DIY Raspberry Pi Dashboard

My roommate built a dashboard using a Raspberry Pi and a 7-inch touchscreen that sits on our kitchen counter. It shows the weather, our shared grocery list, and the bus schedule for our nearest stop. The whole setup cost about $80 in parts and a weekend of tinkering. Data pulls from free APIs and refreshes every 5 minutes. The interface is a simple grid of cards on a dark background, readable from across the room without glasses. That was a deliberate choice because we both have bad eyesight. What I like most is that it does exactly 3 things and nothing else. My phone can do all of those things too, but it also does 400 other things that pull my attention away from the information I actually need. The bus schedule alone has saved me from missing the 8:15 at least a dozen times. I glance at it while making coffee instead of having to unlock my phone, open an app, and wait for it to load. Our grocery list syncs with a shared note, so either of us can add items from our phones and it appears on the screen within minutes. Crossing things off requires a tap on the touchscreen, which is satisfying unlike checking a box on a phone. Everyone who visits asks about it, and a few people have built their own. That feels like the right outcome for something that started as a weekend project.