Electron CPU usage

[MichMich]

@cdelaorden I think you’ve found the issue! Awesome work!

For others please note that when you start raspi-config and go to “Advanced Options” > “GL Driver”, the top one will always be selected, no matter which one is active. After selecting one of the two top drivers (GL), it might solve the hi CPU load issue …

It solved it on a clean installed Pi 3 for me.

[MichMich]

I added some info about the Open GL driver to the Wiki:
https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror/wiki/Configuring-the-Raspberry-Pi#enable-the-open-gl-driver-to-decrease-electrons-cpu-usage

[Hein-Jan]

@michmich

I seem to be running into some kind if trouble. My SD card failed, so I had to do a clean install. I decided to immediately go for the full KMS driver.
“$ tail /boot/config.txt | grep dtoverlay” results in “dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d”.

The CPU usage is alright, but “/home/pi/.pm2/logs/mm-error-o.log” states:

libGL error: MESA-LOADER: failed to retrieve device information
MESA-LOADER: failed to retrieve device information
MESA-LOADER: failed to retrieve device information

I am having trouble with the monitor. I am using MMM-Remote-Control.
“MONITOROFF” results in “/home/pi/.pm2/logs/mm-error-o.log”:

Powering off HDMI

“MONITORON” results in “/home/pi/.pm2/logs/mm-error-o.log”:

Powering on HDMI with preferred settings

[E] Failed to power on HDMI with preferred settings

{ Error: Command failed: tvservice --preferred && sudo chvt 6 && sudo chvt 7
[E] Failed to power on HDMI with preferred settings

    at ChildProcess.exithandler (child_process.js:217:12)
    at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
    at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:194:7)
    at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:899:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:226:5)
  killed: true,
  code: null,
  signal: 'SIGTERM',
  cmd: 'tvservice --preferred && sudo chvt 6 && sudo chvt 7' }
Powering off HDMI

I may be wrong but I feel this is related to the Full KMS driver.

Can anyone confirm? Does anyone have a solution?
I am way out of my depth here…

[Dom1n1c]

@Hein-Jan I got the same issue.
A few minutes, the monitor could be controlled, but then “tvservice -p” fails to power on the monitor.

[cdelaorden]

@hein-jan @Dom1n1c

Please use the fake kms driver instead “dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d”

it its known that the full kms driver isnt compatible with tvservice plus other restrictions

EDIT:
Also with the fake KMS you can rotate the display from /boot/config.txt so I suggest @michmich using it as the preferred method in the wiki

[schmo90]

@cdelaorden said in Electron CPU usage:

the full kms driver isnt compatib

hy now i use the fake kms driver, everything is working fine and realy fast.
but i have the problem that the mirror will go to a black screen after some hours.

only a pm2 restart mm helps in this case -.-

[cdelaorden]

@schmo90 mmm havent had that problem, everything its working fine

Have you deactivated the screensaver as its shown in the wiki?

Also, are you using a module like MMM-Remote-Control to turn off the screen?

If you see a black screen and the mouse but nothing else you are probably missing “sudo chvt 6 && sudo chvt 7” in your statement after turning hdmi back on. You can test it in ssh after forcing the issue.

Also if you are concatenating commands like Hein-Jan did with “tvservice --preferred && sudo chvt 6 && sudo chvt 7” have in mind that commands after && are only executed if no errors are found. So maybe “tvservice -p” its working correctly but its giving some feedback and things after && aren’t executed.

You could force it by using ; as a separator instead of && so it doesn’t look for an answear

[schmo90]

hy i didnot turn off the hdmi,

i will turn off the lcd with the gpio’s

screen is turning on normal but electron browser is showing a black screen (mous appears at moving)

[binderth]

adding another flavour:
As my Foscam FI9900P got an ONVIF-Update lately and is now capable of RTSP-streaming I installed MMM-RTSPStream.

• activated fake (or full) OpenGL Desktop driver:
  omxplayer crashes
• activated non-GL desktop driver:
  omxplayer runs

So, as I see it, the omxplayer problem doesn’t concern MagicMirror - is there another way to reduce Electron CPU usage - except using an Open-GL dekstop driver?

PS: activating fake KMS reduced CPU usage as recommended in this thread - but I’d like to have the video-stream of my cam on the MM (unfortunately it doesn’t provide MJPEG)

[cdelaorden]

hi @binderth
the fake-kms was created for keeping omxplayer compatibility but you need to add the “–no-osd” flag to the omxplayer command line

you might want to try it

dont bet on it, but changing line 101 of node_helper.js to

var args = ["--no-osd", "--live", "--video_queue", "4", "--fps", "30",

might do the trick