Raspberry 4 with two 24-inch screens ?

[Cbob]

Hello,

Do you know if it is possible (or soon possible) will you use raspberry 4 with two 24-inch screens ?
For make a “big” mirror and screen on the left and a screen on the right.

Thank you.
(sorry for my English)

[bhepler]

@Cbob It should be possible. The two screens will be considered one large desktop and the mirror framework will treat it as such. You’ll have a line down the middle where the monitors meet, but you can get around that with some clever CSS work.

[Cbob]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

So I propose to create a mirror with 2 vertical screens and 1 raspberry pi 4. There will be no message in the middle, but just on the sides.
For example weather forecast, traffic, calendar and some information on the left screen ; and Spotify, RSS feed on the right screen.

The idea is to “recycle” 2 screens of 24 inches to make a big mirror.
But the screens will not necessarily stick together, there will be space between them. If you have some examples on the method or the files to modify let me know :)

Thank you.

[bhepler]

@Cbob - It shouldn’t require much modification. Just avoid the following positions in your config.js file: fullscreen_above, fullscreen_below, bottom_center, middle_center, top_center, top_bar and bottom_bar. Those positions are centered on the desktop and will straddle the break between your monitors. That leaves you six positions to put modules. You should be okay.

Now… if you want to get really advanced, you can modify the framework to add locations just to the left and right of the break between the monitors. That will involve adding new locations to the index.html and some significant modification of the CSS file. But it is possible. I would suggest getting your mirror built first and then investigating this possibility.

[SammyJankins]

@Cbob Re: Raspberry 4 with two 24-inch screens ?

I was thinking just the same!!! i need to buy a raspi 4 first tho… maybe in xmas!!!
If someone has the right config for the css file that @bhepler taked about please write a post.

thanks in advance.

[lavolp3]

@Cbob That is a very great and expensive idea!!

[Cbob]

@lavolp3 I have 2 recycled 24 inch screens (easily found and easily for repair), and the big screen (46/50 inch) is more expensive :)

@SammyJankins “If someone has the right config for the css”, it interests me too :)

[Cbob]

I work on my project but i have a probleme :/.
I can not activate the 2nd screen with magic miror.

could you tell me how to activate the 2nd screen ? Raspbian works well on both, but I can not find how to activate the 2nd screen with magic mirror ?

thank you :)

[sdetweil]

@Cbob you will have to run two instances of MagicMirror, and use the electron options to position the one instance on each screen.

see here for another user positioning the MM screen on the right monitor

https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/11158/cannot-get-magic-mirror-to-start-on-second-screen/9

[Cbob]

thank you for your answer, but I did not succeed.

I have two instances that launch, but it appears on the same screen. Are you solution for to help me ?

[sdetweil]

@Cbob
following the configuration instructions

https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror#general

you can add a section for passing to the browser, electron
add that line in front of the modules: line

this says,
not fullscreen
800 pixels wide
and starting (left edge is 0) at pixel 600

 electronOptions: {fullscreen:false, width:800, x:600},

so, if your screen is 1920*2 wide
to get the window onto the second screen,
x:1920 seems right

[Bruno]

Guys, I’m having problem starting two instances of magic mirror.

I have a Raspberry Pi 4. One HDMI port is connected on my PC Screen, the other one on my TV (just for example. I’ll use two screens on my actual mirror).

I am able to start Magic Mirror on the second screen putting this line on the config.js of the second instance

electronOptions: {fullscreen:true, x:1920},

(My first screen is 1920px wide).

I can get two instances to work, the problem is they are ALWAYS the same instance.

One instance is installed on ~/MagicMirror. The second is on ~/MagicMirror2.
I have two start scripts:

~/MagicMirror/mm.sh

cd /home/pi/MagicMirror
DISPLAY=:0 npm start

And ~/MagicMirror2/mm2.sh

cd /home/pi/MagicMirror2
DISPLAY=:0 npm start

The first instance I have my modules and the second is the default instance (default config.js) that comes with the instalation (except for the “electronOptions” above, “address” and “ipWhiteList”).

The problem is that the second instance I start ALWAYS is the same as the first one.
For example, if I use “pm2 start mm”, my first instance appears on my first screen.
After that I use “pm2 start mm2” and also the FIRST INSTANCE appears on the second screen.

Any thoughts on how to correct that? What am I doing wrong?

[sdetweil]

@Bruno use pm2 info mm, and pm2 mm2 to make sure they are starting the right script

[Bruno]

Ok, sorry. Just found out… I was using the same port on both instances :neutral_face:

[banbutcher]

for display 1 - mm.sh

cd /home/pi/MagicMirror
DISPLAY=:0 npm start

for display 2 - mm2.sh

cd /home/pi/MagicMirror
DISPLAY=:1 npm start

i could be wrong tho…

[sdetweil]

@banbutcher no, on PI4 there is only one ‘display’…
you have to use the electronOptions, x:??? value to set the left edge of each (0 is left)

[banbutcher]

@sdetweil

i knew i could be wrong!! :D