Electron CPU usage

Mr.Sponti

Hello, here are some details on my configuration and the steps I’ve made to downgrade from 2.1.1 to MM 2.1.0 & electron 1.4.15. First, I use the following PI and OS

Pi 3 Model B, 1024MB RAM
Raspbian Stretch

pi@Infoboard:~ $ uname -a
Linux Infoboard 4.9.41-v7+ #1023 SMP Tue Aug 8 16:00:15 BST 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux

Downgrade MagicMirror from 2.1.1 to 2.1.0:
-rename of my MagicMirror folder to MagicMirrorSAVE
-download and unzip MM 2.1.0
-rename dir MagicMirror-2.1.0 to MagicMirror
-cd to MagicMirror
-npm install electron@1.4.15 # I didn’t install electron as a global package
-nano package.json
–> change electron version under dependencies to electron 1.4.15

{
  "name": "magicmirror",
  "version": "2.1.0",
  "description": "A modular interface for smart mirrors.",
  "main": "js/electron.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "electron js/electron.js"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
 ...
 "dependencies": {
    "electron": "1.4.15",
    "express": "^4.14.0",
    "express-ipfilter": "latest",
    "feedme": "latest",
....

now, install MagicMirror

-npm install
-copy your own modules from the MagicMirrorSAVE to the respective MM2.1.0 directory
-install necessary node modules for your own modules
done
Check the installed version of electron

pi@Infoboard:~ $ more MagicMirror/node_modules/electron/dist/version
v1.4.15

run MM with ‘npm start’ and monitor the CPU usage with ‘top’
and the magic is there: 2 to 3 % CPU usage in case you are not running newsfeed or other modules with a lot of rendering stuff. If I include the newfeed modul CPU usage will increase up to 30%. So, I go without newsfeed!

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I hope that help some or the other.

Mykle1

@Mr.Sponti said in Electron CPU usage:

I hope that help some or the other.

Thank you for adding your results to this topic, and the steps you took to downgrade MM and Electron. I’m sure your post will help someone, as this topic has helped quite a few people.

Did you downgrade because you were having the CPU usage issue? Can you tell me what your usage was before you downgraded? Thanks

Mr.Sponti

@Mykle1 Yes, I downgraded due to high CPU usage with MM2.1.1 & electron1.4.17. Top showed a usage between 100 and 200% and my own written moduls had a really bad performance.

Mykle1

@Mr.Sponti said in Electron CPU usage:

Yes, I downgraded due to high CPU usage with MM2.1.1 & electron1.4.17. Top showed a usage between 100 and 200% and my own written moduls had a really bad performance.

Ok, thank you. I’m glad that you’re seeing the benefit of this workaround. Let’s hope that it gets addressed and corrected sometime in the future.

Kugelfang

@Mr.Sponti

I tried your precise instructions but my system still installed electron 1.7.9

i started with a fresh jessy install on my raspberry pi 3. i then installed the latest version of node.js and copied the MM 2.10 folder to my pi. I then modified the dependancy for electron to 1.4.15 in the package.json and run the installation. However i still ended up with electron 1.7.9 which runns really bad…

it would be great if someone could help me

Mykle1

@Kugelfang said in Electron CPU usage:

it would be great if someone could help me

npm install electron@1.4.15

Mr.Sponti

@Kugelfang said in Electron CPU usage:

I tried your precise instructions but my system still installed electron 1.7.9

cd $HOME/MagicMirror
npm uninstall -g electron
npm uninstall electron
npm install electron@1.4.15

Kugelfang

@Mykle1: that seems to have worked. I just entered the MagicMirror folder and ran the command! thanks a lot! the animations are a lot better now!

However, now i have another problem: it seems that the weather forecast module does not work. All other modules work as expected but the forecast does not show up. I double checked all the settings in the config.js and they seem ok.

@Mr-Sponti: thanks for the input but it seems that simply installing 1.4.15 over the 1.7.9 seems to have already working

Could it be that the weatherforecast plugin comming with MM 2.10 is the problem?

Mykle1

@Kugelfang said in Electron CPU usage:

Could it be that the weatherforecast plugin comming with MM 2.10 is the problem?

I don’t think so. It’s more of an API key issue. The newer API keys are being rejected by the API source. You can search this forum. I don’t know if there is a fix. Or, try another weather module in the meantime

Kugelfang

That is odd, my current config.js was working with my API keys for both actual weather and weather forecast modules brilliantly with the most recent mm version (the slow one)

With 2.10/1.4.15 the actual weather module still works but the weather forecast modules simply does not show up on the screen although it’s fully setup in the config file including the proper API key