How I got my Magic Mirror working on a Raspberry Pi 0 (zero)

bhepler

@piziie In my experience, this means that the mirror process is already running and you’ve attempted to start it again. Are you using PM2 to manage the mirror process? Is it possible that two of your scripts are both trying to start the mirror? Have you changed any init settings to auto-boot the mirror?

SebTota

@piziie if you want I can post my image and you can write my image to your sd

piziie

@bhepler pm2 doesnt appear to be installed, however i do have npm installed. Could that cause a conflict?

Any way to the sources from which start the mirror process is starting?

Also i may have created a conflict by following the OP steps as well as the steps outlined by @kobie

Also…

Instead of adding start.sh to the end of .bashrc, it’s better practice to have the
script run automatically on start-up. To do this:

sudo mv /home/pi/start.sh /etc/init.d/startMagicMirror.sh
sudo update-rc.d startMagicMirror.sh defaults 100

This moves the script to the standard location for start-up scripts and tells the
system to run it after each boot.

I went back and deleted the startMagicMirror.sh file, however. Does update-rc.d need to be rolled back as well?

bhepler

@piziie That sounds right. Without tracing too closely, it sounds like your startMagicMirror.sh scripts and your start.sh script are both starting the mirror process.

piziie

@bhepler after deleting startMagicMirror.sh the same problem exists

bhepler

@piziie After you deleted the startMagicMirror.sh did you run the update command you quoted?
sudo update-rc.d startMagicMirror.sh remove
(more information at the the update-rc man page)

piziie

@bhepler i have run that command, same issue persists.
Could it have something to do with VNCserver?

Mar

I have MM2 running quite well on my Pi3 but I’d like to free up the Pi3 and use my zero for the MM2. Has anyone seen any real downsides to using the Pi Zero over the Pi3?

Wieber

@Mar compared to the Pi3 the processing power is way lower, so from that point of view some modules wouldnt work properly. That said, for the ‘stock’ modules and API driven modules it should all work fine. Besides that the installing process is a bit more difficult as you can read above ;)

Mar

@Wieber Thanks, I would be using the Button module, PIR sensor module, Wunderlist module, and I want to try adding the Alexa module once i transfer it over to the Pi?

Another thing I was thinking would be to integrate this into my openhab setup to bring in the status of various sensors.

SebTota

I have another question. How could i get into the terminal when the pi goes right into the browser? I cant ssh into it for some reason so is there anyway to exit the browser and go into the terminal?

bhepler

@SebTota Try CTRL+ALT+F2 (note: I have not tried this myself, but it works on other systems I use)

SebTota

Yet another question. I tried all other forums but i cant find my answer so I figured id ask here. If i have jessie lite with just the terminal, can I open up a file explorer to copy and paste a folder. I need to copy two folders over but I cant figure out how to do it.

yawns

@SebTota
cp -r source destination

SebTota

Did anyone get

https://github.com/HackerHouseYT/AI-Smart-Mirror

working on a pi zero. I know its made for a Mac but I`ve been trying somethings and cant succeed to replicate it on the Pi 0. People claim they got it working by following those instructions but im lost on how to install ffmpeg. If anyone got it working on the Pi 0 please share how.

Mar

If i don’t currently have a monitor is there a way for me to test the output of the MM when running on the zero with Raspbian lite via VNC ?

SebTota

@Mar if your running Jessie full you can SSH into the RPI and enable vnc

Mar

@SebTota yeah i realized that, but have a pi zero running lite as i dont require full. was hoping that if i did install vnc and all the dependencies if it would be possible to vnc in and see the mirror as it would in a monitor?

SebTota

@Mar I have tried myself with no success. Let me know if you figure it out.

Mar

@SebTota Will do but first…
If i make a backup of my memory card and i mess up what im doing now can i just copy the backup back on with finder/explorer and be right back where i was?

thanks @SebTota