stronger Raspberry Pi 3 Alternatives

cowboysdude

Well here’s step 1 for my big mirror… I wanted something stronger then a PI so here is my mini-itx in its new home… Cooling is NOT an issue… it’s about 13" square and about 3 inches tall :) Easy to put out of the way … NOW to build a frame for the ‘display’… Coming soon!

HERE is how it all stays cool…this fan is totally SILENT… LOVE IT!
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220067

Mykle1

@cowboysdude said in stronger Raspberry Pi 3 Alternatives:

Easy to put out of the way … NOW to build a frame for the ‘display’

Great idea! Now hurry the hell up with the frame! :^)

cowboysdude

@Mykle1 I’m working on it COMING SOON

j.e.f.f

@cowboysdude is the idea that the mini atx sits beside the mirror as opposed to being built? Say on a console table with just an HDMI cable running to the screen?

cowboysdude

@j.e.f.f No it will be underneath as I’m building into a type of desk/cabinet

Snille

All, I have got the Libre Computer now. Trying my best to get the mirror up. Ran in to a small hitch. There is no chromedriver for arm64 yet. They are working on it and there is a PR but it has not yet gone completely through it seems. I’ll see if I can figure it out some how anyway. :)

I’ll come back to this thread as soon as I gotten MM up and running.

stacywebb

@Snille
I’ve gotten it working a Pine Rock64 (arm64 also).

Downloaded electron-v1.7.5-linux-arm64.zip listed under electron’s PR

One thing to note: when downloading from the link, the site’s cert has expired.

From terminal:

// Since the cert for the site has expired (but is safe)

wget --no-check-certificate https://www.hamidx9.ir/dl/electron_arm64/electron-v1.7.5-linux-arm64.zip

// Important make sure to unzip to your electron path

unzip electron-v1.7.5-linux-arm64.zip ~/MagicMirror/node_modules/electron/dist/

Once done just started as usual (npm start).

Snille

@stacywebb Thank you! I’ll try it out as soon as I got some time. Have you compared with a Pi3?

stacywebb

@Snille

I haven’t done any benchmarking as of yet. Once I do, I’ll post the results.

Mykle1

@stacywebb said in stronger Raspberry Pi 3 Alternatives:

I haven’t done any benchmarking as of yet. Once I do, I’ll post the results.

If you could do some comparisons using nmon between a Pi3 and the Rock64 I’d really be interested in the results, as they pertain to this topic.
https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/4684/electron-cpu-usage

Otherwise, I’m looking forward to your results on the Rock64.

cruunnerr

@Mykle1

https://youtu.be/FjbzKfeHB_8?t=8m10s

As i understood, u were able to use GPIO commands the same way u do on a raspberry. Seems to be a nice option

Benchmarks at 08:10

Mykle1

@cruunnerr

No WiFi? NFW!

ninjabreadman

@Mykle1 The b/g/n adapter is a further $7, and will also give you an antenna for better connectivity. The more robust (and likely excessive) b/g/n/ac dual-antenna is $22.

Has anyone tried running MM on an Intel Compute Stick? I’m not normally a fan, but it seems it would suit the form factor and be easily placed behind a mirror, and has more fulsome specs to accommodate advanced modules, media streaming, etc.

Mykle1

@ninjabreadman

No, but I’ve used, and am using, old laptop boards (and one netbook) with ubuntu. They can be gotten on the cheap and come with everything you need. :-)

cruunnerr

Well, i need to say that especially for me, the ability to use GPIOs is important. Unfortunately the power of the raspi’s & co is not as good as x86 systems.

Does anyone know if it would be possible to use MagicMirror on a x86 system and uses external GPIOs? I installed an MM instance on a virtual machine running Linux. When i add a module which uses GPIOs i get errors. Is there a possibility (maybe with server-client)

emlowe

You mean something like this:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264

I just did a google for “USB GPIO breakout board”

-Earle

cruunnerr

@emlowe said in stronger Raspberry Pi 3 Alternatives:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264

do you think its just that simple? that would be great.
The question is, if the program code or the configuration will be the same as on a RPi. Or are u need to do some complicated hacks to use the board with MM?

edit:
okay… i searched now, too.

Found this:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/gpio-expander/

what do u guys think about that?

emlowe

Well, adafruit has python sample code. You likely need the node FT232H module to use it from JS.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/FT232H

Does it actually work - I have no idea - that board is also apparently out of stock :-)

Sample python code below

# Import standard Python time library.
import time

# Import GPIO and FT232H modules.
import Adafruit_GPIO as GPIO
import Adafruit_GPIO.FT232H as FT232H

# Temporarily disable the built-in FTDI serial driver on Mac & Linux platforms.
FT232H.use_FT232H()

# Create an FT232H object that grabs the first available FT232H device found.
ft232h = FT232H.FT232H()

# Configure digital inputs and outputs using the setup function.
# Note that pin numbers 0 to 15 map to pins D0 to D7 then C0 to C7 on the board.
ft232h.setup(7, GPIO.IN)   # Make pin D7 a digital input.
ft232h.setup(8, GPIO.OUT)  # Make pin C0 a digital output.

# Loop turning the LED on and off and reading the input state.
print 'Press Ctrl-C to quit.'
while True:
	# Set pin C0 to a high level so the LED turns on.
	ft232h.output(8, GPIO.HIGH)
	# Sleep for 1 second.
	time.sleep(1)
	# Set pin C0 to a low level so the LED turns off.
	ft232h.output(8, GPIO.LOW)
	# Sleep for 1 second.
	time.sleep(1)
	# Read the input on pin D7 and print out if it's high or low.
	level = ft232h.input(7)
	if level == GPIO.LOW:
		print 'Pin D7 is LOW!'
	else:
		print 'Pin D7 is HIGH!'

Mykle1

@cruunnerr said in stronger Raspberry Pi 3 Alternatives:

Does anyone know if it would be possible to use MagicMirror on a x86 system and uses external GPIOs?

Well, it’s certainly possible to run MM on a x86 system. I haven’t a clue about external GPIO usage but it looks promising. For now, I use my mirror for some things and my Alexa for everything else.