MMM-RandomBackground, Background from local folder

jfodor

i can only get this to work in the full screen locations. can this be placed in any other locations?

i would also second the network share for the photo location.

as a note to others you have to create a folder in ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RandomBackground called photos and place your photo’s in there.

docmucki

Hi, i have some warnings when I try to install this module. Can someone give me a hint what to do?

thx,
docmucki

pi@raspberrypi:~/MagicMirror/modules $ git clone https://github.com/Ultimatum22/MMM-RandomBackground.git
Klone nach 'MMM-RandomBackground'...
remote: Counting objects: 81, done.
remote: Total 81 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 81
Entpacke Objekte: 100% (81/81), Fertig.
Prüfe Konnektivität... Fertig.
pi@raspberrypi:~/MagicMirror/modules $ npm install
npm WARN enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/package.json'
npm WARN enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/node_modules/node_helper/package.json'
npm WARN modules No description
npm WARN modules No repository field.
npm WARN modules No README data
npm WARN modules No license field.

in_a_days

@docmucki

I suspect you need to execute

npm install

From ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RandomBackground rather than ~/MagicMirror/modules.

Try:

cd MMM-RandomBackground
npm install

docmucki

@in_a_days
Thank you. That was the case.

docmucki

Changing the updateInterval seems to have no effect. Always feels like 3 seconds.

jfodor

it uses milliseconds. mine is set at 900000 which is 15 minutes.

lignumaqua

This works, but the background image is only in the top half of the screen (running portrait). Is there a way to make it fill the entire screen?

Ultimatum22

@docmucki What is the value you use, because it is indeed in miliseconds as jfodor said.

@lignumaqua Can you post your configuration for my module? It should work full screen if you look at the default ‘fullscreen_below’.

lignumaqua

This post is deleted!

lignumaqua

Oops! My apologies, I was getting this module confused with another. Mea culpa!

fox

@Woody said in Random background from local folder:

@Ultimatum22
No, not a USB storage. I mean a NAS, a cloud resourse, any SMB share.

Thank you for the module. Is it possible to make this working with a NAS ? And is it also possible e.g. on top_right instead of background?

nobita

@Ultimatum22 you can change from local folder to Dropbox (Share Photo) and can adjust time to display from dropbox

yawns

@nobita said in Random background from local folder:

@Ultimatum22 you can change from local folder to Dropbox (Share Photo) and can adjust time to display from dropbox

Couldn’t you just synchronize your dropbox client into the specific folder and use the module as is?

A Former User

@yawns Is there any way to implement Dropbox in RPI? I’ve found only one solution Exagear, but it is not free.

Ultimatum22

@Sean There is a dropbox client for debian, if you use raspbian on your RPI this should work. I haven’t tested it but if you can get it to synchronize you can link to it from my module like yawns said.

@nobita I don’t want to store my photo’s on dropbox so I don’t have the need implement this option but my above solution should work.

A Former User

@Ultimatum22 said in Random background from local folder:

@Sean There is a dropbox client for debian, if you use raspbian on your RPI this should work. I haven’t tested it but if you can get it to synchronize you can link to it from my module like yawns said.

That client is for normal Intel/AMD devices. As I know, there is no official Dropbox client for ARM architectures. So people cannot install Dropbox on RPi. (maybe I could be wrong…)
Currently, the only available solution is using Exagear(https://eltechs.com/product/exagear-desktop/).

Anyway, There might be some PROs and CONs about using Dropbox or cloud storage for private photos. I bet considering external network storage is not non-sense.

RPI has the limited volume of storage. Some people have tons of images to show. And they might not want to worry about sync between original photos in archives and those in RPI.
Some people are not familiar with FTP or SFTP or anything. (e.g. my wife). She just wants to throw her new photos into some folder simply. (Well, there might be another options like netatalk, smb,… but my wife has HER OPINIONS.)
Google Photo and iCloud Photos are awesome services, but unfortunately, they don’t support external API. That is why people want to use simple and free ‘dropbox’ alternately.

Ultimatum22

@Sean You are correct about ARM architecture, didn’t do my research properly. I did a quick search and it seems like a hazzle indeed. This seems to be a kind of solution, http://mitchtech.net/dropbox-on-raspberry-pi-via-sshfs/

I agree about the space but if you have a decent sdcard, like 32gb you can store plenty of photo’s and change them once in a while. I have set up a shared directory with samba to the photo directory directly. I just put my photo’s in here and restart the pi.

Would be nice if google photo’s introduces an api, I use it for photo backup at the moment.

A Former User

@Ultimatum22 said in Random background from local folder:

@Sean You are correct about ARM architecture, didn’t do my research properly. I did a quick search and it seems like a hazzle indeed. This seems to be a kind of solution, http://mitchtech.net/dropbox-on-raspberry-pi-via-sshfs/

Maybe this could be another solution. But it still needs ‘REMOTE HOST’ server. anyway, I have a NAS in my house, so I could use this.

I agree about the space but if you have a decent sdcard, like 32gb you can store plenty of photo’s and change them once in a while. I have set up a shared directory with samba to the photo directory directly. I just put my photo’s in here and restart the pi.

Yes. It could be so.

Would be nice if google photo’s introduces an api, I use it for photo backup at the moment.

We both agree this could be the ultimate final solution.

Anyway, last weekends, I tried to test Dropbox API. I think I can make Dropbox Wallpaper module in a few days. But that could be for just a shallow nitch purpose. Usually, using local storage is the better way. However, for my family and @nobita, It could be alternates. I’ll leave mention about that in my module.

radu022003

Hello, I have just starting using this module. I find it very useful and seems to work very good… as long as the pictures are copied on the SD card.
My ideea is to use the pictures that are already on my NAS. I did tried to mount the NAS on the expected folder /home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RandomBackground/photos/. But the module seems not to be able to work with such a big amount of data, arround 30k files.
I also observed that if i delete the pictures from “photos” folder the slideshow is keep running, which leads me to the Ideea that the module is loading the files in RAM or something similar, if it is so, that I can understand why is it not working with 30k files.
Is there any option to use this module in my desired setup?

thanks

A Former User

@radu022003
Well, maybe a little amount of pics loading on demands would be answer.
My last MMM-GooglePhotos loads only one photo from Google Photos when it is needed.