Modifying the Config File

BKeyport

@jimb If you’re thinking you’re FUBAR, you can always boot a fresh image (Raspberry Pi Imager, preferably, other methods available, search for Raspberry Pi Recovery Mode)

If you do build a new image, take a look at the advanced options in the Imager - You can pre-set things that’ll make life a ton easier - like hostnames, SSH availability, username/passwords, etc. Make sure to have the newest version of the imager, and it’ll remind you to look at the settings every time, rather than have it be a different workflow.

That being said, if you just need to dump Magic Mirror, delete the directory tree and start over - using Sam’s exceptional script this time to set it up. Good chance that gets it going.

What I do personally, is use combinations of SAMBA, Geany, VNC & SSH to get everything up and running fully remote, but that’s a bit advanced - Geany is on the Pi desktop, so if you want to try to use that to edit your config files, great, makes it so much easier.

sdetweil

@BKeyport don’t edit ON the pi, use Winscp or Bitvise SSH clients, then you can use your pc editor and keyboard, mouse… and double click to edit, and still have a terminal window via ssh…

one the wall enclosed, or just developing, its exactly the same. and you can multiple systems open at once…

I use Notepad++ or VisualStudio code…
then u have brace matching and indentation matching… REALLY makes life easier…
AND you can use your PC browser to access MM on the pi, so its all right there… laptop, desktop doesn’t matter…

bitvise also has a server side(pc) file manager window so you can drag/drop files in either direction (altho you dont usually need to.)…

all my scripts work thru ssh, MM runs there too… and you can use pm2 just like always…

BKeyport

@sdetweil Fair enough, I was applying a bit of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) suggesting at least initial edits can be done locally - don’t want to overwhelm.

sdetweil

@BKeyport I know, but learning all the commands, keyboard, gui tools, menus, settings, etc, is overwhelming for many people.

jimb

Sam, I’m trying to get to the point where I can copy/paste the config where you can take a look at it. It’s been 45 years since I looked at Unix, never Linux.

IP Config from the OS prompt on the Pi yields -
“Link/loopback 'all zeros…”
“inet 127.0.0.0/8 scope host lo”
NOT a valid IP address, it should be in the range of 192.168. x.x

hostname command from the Pi gives “rutspi” which is the hostname I assigned as it was building.

sdetweil

@jimb if that is the only ip address, then it is not on your wifi or Ethernet networks.

127.0.0.1 is the fake internal only network

BKeyport

sounds to me like too much tinkering got the network FUBAR.

I’d reset and start over, personally.

jimb

Sam, from the Pi I can use the browser to get to the Internet so it has an IP address. I can ping Google from it, too. At this point I think the best thing would be for me to start over with a fresh installation. I don’t want to be a PITA here!

sdetweil

@jimb not a PITA. just odd that ip addr didn’t give u all adapters info

bhepler

@jimb said in Modifying the Config File:

IP Config from the OS prompt on the Pi yields -
“Link/loopback 'all zeros…”
“inet 127.0.0.0/8 scope host lo”

This should be the first entry of three in the response when you enter ip addr. The next entry should be your ethernet port, and the final entry should be your wireless LAN. My suggestion is to try this on your pi: ip addr | grep inet

Secondly, when Sam told you to switch on SSH, did you go into the config app and do it? You can get to it from the desktop but the fastest way is to type sudo raspi-config and then navigate to “Interface Options”->“SSH”. Make sure it is enabled.

jimb

Gents, my goal was not to build a watch, only to tell the time. I have bit the bullet and will be building a new image of the OS and setting it up to run from my PC. That way I’ll be able to copy configs for all to peruse, trying to get Magic Mirror up and running. Thanks for your continued support!

jimb

Sam, et all: I have installed a fresh copy of the OS to a new SD card , booted up the Pi, and installed a new copy of the MM2 files, etc. from Sam’s installation script. The only mistake I made was making the MM auto-install. I attempted SSH into the Pi to modify the config on my PC. Had the same “no connnection” issue I had before. However, I now have the IP address of the Pi and I’m not able to ping it from my PC. When the Pi boots this IP address is displayed in the upper right corner for a few seconds so I know it’s correct. An IP config /all display shows-

C:\Users\Owner>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DESKTOP-LE5LUCM
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : attlocal.net

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : attlocal.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 78-E7-D1-C8-69-02
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2600:1700:d10:2900::681(Preferred)
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, November 29, 2023 1:44:08 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, December 28, 2023 6:10:32 PM
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2600:1700:d10:2900:17cb:6c66:31f8:87bb(Preferred)
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2600:1700:d10:2900:3974:7e8b:2c4:8999(Preferred)
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2600:1700:d10:2900:e81f:6b5c:4ac6:b88d(Deprecated)
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2600:1700:d10:2900:f895:4134:2f63:7933(Deprecated)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3b70:ff2e:ecd1:4297%12(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.65(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, November 29, 2023 1:44:03 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, December 2, 2023 1:44:06 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::3a3b:c8ff:fe33:13d9%12
192.168.1.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 158918609
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-25-B7-F6-59-78-E7-D1-C8-69-02
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 2600:1700:d10:2900::1
192.168.1.254
2600:1700:d10:2900::1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 802.11n Wireless LAN Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 68-A3-C4-EA-95-83
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 68-A3-C4-EA-95-85
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 68-A3-C4-EA-95-86
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 68-A3-C4-EA-95-84
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Owner>

Does anyone see anything weird?

BKeyport

@jimb that appears to be your windows computer, not the pi.

sdetweil

@jimb said in Modifying the Config File:

only mistake I made was making the MM auto-install.

u mean auto start??? install was my script

ssh doesn’t work unless you enable it on the pi

desktop, menu top left,
preferences
raspberry pi configuration
then the itnerfaces tab, click the slide on the ssh row,
then press ok…

if latest os, then you don’t have to boot

open a terminal window on pi
type

ip addr

you should see like this

pi@raspberrypi4:~ $ ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether dc:a6:32:20:b0:94 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.2.44/24 brd 192.168.2.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute eth0
       valid_lft 50521sec preferred_lft 36219sec
    inet6 fe80::a5a6:f1d1:50e7:1c5/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether dc:a6:32:20:b0:95 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

in this setup my wifi (wlan0) is not connected but my ethernet (eth0) is

   inet 192.168.2.44

doesn’t matter what the PC says…

do you have a guest network at home and did u connect the pi to that?

can’t connect to it from home network if so… intentional firewall…

jimb

Sam, the Pi is connected via wireless. Yes, I meant autorun on my first post. I did change the Pi configuration to allow SSH. I have Eero mesh AP’s connected to my home network. I don’t know how to check if access is being blocked to the Pi. Since everything is fresh on the install it makes sense that the network is the culprit. The reason I went with a new install was to enable pasting config, etc. files here on the forum.

sdetweil

@jimb i understand… if you can use a terminal window on the pi, can you ping xxxx, where xxxx is the hostname or ip address of the windows pc?

what is the output of ip addr ?

i know it stinks, but you can post a pic, third icon from the right above the forum post editor

sdetweil

@jimb I’d also suggest trying my MMM-Config module, which presents a form for config.js including outside modules… all done with discovery of the installed modules and there parms…

some modules cause trouble… but there are ways around with some extra work… it may not be for you… another pile of work to learn, it it doesn’t work…

https://github.com/sdetweil/MMM-Config

it doesn’t help with module install, only configure

jimb

Sam,
OK progress on the network front. I spent some time yesterday on the phone with eero tech support. At rhe end they suggested connecting my PC wirelessly and seeing if I could ping the rasberry. It works. I can ping and SSH/Putty into the pi, but have an additional snag. It accepts the login and sends a password request. BUT, I can’t enter anything- the keyboard is dead at that point.

sdetweil

@jimb ok, sounds like the wifi network is a guest, not connected to the regular ethernet network…

don’t use putty

open a cmd.exe window

ssh user_name@machine_ip

add one of the tools

winscp or bitvise ssh clients

they will give you a filemanager view of the files and an ssh window ,
per system you connect to…

bitvise also provides a filemanager view of the pc filesystem , so you can drag/drop files in either direction… (you would only do that for logs to pc, of special bug fix file , to pi)

jimb

Sam, success! I have d/l’d the SSH gui program and here is my config.js file. I have deleted my apiKey

modules: [
		{
			module: "alert",
		},
		{
			module: "updatenotification",
			position: "top_bar"
		},
		{
			module: "clock",
			position: "top_left"
		},
		{
			module: "calendar",
			header: "US Holidays",
			position: "top_left",
			config: {
				calendars: [
					{
						fetchInterval: 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000,
						symbol: "calendar-check",
						url: "https://ics.calendarlabs.com/76/mm3137/US_Holidays.ics"
					}
				]
			}
		},
		{
			module: "compliments",
			position: "lower_third"
		},
		{
			module: "weather",
			position: "top_right",
			config: {
				weatherProvider: "openweathermap",
				apiVersion: "3.0",
				lat: 33.50872,
				lon: -96.612213,
				weatherEndpoint: "/onecall",
				type: "current",
				location: "Houston",
				locationID: "4699066", //ID from http://bulk.openweathermap.org/sample/city.list.json.gz; unzip the gz file and find your city
				apiKey: "8eca2aec"
			}
		},
		{
			module: "weather",
			position: "top_right",
			header: "Weather Forecast",
			config: {
				weatherProvider: "openweathermap",
				apiVersion: "3.0",
				lat: 33.50872,
				lon: -96.612213,
				weatherEndpoint: "/onecall",
				type: "forecast",
				location: "Houston",
				locationID: "4699066", //ID from http://bulk.openweathermap.org/sample/city.list.json.gz; unzip the gz file and find your city
				apiKey: "8
"
			}
		},
		{
			module: "newsfeed",
			position: "bottom_bar",
			config: {
				feeds: [
					{
						title: "New York Times",