I adapted MM to make a digital dashboard for our reception area at work. It runs on RPI3 and works very well.

Ever since I built it, I wanted one for home.

I had 3 requirements:

1. The usual stuff like time and weather is fine, but I wanted some genuinely useful info on it, hence the package tracking and combined work/personal calendar.

2. I want to hang it like a picture in a regular frame, matted out. No 3" deep frames here.

3. NO WIRES.

Thanks Pi Zero 2 it’s ended up nice and thin in a regular frame.

Behind the frame I installed a recessed outlet with USB-A and C built-in, so the lack of wall warts let’s it be completely flush (the monitor is a portable 15" that runs off USB-C).

I tinkered with some of the modules java and CSS to get what I wanted; but I’m definitely not a software guy. There was a lot of trial and error.

I’m very, very happy with the results and I can’t thank this community enough. I got to to where I wanted standing on the backs of your forums and module documentation.

@rmonkey

@rmonkey

@UncleRoger said in MM digital display hung like a picture:

I would love to see a picture of the recessed outlet and hear more about how you did that.

Also, is the monitor one of the portable monitors you can find on Amazon?

Yes, the monitor was a $75 Vilva 15" portable monitor from Amazon.

As for the outlet, this was very simple because there is an outlet directly below the spot. Because drywall is (usually) empty, I was able to simply tap the existing outlet. I cut the hole for the recessed old-work box and fished romex straight up to it. Pulled the romex into the box and installed the box. Then installed a recepticle with both USB-A and USB-C.

The biggest hiccup is it didn’t work. Then I remembered I forgot to flip the circuit breaker back on. :face_with_rolling_eyes:

Here’s a pic:

Lastly, I hung the frame with picture wire which wasn’t optimal – it hung away from the wall and you could see the wires behind it. An inexpensive french cleat solved that.

@rrslssr , I took the monitor to Michaels and asked for a custom frame and matte. I told them I wanted a 2.5" mat out to the frame (make sure to specify the display only, not display plus bezels).

Then I picked a frame that I liked that met the minimum depth requirements for the Pi Zero 2.

I also made sure I got gallery glass, which has an antireflective coating.

They kept messing up the matte and I ended up going to Hobby Lobby. They recut the matte correctly and even cut the foam core used to hold everything in place.

@UncleRoger said in MM digital display hung like a picture:

I may try to do the same thing at some point, if I can get my wife to let me cut into the wall. 8^)

If you don’t already know how to patch drywall wall, learn how. There are tons of great tutorials on YouTube and it’s inexpensive.

That will take the trepidation out of cutting a hole in your wall! I’ve been reparing my own drywall for years and even I’ve never permanantly screwed things up.

Oh, I have the amazon links for the box and receptacle if you decide to take the plunge:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W6ZOR4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZJC751K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

One other thing – it looks like @rrslssr is running a similar approach specifically for travel photos – and I want to share a tip.

My mirror runs a combination of some of my own travel photos and places I’ve been from Unsplash.

To make the modules more legible and pop better, I made a photoshop template. The top layer is a very light transparent to black (from the center) radial gradient. My backgrounds are the lower layer.

This applies a very light vignetting that is consistent among all the background images. I experimented until I found the gradient settings for the top layer that were perfect to my eyes.

I’m sure there are easier or smarter ways to add vignetting, but this works for me.

@jbat66, that’s fantastic. I’ll experiment with that when I do a refresh of the whole deal. Thank you!

Wow, @jbat66 , that sounds amazing and waaayyy more sophisticated than what I’m doing (kill all modules at a set time and reboot in the morning).

Whether there are other people interested in that, I couldn’t say. My take is that I could see 5 people using it, 20 people learning from what you publish and maybe, maybe one person says thanks?

But, if it’s no big deal, share your stuff. I know I learned a lot from people here, although I’m at a much lower level than you!

I loved the first two games and enjoyed the show; great idea!

Can I make a few suggestions?

1. Add the PipBoy logo giving a thumbs up somewhere.

2. Maybe add a module for air quality or pollen count? Then rename the header to “Daily Radiation Count” or something similar.

3. Use a custom compliments module and make the compliments fake news headlines apropos to the Fallout universe:
   “Cooper Howard Movie Marathon this Friday in Vault 32”
   “Brotherhood of Steel now hiring shitters”
   “Lost: Gross head with a chip in it. Reward offered, no questions asked”

Love this creativity I keep seeing with MagicMirror; congrats!

Aboslutely outstanding!

I did a similar build (down to the recessed outlet and french cleat).

I used a PiZero2 to keep things as thin as possible, but I see your build uses a full-sized Pi and looks great – the thickness looks prportionate.

I bet your guests say ‘whoa!’ everytime they see it.

I loved the first two games and enjoyed the show; great idea!

Can I make a few suggestions?

1. Add the PipBoy logo giving a thumbs up somewhere.

2. Maybe add a module for air quality or pollen count? Then rename the header to “Daily Radiation Count” or something similar.

3. Use a custom compliments module and make the compliments fake news headlines apropos to the Fallout universe:
   “Cooper Howard Movie Marathon this Friday in Vault 32”
   “Brotherhood of Steel now hiring shitters”
   “Lost: Gross head with a chip in it. Reward offered, no questions asked”

Love this creativity I keep seeing with MagicMirror; congrats!

All good – I rebooted instead of reload and got the info to link.

Thanks for the great module and your help!

I’m afraid I’m stumped – I just have a spinning circle where the module loads. No instructions on the MM screen. I checked with “ls -l” and the user is set as the owner.

I’m a little dense today – where do I find the API code to authorize?

Outstanding. Love the CNC skills.

@jbat66, that’s fantastic. I’ll experiment with that when I do a refresh of the whole deal. Thank you!

@rrslssr , I took the monitor to Michaels and asked for a custom frame and matte. I told them I wanted a 2.5" mat out to the frame (make sure to specify the display only, not display plus bezels).

Then I picked a frame that I liked that met the minimum depth requirements for the Pi Zero 2.

I also made sure I got gallery glass, which has an antireflective coating.

They kept messing up the matte and I ended up going to Hobby Lobby. They recut the matte correctly and even cut the foam core used to hold everything in place.

One other thing – it looks like @rrslssr is running a similar approach specifically for travel photos – and I want to share a tip.

My mirror runs a combination of some of my own travel photos and places I’ve been from Unsplash.

To make the modules more legible and pop better, I made a photoshop template. The top layer is a very light transparent to black (from the center) radial gradient. My backgrounds are the lower layer.

This applies a very light vignetting that is consistent among all the background images. I experimented until I found the gradient settings for the top layer that were perfect to my eyes.

I’m sure there are easier or smarter ways to add vignetting, but this works for me.

I want to do the exact same thing down the road when I need a new project to tinker with.

Love it and thank you for posting the question and thank you to Sam for working through the solution.