This is an art project that I created to share with my friends.
I made this for fun; it is not a portfolio piece. See transfer_wizard_redux for a better demonstration of my capabilities.
It is a CLI app, and is essentially a guest book that lets you leave a message that can be read back by other users.
It can be run on a laptop, but I prefer to run it on a raspberry pi with a retro monitor (see pics below).
Seeing the way people engage with it, and watching the message archive grow over time, has been a real joy.
If you already have python and know how to use pip:
Run python main.py to start the program.
If you've never used python:
You can check if you have python already installed by opening a terminal window and entering python --version. If you see something like Python 3.11.3 then you have it installed. If you see an error then follow the instructions on this page to install python.
Next install the project dependencies. Do this by running pip install -r requirements.txt in the missives project folder.
Now run python main.py to start the program.
I used sqlite for this project. The database will be created automatically as a .db file in the project root directory. Remember to back this file up.
If you want to play around with the colours use the test card to get quick feedback on what the colour changes look like. It displays all of the different text outputs from the program.
Make your changes in styles.py. The test card is located in the project root, and can be run with python test_card.py.
I used rich to format the fonts.
In this screenshot I've used iterm2 to set the background to be a matrix style picture.
I initially used a CRT monitor to display it on. I combined it with cool-retro-term for some great visual effects:
A second monitor I used is an old LCD monitor, with UV paint and tape and a UV light attached:
