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    A New Chapter for MagicMirror: The Community Takes the Lead
    Read the statement by Michael Teeuw here.

    Rpi 4 and two monitors

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • bheplerB Offline
      bhepler Module Developer
      last edited by

      I have to head home, so I can’t investigate any more for some time. But I did find this link on StackOverflow that seems to address the issue. Aren’t we using an X11 based desktop manager?
      Anyway, this may help.

      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • S Offline
        sdetweil @bhepler
        last edited by

        @bhepler correct, that is DISPLAY

        Sam

        How to add modules

        learning how to use browser developers window for css changes

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        • N Offline
          NathTheDude
          last edited by

          thanks @sdetweil , right you are - I was not running npm from within the MagicMirror directory.

          When I update ‘Display’ to 1 I still get an error when trying to manually run NPM, however when ‘Display’ is set to 0 and then I run NPM there are no errors with it. The error is:

          pi@MagicMirrors:~/MagicMirror $ npm start
          
          > magicmirror@2.10.1 start /home/pi/MagicMirror
          > ./run-start.sh
          
          (electron:11918): Gtk-WARNING **: 22:18:00.088: cannot open display: :1
          npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
          npm ERR! errno 1
          npm ERR! magicmirror@2.10.1 start: `./run-start.sh`
          npm ERR! Exit status 1
          npm ERR! 
          npm ERR! Failed at the magicmirror@2.10.1 start script.
          npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
          
          npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
          npm ERR!     /home/pi/.npm/_logs/2020-02-04T22_18_00_154Z-debug.log
          pi@MagicMirrors:~/MagicMirror $ 
          

          @bhepler thanks for the link, it is a bit beyond my understanding at the moment. I will have to read up on it a bit more. I tried to run xrandr to see what kind of status it gives on the monitors but it currently comes back with ‘Can’t open display’, I assume it is because another service/application is utilising them?

          Anyway, thanks for your help.

          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S Offline
            sdetweil @NathTheDude
            last edited by sdetweil

            @NathTheDude said in Rpi 4 and two monitors:

            When I update ‘Display’ to 1 I still get an error

            Yes, we just need to find out what the other Display number is.

            tvservice is wrong cause it reports display 2 for HDMI 0, and we know it’s really Display 0

            Sam

            How to add modules

            learning how to use browser developers window for css changes

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            • N Offline
              NathTheDude
              last edited by

              @sdetweil , so using ‘0’ or ‘0.0’ give the same result and start MM on the first monitor.

              So far I have tried 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5

              How far do I go? :)

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              • O Offline
                OldSunGuy @NathTheDude
                last edited by

                @NathTheDude The 2nd monitor should be display 0, screen 1. Use this:

                DISPLAY=:0.1
                
                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • N Offline
                  NathTheDude
                  last edited by NathTheDude

                  Hey @OldSunGuy , thanks. ‘0’ and ‘0.0’ seem to be the first monitor however I get an error when I try anything else. So far I have tried using each of the following: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9

                  Each time I try to start npm (npm start) apart from when I use 0 or 0.0 I get the following (with the value reflecting the number I changed in ‘run-start.sh’):

                  (electron:2238): Gtk-WARNING **: 06:14:02.236: cannot open display: :0.1
                  

                  @sdetweil - not sure if this is relevant but it does not seem to matter what value I set in ‘run-start.sh’, when I reboot the pi it will always start MM on the first screen. Should it not fail if it is using ‘run-start.sh’?

                  Also with an incorrect value being added to ‘run-start.sh’, when I run ‘mm.sh’ this always works and displays MM on the first screen.

                  okay, I think I understand it now. When I reboot it is using ‘mm.sh’, within mm.sh is the following:

                  cd ~/MagicMirror
                  DISPLAY=:0 npm start
                  

                  Which I assume means that the ‘run-start.sh’ is not used during boot up?

                  When I change this value to anything other than 0, this will also fail with the same error seen when trying to run npm previously.

                  O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • O Offline
                    OldSunGuy @NathTheDude
                    last edited by

                    @NathTheDude If you start a terminal on one desktop and run:

                    echo $DISPLAY
                    

                    Then start a terminal on the other desktop and run:

                    echo $DISPLAY
                    

                    do you get the same results?

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                    • N Offline
                      NathTheDude
                      last edited by

                      @OldSunGuy - I get :0.0

                      I wonder if both screens are being seen as 0.0, if that is the case I guess I would expect the MM screen to cover both screens and not just the first :-/

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                      • N Offline
                        NathTheDude
                        last edited by

                        @OldSunGuy , sorry mis read your comment. Not sure how I would start a terminal on one screen and a different terminal on another.

                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S Offline
                          sdetweil @NathTheDude
                          last edited by

                          @NathTheDude if they are two independent desktops, then you should have a menu on the second desktop, just like the first…

                          also, you can move the mouse to the second desktop and do ctrl-alt-t to open a terminal there

                          I have an micro hdmi adapter coming later today so I can put up a second physical display on my pi4…

                          Sam

                          How to add modules

                          learning how to use browser developers window for css changes

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                          • N Offline
                            NathTheDude
                            last edited by

                            @sdetweil , I opened up a terminal session on each screen and both indicated the same display was being used (:0).

                            From the ‘Appearance Settings’ window (‘Prefences’ > ‘Apprearance Settings’, there is a ‘Taskbar’ tab and in this tab you select which hdmi output you want the taskbar to be on. You can choose both.

                            S N 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • S Offline
                              sdetweil @NathTheDude
                              last edited by

                              @NathTheDude so, it looks like one big desktop…

                              u should be using Buster OS, right? so you can see the temples across the big image, some on the right display, some on the left…

                              NOT the same on both?

                              Sam

                              How to add modules

                              learning how to use browser developers window for css changes

                              N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • N Offline
                                NathTheDude @sdetweil
                                last edited by

                                @sdetweil , yeah buster.

                                I can see temples on both screens, the image does not flow between screens. When looking at the 'Appearance Settings’, the is a tab for each HMDI with different settings but these are purely for what image is seen on the desktop. You can use the same image on both desktops however this is purely related to the desktop image or so is what I understand of it.

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                                • N Offline
                                  NathTheDude @NathTheDude
                                  last edited by

                                  @NathTheDude said in Rpi 4 and two monitors:

                                  @sdetweil , I opened up a terminal session on each screen and both indicated the same display was being used (:0).

                                  From the ‘Appearance Settings’ window (‘Prefences’ > ‘Apprearance Settings’, there is a ‘Taskbar’ tab and in this tab you select which hdmi output you want the taskbar to be on. You can choose both.

                                  Sorry, with my previous comment - I meant to say you ‘CANT’ choose both (taskbar can only be on one screen/output).

                                  S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • S Offline
                                    sdetweil @NathTheDude
                                    last edited by

                                    @NathTheDude there is a firmware update on the pi4… execute

                                    sudo rpi-update
                                    

                                    Sam

                                    How to add modules

                                    learning how to use browser developers window for css changes

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                                    • N Offline
                                      NathTheDude
                                      last edited by

                                      @sdetweil , so I did the firmware update and rebooted.

                                      Slightly different now but still can not quite get this to work. When I now run a terminal on screen 1 the output of ‘echo $DISPLAY’ is ‘:0.0’ and when I run the terminal on the 2nd window the output is ‘:0’. However the same is seen when I try to either user ‘0’ or ‘0.0’ in run.sh (mm gets display on the 1st monitor.

                                      I have again tried to use different numbers (1,2,3 and 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) but again, these are not valid entries.

                                      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • S Offline
                                        sdetweil @NathTheDude
                                        last edited by

                                        @NathTheDude how about the output of xrandr -q

                                        Sam

                                        How to add modules

                                        learning how to use browser developers window for css changes

                                        N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • N Offline
                                          NathTheDude @sdetweil
                                          last edited by

                                          @sdetweil . I get the following when trying to run different xrandr commands:

                                          Can't open display
                                          
                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • N Offline
                                            NathTheDude
                                            last edited by

                                            @sdetweil - ahhh. I need to do this from the desktop:

                                            pi@MagicMirrors:~ $ xrandr -q
                                            Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2160 x 1920, maximum 7680 x 7680
                                            HDMI-1 connected primary 1080x1920+0+0 left (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 268mm
                                               1920x1080     60.00*+  60.00    50.00    59.94  
                                               1680x1050     59.88  
                                               1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
                                               1440x900      59.90  
                                               1280x960      60.00  
                                               1280x720      60.00    60.00    50.00    59.94  
                                               1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
                                               832x624       74.55  
                                               800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
                                               720x576       50.00    50.00    50.00  
                                               720x480       60.00    60.00    59.94    59.94    59.94  
                                               640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    60.00    59.94    59.94  
                                               720x400       70.08  
                                            HDMI-2 connected 1080x1920+1080+0 right (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 268mm
                                               1920x1080     60.00*+  60.00    50.00    59.94  
                                               1680x1050     59.88  
                                               1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
                                               1440x900      59.90  
                                               1280x960      60.00  
                                               1280x720      60.00    60.00    50.00    59.94  
                                               1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
                                               832x624       74.55  
                                               800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
                                               720x576       50.00    50.00    50.00  
                                               720x480       60.00    60.00    59.94    59.94    59.94  
                                               640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    60.00    59.94    59.94  
                                               720x400       70.08  
                                            pi@MagicMirrors:~ $ 
                                            
                                            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0

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