Which version of Debian to use

[DarrenO 0]

@sdetweil Thanks, so during the OS installation, when I get to the point where I am prompted to select and install software, I should just keep the default selected options of Debian desktop environment and GNOME?

[sdetweil]

@DarrenO-0 are you using the prebuilt raspi os images? i dont see those prompts

https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/

ill have to try the bare debian vm again

[DarrenO 0]

@sdetweil No, using the Debian .iso distro from the debian.org site.
I’m installing on a NUC, not a RasPi.

[sdetweil]

@DarrenO-0 got it

[sdetweil]

@DarrenO-0 I installed the latest debian 12.x on my intel machine, in vmware.
and hit enter when it said gnome

started, added me to sudoers. installed curl, and then ran my install script

and MM came up at end of install

[DarrenO 0]

@sdetweil
I re-installed Debian12 and left the default Desktop Environment selections of Debian and GNOME selected.
Pretty much the vanilla/default install.
Did you have to do anything regarding how, when the Debian is eventually displayed, that MM is shown automatically?
I can’t seem to get MM to show and even though pm2 is enabled and running, I am stuck at the Desktop view where the Activities Overview button is shown in the top-left corner.

If I can’t get around this, the alternative is to run it as a headless installation and just access MM via browser from other computers.

[DarrenO 0]

@sdetweil
I also configured Debian to autologin as a given user account that I created during the installation process so I am not prompted to login after the computer reboots and it just goes straight to the Desktop.

[sdetweil]

@DarrenO-0 i ran my install script, said yes to pm2
MagicMirror came up at the end.

i did not set auto login, but i will change it and reboot
i dont expect problems

[sdetweil]

@DarrenO-0 my mm.sh was broken, fixed now… the UI is running under wayland, not X11
so we need a different command…

I have fixed it, deleted the pm2 app, deleted the MagicMirror folder and then rerun the install script

MM came up
I rebooted
MM came up, NOT in the full screen view but in the reduced desktop view touch it and it goes full screen like the main panel does…

have to look at that

if you used my installer, you can fix the one file by doing

cd ~/MagicMirror/installers
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror_scripts/refs/heads/master/mm.sh >mm.sh
sudo reboot

mine looks like this after reboot

[sdetweil]

@DarrenO-0 actually to make the terminal window fullscreen you have to relaunch it
in the mm.sh

this didn’t work either

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/MagicMirror

if [ $(ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep -i -e xway -e labwc | wc -l) -ne 0 ]; then 
   gnome-terminal --full-screen -- npm run start:wayland
   sleep 99999999s
else
   DISPLAY=:0 npm start
fi 

#DISPLAY=:0 npm start

be careful, the gnome-terminal execute a command returns after executing, so pm2 thinks the app failed and will restart it… SO you get a loop…
need the sleep