Weatherstation using MagicMirror+Rasp3b+7inch touchscreen

jbat66

Great build! I like it!

Saabman

Thats great,

Is it possible to share how you used Chat GPT to do the heavy lifting for you?

cgillinger

@Saabman Yes, absolutely! I use the pay-version of ChatGPT, and I’ve both just plain used the Chat+Browse the internet capabilities, and also Chat+“ChatwithGit”-plugin, which basically was a plugin that could directly access Git-repositories and learn how they work.

That plugin however has since been depricated, and replaced with AskTheCode, that I haven’t tried as much.

From there on it was a bit of trial and error. Sometimes ChatGPT got it right instantly, but often I needed to test various solutions. The GPT however was great at helping me know where to look, as I really can’t code myself.

For instance, this is how I found out why the “power off” button from SmartTouch didn’t work, how to fix it, and then how to change the colors of it: (abbreviated somewhat since its mostly just the code):

Askthecode 1.png

And the reply:

From there I got a few suggestions, and it helped me realise that the script probably missed a “sudo” command before it issued “shutdown”:

Which solved it.

It also helped me in a similar way finding how to change colors. I just asked it to help me change the colors of the buttons to red and yellow and got a:

Or to summarize: I basically used it as a handy teacher to point me in the right direction, and/or give me the exact solutions. It often required me to either use the plugin “ChatwithGit”, or just pasting in the .js (or .css) files and have ChatGPT read them, and suggest changes based on what I wanted to achieve. It also could direct me to which files needed editing. And the best part is that ChatGPT reads material almost instantly. I can hit it with 100 pages of descriptions and code, and it can discuss it in detail within seconds.

And when it came to picking colors for the icons, there were a million of them that I really didn’t feel like doing one by one (Apart from the “Sun” icon being yellow and the “Sunset” icon being orange-yellow I really had little idea what to put where), so I just asked it to provide the code and gave it the link to the page with all the icons:

And then I found instructions of the custom.css and provided it to ChatGPT:

From there I really just had to paste all the lines into the custom.css. This was a time saver that would have worked for someone proficient in coding as well. It took ChatGPT a few seconds to pick colors and write codes for all the icons, which would have been extremely tedious work if done manually.

Saabman

I have to admit Ive had my head stuck in the sand a bit re Chat GPT etc. wanting to try it but been afraid of it at the same.

That is the first example of it in action Ive seen I can see how it can be helpful to guide you to a solution but it appears it still requires the user to have a working knowledge and put in some effort to 1/ frame the request correctly then 2/ know enough to understand the result and how to deal with it.

Will it help us become smarter and enable us to learn more or dumb us down ;)

That was quiet enlightening

cgillinger

@Saabman I just want to stress, I know little to none coding. What ChatGPT helped with was to guide me where to look. And I must admit I did hit a few walls were I actually didn’t understand how to get the solution working. I’m still trying to figure out how to make the SmartTouch module dim the screen instead of just hiding the modules. ChatGPT gave me suggestions, but they were a tad to advanced for me. Or maybe I’ll figure it out when I get more time. ChatGPT is actually an excellent teacher, so you learn a lot in the process…

sdetweil

@cgillinger said in Weatherstation using MagicMirror+Rasp3b+7inch touchscreen:

I’m still trying to figure out how to make the SmartTouch module dim the screen instead of just hiding the modules

what do you mean ‘dim the screen’

maybe filter:brightness

https://www.shecodes.io/athena/2560-how-to-make-an-image-appear-darker-in-css#:~:text=You can adjust the brightness,100%25 (completely black).&text=In the above example%2C the,80%25 of its original value.

if you use the developers console (ctrl-shift-i), elements tab, you can apply styles to elements to see the results… see here for operating the dev window elements
https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/90135

if you add

    filter: brightness(0.5);

to the top bar element, then everything in top bar will be reduced brightness

if you apply it to the body element same for all the body

cgillinger

@sdetweil Right now the left touch button in the “SmartTouch” module, just hides the other modules. The purpose obivously for a “true” MagicMirror to make more space for looking at yourself in the mirror.

But Im using it as a Weather station and right now its always bright. What I would like is really two things (and I’ve been experimenting with a few modules, but havent succeeded - somewhat due to time restrictions in my everday life):

Have the screen dim scheduled at night time, and then re-light at morning. This I think I can achieve. (for instance with this module: https://github.com/Fifteen15Studios/MMM-AutoDimmer ).
If the left button on SmartTouch is pressed, the schedule should be interrupted and the screen brighten. If pressed again, or not pressed for, say 30 mins, it should return to the schedule again.

I’ve got a few suggestions from ChatGPT, but so far haven’t made them work.

jbat66

@Saabman I know coding, but not some flavors, like java script and json, as an example or even API usage, but with Chat GPT over the last couple of months I have done a lot and learned a lot. It is great for making a function, or a small script, and then you use them as building blocks for larger projects. Shoot I have found out about services I never knew about. For example a website (openstreetmap.org) that has an API, that if you feed it GPS coordinates, it returns the street address, county, Country, etc. Another website (timezonedb.com) that if you feed it GPS coordinates it gives you the timezone, and GMT Offset.

My ChatGPT request was something like “Write a bash script that uses GPS coordinates set in variables to get the timezone” and tada I learned something.

Or using crazy sed commands (I never was good at them) to push the GPS data into the config.js for MM
#sed -i ‘/^\s*header: "TimeZone-- /c’“${THREE_TABS}”‘header: “TimeZone-- '”$TIMEZONEABB"’ --------- Altitude: ‘“$ALTITUDE_FEET”’",’ “$CONFIG_FILE”

etc.

cgillinger

@jbat66 said in Weatherstation using MagicMirror+Rasp3b+7inch touchscreen:

Great build! I like it!

Thnx!

cgillinger

@cgillinger said in Weatherstation using MagicMirror+Rasp3b+7inch touchscreen:

I’m still trying to figure out how to make the SmartTouch module dim the screen instead of just hiding the modules.

Just wanted to backtrack here again, if someone else is trying to do the same. I realised there was a way simpler way to achieve this: To make a script outside MagicMirror to dim the screen.

So, I had ChatGPT make me a script. The goal was to have the screen dim almost completely after 15 minutes of inactivity, and then to restore if the user touches the screen (or clicks a mouse). I then had pm2 start both scripts at boot. This however somehow prevented MagicMirror to start properly, so I ended up making a single script that started both, eg “Dim on inactivity” and “MagicMirror”.

Here are the scripts:

First making one that dims screen after a fixed period, and then restores on touch. I made a subfolder called “scripts” and named the script “dim_screen.sh”:

#!/bin/bash

# Configuration
IDLE_TIME=$((15*60*1000))  # 15 minutes in milliseconds
BRIGHTNESS_FILE="/sys/class/backlight/10-0045/brightness"
MAX_BRIGHTNESS=$(cat /sys/class/backlight/10-0045/max_brightness)
DIMMED_BRIGHTNESS=$(($MAX_BRIGHTNESS * 2 / 100))  # 2% of max brightness

# Function to set brightness
set_brightness() {
    echo $1 | sudo tee $BRIGHTNESS_FILE > /dev/null
}

# Main loop
while true; do
    idle=$(xprintidle)
    if [ $idle -ge $IDLE_TIME ]; then
        set_brightness $DIMMED_BRIGHTNESS
    else
        set_brightness $MAX_BRIGHTNESS
    fi
    sleep 1  # Check every second
done

Then I made a new script called “ecosystem.config.js” for pm2 to handle:

module.exports = {
  apps: [
    {
      name: 'MagicMirror',
      script: '/home/christian/mm.sh',
      interpreter: '/bin/bash',
    },
    {
      name: 'DimScreen',
      script: '/home/christian/scripts/dim_screen.sh',
      interpreter: '/bin/bash',
    }
  ]
};

And then cleared pm2, and re-added just the script “ecosystem.config.js”

And bingo, now the screen dims after 15 minutes of inactivity, and is restored when I touch the screen.