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Raspberry Pi as a Dedicated Family Calendar Display

Raspberry Pi connected to a monitor displaying a family calendar in full-screen
Full-screen Chromium, auto-started on boot. No keyboard, no mouse, no intervention.

A Raspberry Pi makes an excellent dedicated calendar display. It draws under 5 watts, runs silently, boots directly into a full-screen browser, and requires zero ongoing interaction. Once configured, it sits behind a monitor and does its job indefinitely.

This guide covers the full setup: OS image, network config, Chromium autostart in kiosk mode, screen blanking, and power management. If you have a Pi and a spare monitor, you already have most of what you need.

What You Need

If you have done any Pi projects before, you likely have everything except maybe the HDMI adapter.

Item Notes
Raspberry Pi (3B+ / 4 / 5) 1GB RAM is sufficient. A 3B+ works fine — it just takes a few extra seconds to render on initial load. No need for the latest model.
MicroSD card (16GB+) Class 10 or faster. You probably have one in a drawer.
Power supply USB-C for Pi 4/5, micro-USB for Pi 3B+. The official PSU avoids undervoltage warnings, but any quality 5V/3A supply works.
Monitor with HDMI input Use what you have — an old monitor or thrift store find works great. Buying new? Portable USB-C monitors (15-17") are slim, affordable ($50-80), and look clean on a wall.
HDMI cable/adapter Pi 4/5: micro-HDMI to HDMI. Pi 3B+: full-size HDMI.
Power timer or smart plug Optional but recommended. Controls the monitor power on a schedule. See Power Timer section below.

Setup

1

Flash the OS

  1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager on your Mac, Windows, or Linux machine.
  2. Insert the microSD card into your computer.
  3. Open Pi Imager and select:
    • Device: Your Pi model
    • OS: Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) — the desktop version, not Lite
    • Storage: Your microSD card
  4. Open the settings (gear icon) before writing. Configure:
    • Wi-Fi credentials — the Pi connects automatically on first boot
    • Hostname: calendar-kiosk (or your preference)
    • Username and password
  5. Write the image and wait for verification.
2

First Boot and Sign In

  1. Insert the microSD card into the Pi, connect HDMI to the monitor, and plug in the power.
  2. Wait for the desktop to appear. First boot takes 2-3 minutes.
  3. Open Chromium from the taskbar.
  4. Navigate to calendar.norfeldt.com and sign in with your Google account.
  5. Configure your calendars — tap the gear icon, choose which calendars to show, pick your colors.
  6. Go full-screen — press F11 on your keyboard. The calendar fills the entire screen.

That's it — your Pi is now a dedicated family calendar. You can disconnect the keyboard and mouse. The extras below turn it into a true set-and-forget display.

Get More Out of It

Bonus

Auto-Start the Calendar on Boot

Right now the calendar opens when you launch Chromium manually. This makes it automatic — the Pi boots straight into the calendar, full-screen, no keyboard needed.

Connect a keyboard temporarily (or use SSH if you set it up) and open a terminal. Run:

mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart
cat > ~/.config/autostart/kiosk.desktop <<EOF
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Calendar Kiosk
Exec=chromium-browser --kiosk --noerrdialogs --disable-infobars --no-first-run https://calendar.norfeldt.com
EOF

On next boot, the Pi goes from power-on to calendar — no clicking, no typing.

Bonus

Stop the Screen From Turning Off

Raspberry Pi OS turns the display off after 10 minutes of inactivity. To disable that:

Open a terminal and run:

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to: Display Options → Screen Blanking → No.

Reboot when prompted. The display stays on permanently.

Bonus

Enable SSH for Remote Management

Want to manage the Pi without plugging in a keyboard? Enable SSH so you can connect from any computer on your Wi-Fi.

The easiest way: re-flash the SD card using Raspberry Pi Imager and check "Enable SSH" in the settings (gear icon) before writing. Or, on the Pi itself:

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to: Interface Options → SSH → Enable.

Then from any computer on the same network:

ssh username@calendar-kiosk.local

From there you can reboot, update the Pi, or change the autostart URL — all without touching it.

The Power Timer Trick

The key to a low-maintenance setup: the Pi runs 24/7 and a power timer controls only the monitor.

Diagram showing the power timer setup: Raspberry Pi always on (3-5W) connected via HDMI to a monitor. During daytime (6:30 AM - 9:00 PM) the monitor shows the calendar. At nighttime (9:00 PM - 6:30 AM) the power timer turns the monitor off while the Pi keeps running.
The Pi stays on 24/7 (uses less power than a night light). The timer only controls the monitor — so the calendar is already loaded when the screen turns on.

A mechanical timer ($5-8) or smart plug (TP-Link Tapo, IKEA TRETAKT, etc.) on the monitor's power cable. When the timer cuts power to the monitor, the Pi keeps running. When the monitor powers back on in the morning, the calendar is already there — no waiting, no buttons.

Important
Never put the Pi itself on the power timer. Hard power cuts to a running Linux system risk SD card corruption. The Pi stays on a direct wall connection, 24/7. Only the monitor goes on the timer.

Placement

Location determines whether anyone actually looks at the thing. Place it where your family naturally pauses.

Three photos showing a Raspberry Pi calendar display in different locations: kitchen wall with the Pi mounted behind the monitor, hallway near the front door, and home office desk next to a laptop
Kitchen, hallway, or home office — the Pi tucks behind the monitor with Velcro or a VESA bracket. No visible computer.

What Runs on the Screen

Family Calendar is built specifically for this kind of display — a 5-day view designed for wall-mounted screens that auto-refreshes and requires no touch input.

Family Calendar showing a 5-day week view with color-coded events, emoji indicators, and weather forecast
5-day view with color-coded calendars, emoji events, weather, and countdowns

Connect your Google Calendar once, select which calendars to display, and it stays synced. Everyone in the family adds events from their own devices — the kiosk aggregates everything.

Pro tip
On the free plan, the session expires every 48 hours — which means walking over to the kiosk with a keyboard to re-authenticate. The Yearly ($10/year) or ONCE ($67 one-time) plans remove this expiration entirely. The session persists indefinitely, which is what you want for a headless kiosk.

Ready to See It in Action?

Head over to calendar.norfeldt.com, connect your Google Calendar, and watch the magic happen.

Great plans — even to just try it out:

Yearly
$10/year
cancel anytime
FREE
Sign in every 48h
ONCE
$67
one-time
PUT IT ON YOUR WALL
LET'S GO!

Hardware Reference

Item Notes
Raspberry Pi 3B+ / 4 / 51GB+ RAM. Use what you have.
MicroSD card (16GB+)Class 10 or faster
Power supply (5V/3A)USB-C (Pi 4/5) or micro-USB (Pi 3B+)
Monitor with HDMIAny size
HDMI cable/adapterMicro-HDMI for Pi 4/5, full HDMI for Pi 3B+
Power timer / smart plugFor the monitor only. Recommended.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Pi models work for this?

Any Pi with Wi-Fi and HDMI output. The 3B+ is the minimum for a usable Chromium experience — initial page load is slower than a Pi 4/5 but fine once rendered. The Pi 4 (2GB) is the price/performance sweet spot. The Pi 5 is faster but overkill for a browser kiosk. Use whatever you have.

What about the Pi Zero 2 W?

It can work, but expect slower page loads and occasional rendering lag. The single-core CPU is the bottleneck — Chromium is demanding. If a Zero 2 W is what you have on hand, try it. If you are buying specifically for this project, a Pi 3B+ or 4 will give you a smoother result.

Does the Pi need ongoing maintenance?

Minimal. Raspberry Pi OS is stable and the calendar is just a browser pointed at a URL. If you want, you can occasionally update the Pi by connecting a keyboard or using SSH to run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y — but it is not strictly necessary.

Can I manage it remotely?

Yes. Enable SSH (see the bonus tip above), then connect from any computer on the same network: ssh username@calendar-kiosk.local. From there you can reboot, update packages, modify the autostart URL, or troubleshoot — all without touching the Pi.

What happens when Wi-Fi drops?

The calendar continues to display the last loaded data. When the connection returns, the auto-refresh cycle picks up where it left off. For brief outages (router reboots, etc.), the display remains usable.

Will the screen get burn-in?

LCD/LED panels are not susceptible to burn-in. The calendar content also shifts throughout the day as events change. For OLED displays, the power timer gives the panel 10+ hours of rest per night, which is sufficient.

Do I need to re-authenticate every 48 hours?

On the free plan, yes — which defeats the purpose of a headless kiosk. The Yearly ($10/year) or ONCE ($67 one-time) plans remove the re-authentication requirement entirely, keeping the session alive indefinitely.

Can I use a different browser?

Chromium is pre-installed on Raspberry Pi OS and has the best kiosk mode support. Firefox can work with --kiosk flag (Firefox 71+), but Chromium's flag set is more mature for unattended displays.