Read the statement by Michael Teeuw here.
Needs a modern interface to setup
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So my wife and her sister want a MagicMirror or Dakboard screen that has all of our calendars and stuff on a screen. OK not a problem right, wrong. My wifes sister has a Dakboard and touts how easy it in to setup and has it running in minutes. yep it is pretty easy. I have a GUI interface where I can load modules and configure them. I can change fonts and font sizes and poof I have a Dakboard. But the content you can put on the Dakboard is limited. MagicMirror is one of the alternatives to DakBoard and is not going to pass the wife or sister test. Here’s what I’ve heard so far. Its taking to long to setup, Where is the administrators interface?, why are the fonts so small.?, the list goes on. yes there is an admin interface module and I have loaded it. Can I load modules from it? No. is it easy to use? once you get the hang of it its ok. If MagicMirror is going to keep up with competitors your going to have to step up the program. My wife said “I feel like you are working on an old DOS3.1 program instead of a 2022 program. If its not like a weebly where you can have a website running in under an hour its taking to long.” Now I dnot mind tinkering and figuring things like MagicMirror out, but they are frustrated and now I have a short amount of time to beautify it and get it running. Please consider making a common administrative module that can configure the config file and CSS in a single interface. and make the module location dynamic on the screen. have the ability to have multiple pages as a default, and move into the 21st century.
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@drphil02 Well, you bought a Dakboard. You don’t buy a MagicMirror. MagicMirror is opensource and community supported, there isn’t a manufacturer. I suspect the Dakboard will always be more limited because they want to keep it simple to maintain and update. Less complication means it will support more people with LOTS less work to maintain and integrate updates as the third parties change their data formats and api’s.
Mich who made the MagicMirror and is spreading his joy and fun by making it available to anyone who wants it. Dakboard is actually profiting off of Mich’s project’s popularity by building and selling a very similar project as a “finished” item. I kinda doubt that without Mich in the first place a lot of these clones wouldn’t be out there in the world.
Since no one is making money of this… it isn’t ever going to be like what you want. Unless someone really really wants it, codes it and then decides to share their code. I am happy tinkering with MagicMirror, but if you want to step up and build the admin interface you are talking about… I’d give it a whirl. I’d be excited to. Go for it!
There is a great community behind the MagicMirror and people like Sam really have helped keep it alive. He’s on here everyday almost. I haven’t seen very many commercial electronics products last that long and still have active users.
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@drphil02 my MMM-Config is close
but not downloading and installing modules…
cause there is no catalog.and the modules themselves can cheat and not define all of their config variables, or misuse them for coding expediency.
and each module can do whatever it wants for styles.
so, when you figure out how to tame this lion, let me know. I’ve done everything I can on Config to discover any modules config. and then allow users to correct my guesses
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@drphil02 oh, one more thing. this is open source.
those that care, need, want… contribute…I do all this for fun. because its a challenge. cause I get to meet some awesome people who have awesome ideas how their system should look and behave.
I do the install script to help users get up and running quickly, feel some accomplishment and want to continue
and upgrade to try to keep their systems running thru all the churn of change going on.
why?
because I can. -
@drphil02 As someone who started with Dakboard and switched to MM, I think Dakboard is garbage. The number of modules is miniscule compared to MM
I rently looked at Dakboard site again and still garbage. Very little you can do with Dakboard because you can’t look under the hood so to speak. MM you can.
Oh, did I mention their customer serive is non-existent?
MM has tons of modules and an outstanding group of folks to help you through the rough patches.Set Up a Dakboard and an MM and run them side by side for a while. Set up Dakboard with the tiny amount of modules they have, then set up a MM with a variety of modules it has available.
Dakboard is just a way to liberate some money from your wallet I can get in a Ford Focus and have it all figured out in a day.
I get in a Porsche and it takes a week to get my arms around the controls but in the end Dakboard is a Ford Focus. MM a Porsche.! -
@ankonaskiff17 @kayakbabe @sdetweil @drphil02
One final note regarding DAK Board and is ultimately what made me kick them to the curb in the end.
There is an old cliche’ about “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
When you suscribe to one of Dakboards plans, you are buying THEIR idea of what is a “pretty” display. Not the subscribers version.
A glitzy background isn’t what I care about. I want all my appointments, current weather, forecast, and national radar at a glance as I start my day.The times I asked Dakboard support, can you change this color or increase the font size generally I didn’t get a reply, much less one that said LOL you bought our product so no, we won’t change it.
If a color blind person saw Dakboard and said that’s nice but I need to do some serious CSS mods, Dakboard isn’t going to do that.
MM a dozen people are gonna pile in and help that color blind person.The fundamental difference between Dakboard and MM is Dakboard is like an artwork that says “Look at my technically savvy artwork.”
MM is a tool that can look like Dakboard if you want, or it present a whole host of other information that is out of the buyers reach with a dakboard subscription
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you should read this, excerpt:
Of course, a bundled version can be complimentary to the regular un-bundled version. And I'm sure a lot of (new) users will opt for the bundled version. But this means those users won't be motivated to take a peek under the hood. They will just remain 'users'. They won't become contributors, and worse: they won't be motivated to take their first steps in software development. And to be honest: motivating curious users to step out of their comfort zone and take those first steps is what drives me in this project. Therefore my ultimate goal is this project is to keep it as accessible as possible."Please consider making a common administrative module that can configure the config file and CSS in a single interface.
concerning this there are several attempts of 3rd party modules for a better user interface, beside Sam’s MMM-Config you could take a look at mmpm.
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@karsten13 mmpn does install from the 3rd party list, but does not support module config
