#Bullet proof mirror and how to enable the pi watch dog.

The pi has a watchdog timer circuit built into it that is a prety reasonable means of detecting crashes and forcing an automated reboot.

So first we need to enable it.

First enable watchdog from /boot/config.txt, adding the following line:

dtparam=watchdog=on # Then install watchdog service: sudo apt install watchdog #Uncomment the following line from /etc/watchdog.conf # Uncomment to enable test. Setting one of these values to '0' disables it. # These values will hopefully never reboot your machine during normal use # (if your machine is really hung, the loadavg will go much higher than 25) max-load-1 = 24 max-load-5 = 18 max-load-15 = 12 # ... watchdog-device = /dev/watchdog

So basically constant loads and watchdog will kick in not sure what the time base is think its seconds but the above does the job. Then do a reboot and we can check its running by searching the syslog in /var/log for ‘watchdog’ But how do we know its working? We can test with a fork bomb and overload the Pi. If you have done an OC (Over Clock) on your pi do not run this and for anyone this test is your own decision. I have to say that but yeah you know.

So what we will do is turn off all the swap so the test ends quicker and it doesn’t thrash your flash.

sudo swapoff -a nano pythonbomb.py # import os while(1): os.fork()

So we found that watchdog is running in the syslog and now to test. python3 pythonbomb.py

Doesn’t take long to swamp the system that one The time base has me confused as its very quick to react on a load test but pretty sure the ping test is a minute. Its good how it is and the default values seem to work well as the highest I have ever seen my pi is just above 3 Ping test I tried this by putting in the IP of my desktop 192.168.1.16 which is local but then I just shut down. And right enough after a minute my computer was no longer available the pi restarted.

The only thing I am worried about and I guess this is true that you could enter an IP that may never exist and turn your pi into a rotating boot. Time to put the SD card in a reader and edit your files and remove that watchdog test on another computer I guess. If you don’t have an overzealous internal firewall that putting in your router ip 192.168.1.1 with me would make a good WiFi watchdog Then maybe a internet IP like googles main DNS of 8.8.8.8 might but not sure if you constanty pinging that you may get filtered. 8.8.8.8 is usually what many use just never set up a perm watchdog so honestly can not say bbc.co.uk - 212.58.253.67 did actually take that service down and got bombarded by sysadmins to re-instate and its prob the UK’s unofficial official ping test.

etc/watchdog.conf is a standard linux watchdog file http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/psc/watchdog/watchdog-configure.html So you can read up on these. https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/watchdog/watchdog.8.en.html

As per usual you can all my stuff on https://github.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3

@mykle1 The time different is huge like 40 minutes different. i think the issue is due to the summer/sinter time.

@yawns Thanks! 😂

I use Pixel Desktop Image inside of virtualbox, which works great for me.

AxLED

Buonasera a tutti amici ho creato un gruppo telegram riguardante il nostro amato MagicMirror (IN ITALIANO) chiunque sia interessato può unirsi: https://t.me/MIRROR_ITALY vi aspetto!!

@egnos that is on a different mirror project (github smart-mirror, modules here cannot be used there)…

I don’t know of a general purpose voice module here (like MMM-Voice) that uses the google speech api

Lols it would seem so, as so far much effort but no completed magic mirror, but much fun :)

Its been really interesting introduction to nodejs and a whole previously hidden browser console.

I am still banging my head with this PiZero as really with any complexity the proc load goes crazy.
Great if you keep it relatively simple, but being trying ‘other’ browsers to be lighter and to my surprise chromium is by the the best. Midori & Epiphany even after java problems or bad animation are still no lighter from what I am seeing in Top.

Its a tremendous project and I will bung it a donation when I have a bit of cash.

@romain I have the exact same problem and can’t seem to find any brief explanation. Did you manage to sort out Alexa yourself ?

@cowboysdude Hi, I have my MM up and running but can’t seem to get my 42” IR Touch Frame to adjust from Landscape mode to Portrait. I swipe up but the cursor moves left. I installed Xinput but not having any luck :(
How did you get you IR calibrated?
Cheers!

@sdetweil

Yeap works just the same.

Starting to get to grips with things Pages just suspends and restarts scripts for each page they are allocated.
So it just needs to be referenced once in pages.

It did work fine for the monitor I am using, right up to the point where I let the raspberry pi touch the metal portion of the back of the screen and shorted it (the reaspberry pi) out.
What I did learn is the area has to be clean as an operating room when you are cleaning the screen before you add the film or you for sure will get a crappy result.

MW

Hey guys, I’ve just started using Amazon Alexa on my magic mirror pi and I’m a little bit confused with different options available. Currently, I’ve set up Alexa using this guide:
https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/set-up-raspberry-pi.html

This gives me a script to run a “sample app” which runs and listens to my voice commands in the background separately from my magic mirror app. To my understanding, this is just an example for developers to get started and to build their own Alexa devices, but should be OK to use for my personal magic mirror long term?

Also, there are different options like AlexaPi client or using Alexa magic mirror module. Aside from magic mirror integration (in case of Alexa MM modules), what are benefits of using those over the above sample app? Are there differences to underlying software?

“Google Assistant SDK for device” is not for Alternative to Google Home itself. Some features are limited or blocked or not implemented yet. It’s main purpose is not making Google Home but giving feature for vocal assistant environment to your device.

@lavolp3 i do not… there are tons of options, which I guess you would expect.

animations looks cool but for my next project i am looking something like “touch” based animations.I am thinking about a coffee table for our living room with a 50" touch screen powered from an old “decapitated” laptop that can show MM plus my Habpanel dashboard of my Openhab home system…Any ideas?

@m-tarek - Technically, only the Pi needs a connection out to the Internet in order to display the modules correctly. Your devices behind your firewall/gateway/router will need to be able to see the Pi in order to display the interface. (Be sure to carefully configure your IP whitelist)

We have a similar setup in my office for the superwide mirror in the lobby. The gateway has a bypass set up for the Pi running one of the Magic Mirror installations (the superwide runs two Magic Mirror installations). Everything behind the gateway is forced to our capture portal except the Pi, which is allowed to bypass the gateway and get an internet connection. Anyone behind the gateway can see the data displayed upon the Pi without having an internet connection yet. There is some other trickery that we do that isn’t relevant here.

Hi everybody,

I have an issue that I don’t realize how to solve it:

My mirror has several modules, but particularly has MMM-ImageSlideshow to show images in an iterative way. Everything works fine, but now, I need to pass the images shown by ImageSlides with a button action (show previous or next image).

At first, I tried to instance some ImageSlides modules (each module showing only one picture) and I tried to manage the visualization of each module with MMM-Carousel without success, because all instances of ImageSlides were shown in the mirror at the same time (not only one at time).

So, I researched in the 3rd-party-modules but I didn’t find anything that can fit to my requirement.

In summary, I’m looking for some way to pass images (previous and next) by a button action. I would be very nice to me if some of you have an idea how to do this. Also, if someone want to share a config file as an example I would be very grateful.

Thank you very much.

Regards!
Agustin.

@agp42 Awesome, looks like a great module!

Thanks sdewell! Will stop trying then.

I’m born november 1949, so I am 69.