A wall calendar with calendar, clock, weather and a daily picture on hardware for around $25: VistaBoard Light brings the board to the smallest Raspberry Pi. The beta starts soon.
A digital wall calendar does not have to be expensive. VistaBoard Light is a deliberately lean edition of VistaBoard that runs on the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W — the smallest Pi with Wi-Fi, available from around $20. Together with an SD card, power supply and adapter, the complete hardware costs roughly $25 to $40.
The idea behind Light is simple: not everyone needs a news ticker, a YouTube background or a full energy dashboard. Many families want exactly four things on the wall: the shared calendar, the time with the date, the weather and a beautiful picture. That is exactly what VistaBoard Light focuses on.
The calendar works like on the full VistaBoard: Apple, Google and other calendars are connected via iCal links and update automatically. The whole family's appointments are clearly visible on the wall — in the kitchen, hallway or office.
The clock shows hours and minutes without ticking seconds, plus the date. That feels calmer and suits a display that is visible all day. The weather is shown for your location, and a daily changing background picture keeps the board fresh.
VistaBoard Light is set up without a mouse or keyboard at the board. After installation, the display shows an address that you open on your phone, tablet or PC. There you configure calendars, the weather location and the orientation (portrait or landscape). After that, the board runs on its own.
Important for the hardware: it must be the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, not the older Zero W. The Zero 2 W has a much stronger quad-core processor that the display needs. Add a microSD card, a micro-USB power supply, a mini-HDMI adapter for the screen and optionally an OTG adapter if you want to connect a Wi-Fi stick or a mouse. The complete shopping list with links is on the Light page.
VistaBoard Light gets its own update channel. Light boards receive Light updates specifically, while regular VistaBoards keep their usual versions. If you want more later, individual features such as the PV display can be enabled in the settings — but the start remains deliberately simple and tidy.
The final test phase is currently running on the original hardware. On the Light page you can already sign up as a beta tester without obligation and will be notified by email as soon as the download is ready. If you do not want to wait: the full VistaBoard already runs today on Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5.
VistaBoard Light – Beta fuer den Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W: Einkaufsliste, Vergleich und Beta-Anmeldung