New and confused.

Mykle1

I’d like Alexa to remain on the PI 3 so that when i make my mirror fully operational (frame, monitor, wiring harness etc), and i put it all into ‘standyby’, i don’t lose it all.

There must be a way to save your Alexa state so that it reloads on reboot/restart. However, I’ve never used Alexa. It would be best if you created a new topic in “Troubleshooting”, naming it, “How to save the state of Alexa?” and describe your problem there. This way the question will be seen by everyone instead of being lost in this topic

Mykle1

@mickyas said in New and confused.:

BUT i changed the screen configuration/layout and changed it to portrait…how do i undo it??? :-))))))))))) Also is there a way to change the 'compliments and to have the weather widget etc 'floating around the screen instead of being static???

All the info you need for changing the compliments is here:
https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror/tree/develop/modules/default/compliments

@SexyTrogg has given you good advice. The links he gave you are very informative. You can change the screen orientation by reversing the directions in the 2nd link that he gave you.

In lieu of disabling the screensaver directions on that page, I would do this instead. It’s just easier and it works like a charm.

My solution was to install xscreensaver and use the desktop control panel to disable the screensaver.
In your terminal:

sudo apt-get install xscreensaver
sudo reboot
On reboot open the desktop start menu (via the GUI, not the terminal) Preferences/Screensaver/Mode:/Disable Screen Saver.

mickyas

@SexyTrogg Thank you :-))) Only problem is the first link you posted doesn’t have any instruction as to what to do, or is it just an example of the only options available? If so, is there a link showing how to change the colours etc?
Mick

mickyas

@Mykle1 Thank you (again) mykle, but that link is as clear as mud to me :-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) I have NO knowledge or experience of coding, terminology or anything even closely resembling this (ask anything you want about building work or fibre optic production facility set-ups and i’m your man, but this !!!..) :-))))

SexyTrogg

@mickyas Its an example of what options are available. Every module has to be placed into the Magic Mirror config file and inside of that file will be the settings for each module. For example:

modules: [
 {
	module: "compliments",
	position: "lower_third",	// This can be any of the regions.
								// Best results in one of the middle regions like: lower_third
	config: {
		// The config property is optional.
		// If no config is set, the default compliments are shown.
		// See 'Configuration options' for more information.
	}
}
]

Above is taken from the compliments module. As you can see there is the position:“lower_third” option. The link I gave you gives you all of the other options for where you can place your module.
As for colors, the link only used colors to help make each region stand out. Modules set their colors through their .css files so you can always go into that and change it to your needs.

mickyas

@SexyTrogg Just tried from the link you sent me…didn’t work.
I opened a terminal put in … sudo nano /boot/config.txt (pressed enter)
then added …display_rotate=1
avoid_warnings=1 (it already had the display_rotate=1 as the first line)
then i pressed ctrl x and saved, then rebooted, No difference still wrong orientation. :-((( I even tried changing the text ‘vertical’ to horizontal’ and still nothing. I’d already altered the screen orientation (playing around) from horizontal to vertical but i’d like to change it back but nowt happening :-(

Mick

SexyTrogg

@mickyas Id use the advice that @Mykle1 gave. The Xscreensaver is really easy to use and is much easier than editing a file through the terminal

mickyas

@SexyTrogg Just to clarify…every time i’d like to add a module i have to first open a terminal then enter … sudo nano /boot/config.txt … then (copy and paste?) enter the text/code (copy and paste?) for the module…where?..anywhere? Then ctrl x and save then reboot???
Mick

SexyTrogg

@mickyas That’s the hard way (in my opinion).
I use Filezilla to connect to my PI though FTP. That lets me easily click and drag new modules into the /modules folder. I also use FTP to download the config file to my PC and make edits there before I upload it back. But yes, every module needs for you to manually add it to the config. All modules on github follow a similar format where the Readme will give an example of the lines of code you need to put into the config.

Mykle1

@mickyas said in New and confused.:

I opened a terminal put in … sudo nano /boot/config.txt (pressed enter)
then added …display_rotate=1
avoid_warnings=1 (it already had the display_rotate=1 as the first line)
then i pressed ctrl x and saved, then rebooted, No difference still wrong orientation. :-((( I even tried changing the text ‘vertical’ to horizontal’ and still nothing. I’d already altered the screen orientation (playing around) from horizontal to vertical but i’d like to change it back but nowt

When I said “reverse the directions” I guess I wasn’t clear enough. The directions are telling to you to “add” display_rotate=1. You want to “remove” that line of code because that is telling your system to rotate the screen. If that line of code is there twice then you need to remove both instances for your screen to go back to landscape mode.