Does MM no longer work on Pi Zero2w?

[wyovino]

I ran the update script a few days ago after seeing PM2 error messages about the MMM-Jast module requiring Node 22.0.0. I saw posts about issues with node on the Pi 0, but didn’t see a workaround, or at least didn’t understand a workaround.

My current branch is Master
I tried “git checkout -b oldbranch tags/v2.30”

If Pi Zero2w is no longer viable, would a 3B+ work?

[sdetweil]

@wyovino 2w is a pi3 in pi 0 form factor and smaller memory

What os is on the 2w?
Do

lsb_release -a

MagicMirror runs, but you have to increase the swap space
And may have to use one of the add on browsers . Surf looks the best. (You have to install that separately)

See the bottom of readme for the scripts to see what to do

https://github.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror_scripts

I think you will run

bash -c “$(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror_scripts/master/setup_browser_over_server.sh)”

Then add the environment variable to whatever script launches MagicMirror (pm2 or …)

[wyovino]

@sdetweil I’m running Bullseye (Raspbian 11)

I ran the setup browser script and selected Surf.

My swapfile size is 2048. Does that need to be increased?

[sdetweil]

@wyovino
do

free -m 

it will tell you how much of the swap file is in use… the 2W only has 512meg of ram. the pi3 have 768m or more.

[wyovino]

               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:             426         206          28          52         191         115
Swap:           2047         194        1853

[sdetweil]

@wyovino look good on swap

Because you will use swap, the speed of the sd card makes a difference.

[wyovino]

@sdetweil
I’m using a USB drive. This is so weird. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Right now everything looks good. Even MMM-Jast is working even though there was a warning that it required Node 20.0.0. Sometimes when I reboot it locks up at the GUI screen and I can’t connect remotely.

I have a spare Pi 4 I could use but I’m reluctant because the mirror is in a tiny bathroom and the sound of the cooling fan in noticeable when placed behind the mirror. I guess I could run it without the fan and monitor the temp.

[sdetweil]

@wyovino bullseye is 2 releases back…

Maybe run MagicMirror server mode on the pi, and launch a browser on the mirror…. Same set w surf w MagicMirror on a different system….

[wyovino]

@sdetweil I have a spare Zero2W. Would it make sense to run MM server on that one and have the one on the mirror in brower mode? Do you think that would make a difference in performance?

[sdetweil]

@wyovino should be no difference, actually the ui side will be better

[noholdsbard]

@wyovino
I find a very easy setup to be a server on an RPi3 A+ and the client in kiosk mode on an RPi Zero 2W. This also gives one the option of having multiple clients attached to one server.

I’m an (old) engineer and a minimalist so I chose DietPi for my OS. This results in very little lag while easily maintaining them via ssh.

Total power consumption at full load is 5.5W (3.2W + 2.3W) versus the 4.6W for the Model 3 B+, but incrementally you get power savings as you add more clients. Cost wise, this is also more effective if you have multiple clients.

On the server side, I created scripts to install MM and eliminated the need for pm2 in favor of using services, as this save significantly on memory usage (RPi3 A+ only has 512MB of RAM). DietPi + bare services + dropbear + MM server take up only 194-206MB of RAM. Swap varies from 0-30MB.

I do not have a lot of modules running. The basic Calendar, Weather, MMM-RAIN-MAP plus a module I create for to capture and display Ring camera snapshots (currently called MMM-RingSnapshot).

On the client side, I created a script to perform the most basic installation which reduces all display resources to bare X and chromium. Total is 240-248MB running DietPi + chromium in kiosk mode with no windows manager. Swap varies from 0-120MB while running.

I was thinking of posting the scripts on GitHub, but I’m not certain there is appetite for something that is non-standard for MM.

YMMV