can i build software before hardware and how do i go about that ?

mezcalbomb

before i invest in everything needed for the hardware i would love to try out creating some dashboard with the software, is that possible on a pc? is there any tutorials on that ?

Sorry if there are answers on this but could not find any tutorials or threads.

sdetweil

@mezcalbomb sure magic mirror installs on Windows You can do everything except talk to GPIO stuff cuz Windows doesn’t have any of that

The documentation shows you what to do to install on Windows

https://docs.magicmirror.builders/getting-started/installation.html#other-operating-systems

only thing not mentioned is that this application needs nodejs v 18 or v 20. Installation of nodejs is not part of the mm project

UncleRoger

@mezcalbomb If you have a Raspberry Pi, I highly recommend @sdetweil 's installation script. You can set up the pi, install everything and use PuTTY and your browser of choice to do all your testing from your main desktop. Then, when you’ve got it all the way you like it, set up your monitor and frame and all and it will run locally.

I have an RPi downstairs in the hall attached to an old monitor that will (eventually) get put in a frame and mounted in the kitchen. It’s running the MM as I have it set up thus far.

Meanwhile, in my office upstairs, I have another RPi that I am using to test modules – I use PuTTY to run MM and view the console log, WinSCP to transfer files and the same editor I use for work to edit files. Then I just have a browser tab pointed at the RPi’s IP address. (Actually, I have two such tabs, one for the dev machine and one for the one downstairs.)

mezcalbomb

@UncleRoger that sounds interesting. but it would require me to buy 2 Rpi then which would raise the cost significant. but on the other hand if i intend do do multiple in the future it could def be worth it.

thgmirror

@mezcalbomb
You can use virtualbox (you may find images/instructions in the internet) to get a running raspberry and additionally install MM2 there…

Without looking deeper in it, but https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-virtualbox/ may work.

mumblebaj

@mezcalbomb If you have a windows machine I would suggest running Ubuntu on it and install MM in there to test what you want and how you want it all setup etc.

sdetweil

@mumblebaj but you can run MM on windows without any extra stuff… just a tiny set of install process changes

mumblebaj

@sdetweil Wasn’t sure if the Windows install was working properly. Thought I saw in one of your recent posts that it wasn’t working properly. My bad…

MMRIZE

You can build MM on any device, Windows, MacOS, any Linux Distros,
But you cannot “copy & paste” built MM to another device. (Yup… maybe Dump would be possible in some environments, but not all. Using Docker is another topic.)
Finally, you need to build your own infra of the target device.(OS setup, some configuration, WIFI setup, and so on.) Then, you have to install MM(and its dependencies like nodeJS) manually or with the help of scripts.
After that, you can copy & paste custom.css and config.js from your test environment. But maybe 3rd-party modules should be installed again by your hand.

Not as difficult as it sounds. Good luck.

sdetweil

@mumblebaj and its documented in the MM install section
https://docs.magicmirror.builders/getting-started/installation.html#other-operating-systems