Overview

Tired of clunky, outdated Pi weather projects built on dead API keys and legacy Python 2 frameworks? This project is a modern, high-fidelity software-rendered Flip Clock and Weather Station built from the ground up for modern hardware and operating systems.

Runs on Linux, Windows and Mac os. Mainly designed for a Raspberry Pi running Pi os  Trixie with a 7 inch touch screen and display at 1024x768, however resizing the app is saved for your os.

Instead of building a heavy, resource-hogging web app wrapped in Chromium, this client is written natively in Python 3 and PySide6 (Qt6). It delivers a premium, tactile retro aesthetic with smooth alpha-blended animations and dynamic backgrounds, while operating under an incredibly lean resource footprint.

Key Features

  • Native Flip Clock Aesthetic: High-fidelity, smooth software-rendered flip cards without the noise, cost, or mechanical wear of physical split-flap hardware.
  • Two mini flip clocks can be set for different time zones.
  • Auto dim on sunset but this can be turned off if not required.
  • Clicking on the current day time temperature will also show for the next 7 hours ahead.
  • High-Density Weather Canvas: Displays rich real-time data including precise temperature, dynamic wind speed, compass direction, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and UV index.
  • Atmospheric Dynamic UI: The entire canvas gradient shifts fluidly in real-time based on the time of day (is_day) and exact weather code data. Also smooth fade between background changes.
  • Modern & Keyless: Pulls data seamlessly from the free, open-source Open-Meteo API—no subscription fees or easily deprecated API keys required.
  • True Cross-Platform Engine: Because it leverages Qt, the exact same codebase runs natively with hardware acceleration across Linux (including Raspberry Pi OS Trixie/Wayland), macOS, and Windows.

Hardware & Optimization

While designed to run cross-platform, this build is perfectly tailored to re-use a Raspberry Pi 4B combined with an official 7-inch touchscreen (1024x678) that was gathering dust in a drawer.

The app features a built-in TOUCH_MODE layout detector. When deployed on compact touch screens, it automatically optimizes the UI scaling—swapping dense desktop controls for generous, finger-friendly targets and launching in a seamless kiosk environment. Because it avoids heavy web-engine wrappers, it runs cool and silent on microcomputers, even showing excellent performance potential for low-spec boards like the Pi Zero 2 W.

Measured on Raspberry Pi 4B (Pi OS Trixie)

  • Idle desktop memory usage Pi os desktop: 274 MB
  • Memory usage with Flippy Clock running: 354 MB
  • Flippy Clock memory footprint: ~80 MB
  • CPU utilisation: ~20%
  • Resolution: 1024×768 touchscreen

Has been tested on Windows and Mac OS Tahoe