<![CDATA[MMM-AlexaPi]]>Hi everyone,
I am very new to this forum and have spent the last couple of days reading through various posts in order to familiarise myself with MagicMirror2, modules, setup etc.

After I managed to install the MagicMirror2 and even got the motiondetection with camera running I wanted to give alexa integration a shot.

I installed AlexaPi on my Raspberry Pi 3 to use it with a USB microphone (the little kinobo one). When not running magic mirror alexa talks to me and replies to simple questions. AlexaPi works!

But when I run MagicMirror with the MMM-AlexaPi module all I get is the crossed out microphone so that Alexa is not working anymore.

I searched the Forum but havent found a solution yet. Anyone know how to solve this?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Dave

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/2152/mmm-alexapiRSS for NodeSat, 05 Sep 2026 05:44:40 GMTSun, 26 Mar 2017 21:07:00 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Tue, 28 Mar 2017 20:31:37 GMT]]>Hi everyone, heres to report that I was successful.
In a nutshell i did exactly what @lucallmon recommended but for others to follow my procedures in order to fix this issue i will go step by step.

Initially I had installed AlexaPi on the raspberry pi 3 and during the installation process i was asked to name the platform. Since its a pi i selected “raspberrypi” which (looking back now) seemed to have caused the issue.

However as a first step I changed the Output handler from “vlc” to “sox” to see whether that would do the trick:

I opened the console and typed in

Sudo nano /etc/opt/AlexaPi/config.yaml

Under the 4th paragraph there is the line “playback_handler: “vlc””

I changed “vlc” to read “sox”

(At this stage i saved, restarted and noticed that i could run magic mirror and alexa would also respond but the mic icon was still crossed out so i went back to config.yaml again and continued as follows)

Furthermore the device named in the config file was still “raspberrypi” and i wanted to change that too.

So wherever I saw the words "device: “raspberrypi” i changed that simply to “device: “magicmirror””

I changed 4 entries in total:

  • In the “sound” paragraph in the very beginning (line 3 of the paragraph),
  • in the paragraph following the playback_handler (line 4 of the paragraph ) “# output device:…”
  • 2 paragraphs below that (line 1 of the paragraph ) "# some device:…#
  • and finally towards the bottom theres a paragraph called “Platform” (line 2 of the paragraph )

After changing those lines I hit ctrl, x confirmed to save the file with yes and confirmed the file name with enter.

I rebooted the pi and started up magic mirror and now everything is working!!!

One thing to note though is that the changing from “vlc” to “sox” in my case caused alexa not to greet me with “hello” upon startup anymore. But since everything else seems to be working now I can live with that.

Hope this helps everyone who encounters a similar problem. Thanks again for all the tips!

Best regards / Dave

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/18389https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/18389Tue, 28 Mar 2017 20:31:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Wed, 07 Jun 2017 07:40:00 GMT]]>@bminer1 That’s normal, there is multiple type of user in linux with different level of permission, it’s for safety (that you or a virus doesn’t destroy your operating system). When you are connected to your regular user (pi if you are using raspbian) you have only access in writing to your home folder. However, the pi user is also a “sudo” user, which mean that you can get higher permission in exchange of providing the right password (which is your regular password in raspbian).
To do that you write sudo your_command , for example sudo nano /etc/opt/AlexaPi/config.yaml . you’ll be ask to enter a password and then you can edit your file.
It’s like being administrator on windows, but with a password instead of a window that ask you if you want to run as administrator

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/22436https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/22436Wed, 07 Jun 2017 07:40:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Wed, 07 Jun 2017 03:30:46 GMT]]>I’m getting a permission denied when trying to save after making the changes in /etc/opt/AlexaPi/config.yaml
I feel like ive fallen in a rabbit whole that may be alittle over my abilities.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/22429https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/22429Wed, 07 Jun 2017 03:30:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Tue, 11 Apr 2017 07:26:05 GMT]]>@johnnyboy Yeah I saw, I installed it in my home folder the first time before facepalming

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19451https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19451Tue, 11 Apr 2017 07:26:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Mon, 10 Apr 2017 15:32:32 GMT]]>@lucallmon Ok, I will try it tomorrow. I have already installed AlexaPi. I though it was for the MMM-alexa module though. Anyway, thanks for the input.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19412https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19412Mon, 10 Apr 2017 15:32:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Mon, 10 Apr 2017 15:01:52 GMT]]>@romain AlexaPi is a separate program from MM. It can be found here: https://github.com/alexa-pi/AlexaPi. Once installed and working properly, you can access it through MM with the MMM-AlexaPi module, found here: https://github.com/dgonano/MMM-AlexaPi. This is the only easy [somewhat] to install version that is voice activated and works every time. The other ones, I have been unable to get to work because there is no step-by-step guide.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19407https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19407Mon, 10 Apr 2017 15:01:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Mon, 10 Apr 2017 14:09:23 GMT]]>@lucallmon Oh. My mistake then. So… AlexaPi is for MMM-alexa or MMM-alexapi ?
I am confused.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19404https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19404Mon, 10 Apr 2017 14:09:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Mon, 10 Apr 2017 14:01:19 GMT]]>@romain MMM-Alexa is not the same as MMM-AlexaPi. They are 2 separate modules that work totally different.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19403https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19403Mon, 10 Apr 2017 14:01:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Mon, 10 Apr 2017 13:35:53 GMT]]>Well, I have the same issue as johnnyboy. I reset my pi once already. I have the same message from the AlexaPi service. Also launching the mirror in dev mode show me the following error related to MMM-Alexa : " Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 400 (Bad Request) https://api.amazon.com/auth/o2/token "
And the color indicator is yellow. I have a lot of trouble with setting my sound card to use a mic so I wouldn’t be surprise If I had a mic issue. But this is completely unrelated to the sound. the “token” is the thing we got when we connected to the raspberypi ip adress port 5050 right ? Is there a reason it would expire ? could it be the issue ?

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19398https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19398Mon, 10 Apr 2017 13:35:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:18:07 GMT]]>@johnnyboy get another microSD card and give it a whirl from scratch.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19362https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19362Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:18:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Sun, 09 Apr 2017 20:12:39 GMT]]>@johnnyboy no way brother. Don’t give up! If you want to have AlexaPi and MagicMirror on the same device I recommend starting over with a fresh copy of Raspbian, installing AlexaPi first and getting it to work. Then installing magic mirror with the AlexaPi module.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19354https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19354Sun, 09 Apr 2017 20:12:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Sun, 09 Apr 2017 19:19:14 GMT]]>@johnnyboy i think you may be trying too hard. I followed the instructions to a T and haven’t had any problems. I had to reset my Pi twice after installing other modules that use sound… such as MMM-Voice. This module ruined my AlexaPi. I started my Pi over after installing that one because it ruined my sound profile. You may just need to figure out what you want to do with the mirror and install only those things. That’s what I did. After resetting my Pi 3 times and starting over each time, I’ve got it exactly the way I want it. when I move coming up in the next month, I’m going to make a touch screen family board for the kitchen kind of like this out of a Smart Screen. Then I’m going to buy an Alexa-powered remote control for my home entertainment center from Logitech that let’s you say, “Alexa, turn on the TV.” It should be fun.

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19342https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19342Sun, 09 Apr 2017 19:19:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Sun, 09 Apr 2017 15:50:18 GMT]]>@Davepre don’t worry about the template one. Just edit the one in ‘’‘/etc/opt/AlexaPi/config.yaml’‘’

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19319https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19319Sun, 09 Apr 2017 15:50:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Sun, 09 Apr 2017 15:48:00 GMT]]>@johnnyboy so sorry for late reply. Only now got the chance to look for the config.yaml file.

Yes, my config.template.yaml is (same as yours) in opt/Alexapi/src.

However my config.yaml file is in etc/opt/Alexapi.
Thats the only file in that folder.

Is that what you were looking for?

Best regards / David

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19318https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19318Sun, 09 Apr 2017 15:48:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Wed, 05 Apr 2017 20:15:11 GMT]]>@johnnyboy i have no idea how this file looks, but if it is like

token = ...
#token = ...

you should remove it

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19072https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19072Wed, 05 Apr 2017 20:15:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to MMM-AlexaPi on Wed, 05 Apr 2017 18:59:07 GMT]]>@johnnyboy the # is like // in javascript so it will comment out that line

]]>https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19056https://forum.magicmirror.builders/post/19056Wed, 05 Apr 2017 18:59:07 GMT