoma who used Raspberry Pi to create a desktop display, complete with weather data and stock ticker data.

Q: Tell us about what you built – what components did you use?

I built a desktop information display that runs continuously and shows the time, current weather conditions, and a scrolling stock ticker. I also added a feature that displays randomly selected inspirational quotes along the bottom of the screen. The goal was to have a small device on my desk that always shows the information I check most often throughout the day.

At the center of the system is a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, which connects to the internet over Wi-Fi to retrieve weather data and stock prices through public APIs. The output is displayed on a 5-inch HDMI display mounted in a custom stand.

The enclosure is completely custom. I designed and 3D printed a frame and stand that holds both the screen and the Raspberry Pi. The stand includes a small tray underneath the display where the Pi mounts cleanly and remains accessible.

Power for the system is provided for both the display, and the screen and the Raspberry Pi to run from a single power cable. This simplified the wiring and helped keep the overall design clean. I intentionally left the back exposed so the wiring remains visible, giving the project a slightly “technical” look.

The software runs on Raspberry Pi OS and is written in Python, which retrieves live weather and stock data using APIs and renders the information on the screen.

Q: What was your inspiration for this project?

The inspiration was simple. I’m always checking the time, looking at the weather, and glancing at a few stock prices throughout the day.

Instead of constantly pulling out my phone or opening apps on my computer, I wanted something that could sit on my desk and quietly provide that information at a glance. The idea was to build a dedicated display that always shows the things I check repeatedly during the day in a clear and easily readable format.

To make the display more interesting visually, I added a few dynamic elements. The temperature text changes color depending on the temperature, and the display cycles through a collection of famous quotes that appear randomly at the bottom of the screen.

Since I already had several Raspberry Pi boards and a small display available, it became a great opportunity to combine electronics, 3D design, and Python programming into a single project that is both fun and useful.

Q: What were some of the technical challenges you overcame?

One of the first challenges was retrieving live data from multiple internet sources and organizing that information in a clean way on the display. This was my first project using the Raspberry Pi to pull personalized data from online services and display it in real time.

For stock prices I used the yfinance Python library, which retrieves market data from Yahoo Finance. For weather information I used the OpenWeatherMap API. Learning how to request the data, read the responses, and display the results properly was an important part of the project.

Another challenge involved the physical enclosure design. I couldn’t find a case that matched the exact dimensions of my display, so I measured the hardware and designed a custom stand using 3D modeling software before printing it.

The biggest software challenge was getting the stock ticker to scroll smoothly across the screen. At first, the list of stocks would scroll off the edge and leave a blank gap before restarting. That interrupted the visual flow of the ticker. After several iterations of trial and error, I modified the code so the list of symbols repeats continuously and wraps around the display without any visible break. Once that problem was solved, the display finally behaved like a real market ticker.

Overall, the project turned into a fun combination of electronics, 3D printing, and Python programming, and the result is something that I use every day.

Project #2: LED Scoreboard

Jeff Brown is a Vilros customer from Maryland who has taken local softball matches to the next level with a digital scoreboard controlled by a Raspberry Pi.

Q: Tell us about what you built - what components did you use?

I built a dual sided, wireless, battery operated, remotely controlled scoreboard.  It uses RGB LED Matrices so it has an old school, light bright feel to it.  It can be updated from any device that can connect to a network.

Basic Components list:

• RPi 4
• Adafruit RGB Matrix Bonnet
• 64 x 32 RGB LED Matrix - 6mm (4)
• Battery

Q: What was your inspiration for this project?

As a parent of a little league softball player, I got sick of always checking my phone for the score, not knowing the count, and hoping the parent controlling the app was paying attention.  There are some hand controlled static panels, but they require you sit near them to manually turn them.  I had just purchased my first RPi and was wondering if there was a way to leverage it.  I wanted something that I could enjoy in my seat, update from my phone, and everyone could see during the game.

This does require that I keep my phone out to update it, but it keeps me in the game and spectators enjoy it.  I’m the scoreboard guy now.  Everyone asks me where they can buy one.

My biggest inspiration is that if you can imagine it, you can do it.  You’re only limited by time and money and with the low cost of components these days even someone with limited knowledge can produce some useful home tools.  I think that was my deepest inspiration.

Q: What were some of the technical challenges you overcame?

Each step was a challenge.  I have a programming and web design background, but I was new to hardware, raspberry pi, and electrical.  I approached each problem individually until I gradually developed the entire product and app.  Can I display something on a LED Matrix?  Ok got it.  Can I display dynamic text?  Done.  Can I design a scoreboard look and feel?  Can I insert dynamic text for each field?  Can I broadcast a wifi network?  Can I design a mobile interface?  Can I connect my phone to it and control it?  Can I make it bigger?  Can I build a case?  How much power is needed?  What the hell are Amp Hours?  How could it hang from a fence?  And so on.

These LED Matrices are “dumb”, meaning no memory storage, so it requires a constant refresh loop.  As a result, the initial logic of forking to allow display and control simultaneously took me quite a bit of time to get right.

I really struggled and finally gave up on bluetooth.  I know it can be done, but I never could get it to work properly.

Each step was anywhere from a week to months depending upon what I was doing and whether I needed to learn along the way.  But like so many things in life the process is as important as the product.  

I’m a middle school principal with three kids, so my time is limited.  The patience of my wife was definitely a significant technical problem, I spent many nights programming and tinkering!  She has supported this idea throughout.

This is my third iteration.  From day 1 to today has been about 3 years.  I’m working on a 4th gen that has some rockstar features.  It’s fun for me and gets lots of oooohs and aaaahs from fellow spectators.  

The idea of mass producing them and taking them to market has been a whole new set of learning as well.  If this is your jam, help a brother out.

Project #3: Weather Display

Grey Adkins is a Vilros customer from Oklahoma who used the Raspberry Pi to power weather displays for retail locations.

Q: What inspired you to use the Raspberry Pi for this use case?  

We needed a reliable, low-power, low maintenance solution that could run continuously in a retail environment. The Raspberry Pi checked every box—fanless operation for 24/7 reliability, minimal power draw, and enough capability to drive a full HD display with smooth animations. Running Pi OS Lite gave us a lean foundation with no unnecessary services consuming resources or expanding the attack surface. At under $100 for the complete hardware setup, the cost-to-capability ratio made it an easy choice.

Q: What are your goals with this use case?

The primary goal was providing customers with genuinely useful, localized information—real-time weather conditions, animated radar, and multi-day forecasts specific to the area. The entire display runs from a single HTML file in kiosk mode, which means updates are as simple as pushing a new file. The architecture is intentionally portable—the same pattern can extend to promotional content, fuel pricing displays, or operational dashboards without rethinking the underlying infrastructure.

Q: What were some of the major technical challenges you overcame?

Three challenges stand out:

• Display management and auto-start reliability. Getting the Pi to boot directly into a fullscreen kiosk display—with no cursor, no screen blanking, and automatic recovery after power cycles—required careful coordination between systemd services and X server configuration. We worked through several iterations to eliminate race conditions where the browser would launch before the display server was ready.
• Radar data source reliability. Our initial implementation used NOAA radar imagery, but the feeds proved inconsistent and would occasionally fail to load. We pivoted to the RainViewer API, which provided more reliable animated radar loops. Ensuring the embedded radar rendered correctly in Chromium's kiosk mode required some iframe and timing adjustments.
• Resource optimization on constrained hardware. Running a visually engaging display with smooth CSS animations, live API calls, and periodic radar updates on a Pi's limited resources meant being intentional about refresh intervals, memory management, and avoiding unnecessary DOM manipulation. The final implementation stays responsive while updating weather data every 10 minutes and cycling through display views.