@wyovino
I find a very easy setup to be a server on an RPi3 A+ and the client in kiosk mode on an RPi Zero 2W. This also gives one the option of having multiple clients attached to one server.

I’m an (old) engineer and a minimalist so I chose DietPi for my OS. This results in very little lag while easily maintaining them via ssh.

Total power consumption at full load is 5.5W (3.2W + 2.3W) versus the 4.6W for the Model 3 B+, but incrementally you get power savings as you add more clients. Cost wise, this is also more effective if you have multiple clients.

On the server side, I created scripts to install MM and eliminated the need for pm2 in favor of using services, as this save significantly on memory usage (RPi3 A+ only has 512MB of RAM). DietPi + bare services + dropbear + MM server take up only 194-206MB of RAM. Swap varies from 0-30MB.

I do not have a lot of modules running. The basic Calendar, Weather, MMM-RAIN-MAP plus a module I create for to capture and display Ring camera snapshots (currently called MMM-RingSnapshot).

On the client side, I created a script to perform the most basic installation which reduces all display resources to bare X and chromium. Total is 240-248MB running DietPi + chromium in kiosk mode with no windows manager. Swap varies from 0-120MB while running.

I was thinking of posting the scripts on GitHub, but I’m not certain there is appetite for something that is non-standard for MM.

YMMV

@wyovino
I find a very easy setup to be a server on an RPi3 A+ and the client in kiosk mode on an RPi Zero 2W. This also gives one the option of having multiple clients attached to one server.

I’m an (old) engineer and a minimalist so I chose DietPi for my OS. This results in very little lag while easily maintaining them via ssh.

Total power consumption at full load is 5.5W (3.2W + 2.3W) versus the 4.6W for the Model 3 B+, but incrementally you get power savings as you add more clients. Cost wise, this is also more effective if you have multiple clients.

On the server side, I created scripts to install MM and eliminated the need for pm2 in favor of using services, as this save significantly on memory usage (RPi3 A+ only has 512MB of RAM). DietPi + bare services + dropbear + MM server take up only 194-206MB of RAM. Swap varies from 0-30MB.

I do not have a lot of modules running. The basic Calendar, Weather, MMM-RAIN-MAP plus a module I create for to capture and display Ring camera snapshots (currently called MMM-RingSnapshot).

On the client side, I created a script to perform the most basic installation which reduces all display resources to bare X and chromium. Total is 240-248MB running DietPi + chromium in kiosk mode with no windows manager. Swap varies from 0-120MB while running.

I was thinking of posting the scripts on GitHub, but I’m not certain there is appetite for something that is non-standard for MM.

YMMV

@Gherry
I chose to go with a server / client configuration as I wanted multiple displays around the house with the same information.

Server is an RPi3+ and clients are RPi Zero 2W’s.

I use Dietpi as it has the least amount of overhead for both system. The server was easy to set up on Dietpi, same as a normal setup the RPi OS.

For the client, I can provide a bash script that configures the client. It uses a minimal set of installation packages (under Trixie) in Kiosk mode (no window manager).

I’ve also set cron jobs to turn the display on/off during night. I also have aliases setup to control the client.

All the best,
W.