HowTo: Magic Mirror – Installation of the required software

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A MagicMirror consists of an important part of software besides the obvious mirror&screen. There are some good software packages for this in the meantime. The best in my opinion is the one from Michael Teew.

So he has made the software developed for his MagicMirror open source, and over time it has grown into a fairly extensive MagicMirror ecosystem.
The basic software offers the possibility to extend the basic functions with plugins.
Meanwhile, there are all kinds of plugins with which you can personalize your own MagicMirror even further and adapt it to your needs.

The software is available at: https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror to find.

How to install them and what you have to pay attention to is described in the following article.

Safety instructions

I know the following notes are always kind of annoying and seem unnecessary. Unfortunately, many people who knew "better" have lost eyes, fingers or other things due to carelessness or injured themselves. Data loss is almost negligible in comparison, but even these can be really annoying. Therefore, please take five minutes to read the safety instructions. Because even the coolest project is not worth injury or other trouble.
https://www.nerdiy.de/sicherheitshinweise/

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Requirements

Helpful articles:
Before you start with this article you should have prepared the RaspberryPi on which you run your MagicMirror so that it is accessible over the network and controllable via SSH.

The following articles describe what has to be done to prepare the RaspberryPi so far:
RaspberryPi – setup for nerdiys!
RaspberryPi – The first configuration!
RaspberryPi – Control the RaspberryPi via SSH

Required material:

In the following list you will find all the parts you need to implement this article.

Log in to the RaspberryPi via SSH

To start, you must first log in to the Rasp Pi with Putty via SSH. How to do this is in the article RaspberryPi - Control the RaspberryPi via SSH described.

After entering your username and password you can enter the first commands.

Update package management

The package management in Linux is a "central place" through which various software packages can be installed. In order for this to work reliably, the lists and sources of the package management should be updated before each installation of new packages.

To start the update of the package management you have to enter the following command.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
Depending on how long ago your last update of the package management was, this process can now take a while. The lists that refer to the individual package sources are updated first.
After that, the packages themselves are updated. Since additional memory is occupied, you will be asked again for your consent. You have to confirm this with a "J" and "Enter".
Once the update is complete, you will see a small summary of the duration and scope of the update.

Installing the MagicMirror Software

The installation of the required software runs almost automatically on the RaspberryPi thanks to an installation script. To start this you just have to copy the following command into your console window and execute it. The installation will then take about five minutes.

bash -c "$(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror_scripts/master/raspberry.sh"
In between you will be asked whether you want to use “pm2” to automatically start the software after a restart. If you want this, confirm it with “Y” and “Enter”.
After about five minutes, the installation of the required software is complete.

Launch and test the MagicMirror software

To start the software you have to enter the following command.

DISPLAY=:0 nohup npm start &

If you don't have a screen connected to your RaspberryPi you can also test the output via VNC. How to view the screen output of your RaspberryPI via VNC is described in the following article:
RaspberryPi - Controlling the RaspberryPi via VNC

There is also the possibility to view the interface in your own web browser. This is very useful for debugging. I will describe how to do this in another article.

More information

https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror

Have fun with the project

I hope everything worked as described for you. If not or you have questions or suggestions please let me know in the comments. I will then add this to the article if necessary.
Ideas for new projects are always welcome. 🙂

PS Many of these projects - especially the hardware projects - cost a lot of time and money. Of course I do this because I enjoy it, but if you think it's cool that I share the information with you, I would be happy about a small donation to the coffee fund. 🙂

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com       

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