MMM-RandomBackground, Background from local folder

Ultimatum22

As request by some, first version of showing random full size background from a local folder.

[card:Ultimatum22/MMM-RandomBackground]

It will load a photo’s from a photo directory in ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RandomBackground, easiest way is by creating a Windows share. If somebody needs help with that let me know.

This still has a lot of improvements, I will update the readme with future implementations and a list of issues. If you see any please let me know.

Woody

@Ultimatum22
many thanks for your efforts. I was looking and waiting for a module like this. I tried it and it works nearly as expected, whenever I would prefer the possibility to load the images from an external source. Maybe in the future you are able to implement this.

Ultimatum22

Your welcome, good to hear it was what you are looking for. What do you mean with external source, like an usb stick? That isn’t that hard to implement. I am working on supporting multiple folders to read photo’s from, support for external source is then also done.

Woody

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

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.