@sean Look I am using many modules and hard refreshing with zero problems.
Tell me what your module is and what it is supposed to do under a hard refresh and what error it will cause.
I already know the answer none, but hey will test it and see.

Every module I install on config change auto restarts the server which takes seconds. The connection between browser and server is broken.
Browser waits for server to say hey port 8080 is ready then browser hard refreshes.
It takes 10 - 20 seconds 10 for server and the browser still holds the last screen then on ready hard refresh, browser dumps its cache and its the same as first time connection to the site.
Yes you can hard refresh and its vastly quicker than killing a browser for absolutely no apparent reason apart some misunderstanding of actual use.
Its vastly faster than killing and reloading the browser and its seemless without any horrid white screens oh awe snap or whatever it says.
Install my guide on a Pi and watch it do as I am trying to say.

https://github.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3

@sean Your Module is being restarted as the server is reset.
If your module causes problems with hard refreshes then its non compatible with any browser as when a browser cache is cleared its cleared.
If refreshing after that causes problems then its bad programming with your module.
Its doesn’t cause problems with a hard refresh though as the cache is cleared, there is no dom as it starts a fresh and the page its pulled in as if the browser had just been started.

Do you understand the difference between a hard refresh and soft refresh?
Name your module and I will tell you if its causes problems when hard refreshed?

guess you could just add it in the code header.style.background = “gray”; just have it before the wrapper code and set it there.
But think you can just add a style class in config.js

@sdetweil Seems a bit of a over kill when node restart and browser hard refresh is a matter of seconds and does exactly the same. Who wants this constantly full restart thing on the wall, on the pie zero on server restart I get no white screen at all stays as back ground and maybe 10 secs to fill again with content so for Pi2/3 you could blink and miss it.

I will prob have some further system log monitor actions but the pi watchdog will force a restart if seizes.

Cron is a really bad way to do it as it quite simple to get a notification exactly when its ready and also not just do it on a time loop when its not so you end up with the horrid white chromium refresh screen.

Tail and log monitoring is where linux excels.

( tail -f -n0 ~/.pm2/logs/MagicMirror-out.log & ) | grep -q 'Ready to go! Please point your browser to:'
sh xdotool.sh

Thats it job done.

PM2 only tests that MagicMirror is loaded and running as ‘Ready to go! Please point your browser to:’ comes on my lowly zero quite a bit after PM2 says MagicMirror is running.

Also as I say with when the browser and server (Magic Mirror) become disconnected they stay that way with Pi0/1 Electron will launch again but actually its not necessary as all that is needed is a hard refresh.

You can test this on a Pi2/3 with the setup I did for zero but it will work for 2/3 and also uses Stretch lite which has always confused me why the relatively pointless desktop load is used for a mirror.
Just change three lines and use chromium instead if you follow https://github.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3

Really electron / server should be 2 PM2 processes as this would work more seamlessly as its an assumption but electron is just Chromium in a java wrapper with the selenium webdrivers so expecting it takes time to reload after being killed and likely that it wasn’t really required.
When this Banana stops twisting my melon as if I can not get I2C running on it then its destined for the bin, but if I do I will have look if I am wrong about the speed of killing electron each timeinstead of just doing a hard refresh.
As of course you can do a refresh as long as its a hard refresh ctrl+F5 and not ctrl+r or F5.
https://www.getfilecloud.com/blog/2015/03/tech-tip-how-to-do-hard-refresh-in-browsers/#.XHcXXIj7SUk

Guess it depends on what Pi you have, as can not say for 2/3 installs with electron.

I have refresh (ctrl+F5) auto from detecting the ‘Ready to go! Please point your browser to:’ of PM2 so on config change as soon as MagicMirror is ready Chromium does a refresh.
I also have a chromium log script to catch errors and provide the same but since the introduction to MagicMirror I seem to have an obsession with tinkering with it.
So if i manage to get a mirror up and running for several days I guess I could capture those errors and just do a refresh only on disconnection or error.
But noticed when I was putting together various modules that F5 refresh would sort of jam up after a while but ctrl+F5 doesn’t and is always like a clean start without having to reload the browser.

Haven’t tried P2/3 yet have one on my desk so will have to give electron a go.
All I know is that with chromium the server & browser become not connected and watchdog only restarts the server whilst the browser just sits as it was.
Its why I did the simple monitor scripts as now on a restart or config change Chromium & Server are always in sync.

So it might be the Pi version with no official support for Pi0/1 which I think is a shame as with the monitor scripts I have it seems to work great, so wondering why.
I am sort of having a short love affair with the form factor and price of the Zero and on a relatively low load project like this it works quite well.
In fact I am lying about the Pi2/3 as actually its a banana Pi zero same format practically no support but armv7.
Its on my desk because I2C has me completely scratching my head and the banana is twisting my melon.
Love the form factor though and why I think you should support as the Zero is cool and cheap.

I do agree that the modules should work and it should be that way round, but from short outages to plethora of problems I can not see why you shouldn’t refresh?
Guess its just not the supported way but not sure what the problem is with refresh as long as you do a hard refresh not a soft one.
https://www.getfilecloud.com/blog/2015/03/tech-tip-how-to-do-hard-refresh-in-browsers/#.XHcXXIj7SUk

Not sure about ctrl+r as think that is just refresh, if you do a ctrl+F5 it does a refresh that ignores cache so its pulled as if a new browser launch.

I have loaded and ctrl+F5 seems to work for me.
Dunno have a look at https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/9805/magicmirror-screen-goes-black/11

As just finished a bit of a write up on a guide that might help

https://github.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3/tree/master/Magic Monitor

PS .
Add this into your css/custom.css

#NEWS .articleImage {
    filter: grayscale(100%);
}

Top tip from eouia

I gave you some bum steers on export XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority but prob was when I was using lightdm but for it to work omit that line.

I have 2 monitors running well 1 really as the Chromium one isn’t really doing anything as all is working fine.

xdotool.sh ended up just being

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
fi
xdotool search --onlyvisible --class "chromium" key ctrl+F5  -v 2>&1 | logger &

chrome-log.sh is just

#Grep is a bit confusing as \| ie OR not AND so you get the following of Or + inline there is the other string
#grep -q '8080\|ERROR' would return true if either exist (OR)
( tail -f -n0 ~/.config/chromium/chrome_debug.log & ) | grep -q '8080.*ERROR\|ERROR.*8080'
sh xdotool.sh

Main one for me is the PM2 one that waits for MagicMirror to say all is finished and point your browser

( tail -f -n0 ~/.pm2/logs/MagicMirror-out.log & ) | grep -q 'Ready to go! Please point your browser to:'
sh xdotool.sh

Better explanation can be found on https://github.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3/tree/master/Magic Monitor

@dæmoneyes Yeah I think they have different uses. I was actually wondering if with an old sumsung PC monitor that I was actually going to keep the case after appling the film and rehouse as a table mirror.
I guess there are different qualities of film and don’t forget to get external mirror film than the internal stuff where the adhesive and mirror are the wrong way round.

Just a 22" stand was pretty nice and the cost would of been a Pi-Zero W + Buck convertor + £10 Film and some bits and bats but yeah it would of been ok.
Pi was just going to get epoxied onto the back via some 10mm plastic standoffs.

Replied again cursed by that akismi bot troll thing.

PS still setting it up but just monitor your logs.

Create a shell script with something like

 tail -fn0 logfile | \
while read line ; do
        echo "$line" | grep "pattern"
        if [ $? = 0 ]
        then
                ... do something ...
        fi
done

Maybe with a --retry to the tail command, or use -F instead of -f

Tack it onto your electron log and do the above xdotool.

MMM-Pages I guess just change the page for on / off

https://github.com/MichMich/MMM-WatchDog

Isn’t this supposed to cover such occasions as that and restart the server.
I only have a Pi-Zero so far so have never tested the effect with the normal Electron setup just Chromium standalone kiosk style.
So I don’t actually no if or what the mechanism to restart the browser (Electron) is.
If it doesn’t refresh via MMM-WatchDog you can always use xdotools to send keys to an Xwindow and all you need to do is a ‘ctrl+F5’ which is a refresh and drops the cache so all is effectively loaded as new.

sudo apt-get install xdotool 

Then with ~/MagicMirror/run-start.sh add a line and nano xdotool.sh and chmod a+x xdotool.sh

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
fi
sh xdotool.sh &
electron js/electron.js $1

With xdotool.sh being something like this

export DISPLAY=:0
export XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority
sleep 10
xdotool search --onlyvisible --class "chromium" key ctrl+F5  -v 2>&1 | logger &

Dunno what the Electron class is but really its just Chromium in a wrapper so expecting that actually that will work.
If not you will just have to do a bit of testing to find the class or PID of electron http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/xdotool.1.html

@dgregory19 You need external window film as there are 2 types installed internal / external.
For a magic mirror you need external or yes it will be back to front when you apply it.

What you can do is add a script line to run-start-sh

Call it xdotool.sh
so you would have sh xdotool.sh

after

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
	
fi
sh xdotool.sh &
node serveronly $1
xdotool.sh

xdotool.sh contains

export DISPLAY=:0
sleep 25
xdotool search --onlyvisible --class "chromium" key ctrl+F5

The above will make Chromium refresh on any config.js changes or any restart of the server.

If have been banging my head against a brick xorg / plymouth combination for no reason than to get a smooth splash screen all the way till the browser displays.
This seems far more trouble than its worth.
I included lightdm as thought that might make things easier but might drop it as it seems to make no difference and just adds bloat.

https://www.semicomplete.com/projects/xdotool/ is excellent for external control just haven’t spent much time with it yet with my plymouth waste of time.

https://github.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3

MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3

Rather than an install script a guide on how easy it is to install NodeJS and magic mirror works for all Pi and also includes 0 scripts which don’t use the incompatible electron Armv7l package

Grab you image from raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

Its up to you which you use but as in the name Raspbian Raspbian Stretch Lite Latest is the lightest and likely to create the best results.
For a mirror that will generally be remote and a mirror installing a full desktop is likely pointless.

Flash the image using Etcher from https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Boot and then enter your WiFi details as the presumption is you will have a WiFi mirror.

So our flash is complete and we are going to boot our pi zero and create some settings. All we need is the SSID of your WiFi router (The name it lists up as when you connect) My ssid=“TALKTALKF20CC3” My psk=“VE3JAX5F” (MyWifi password)

• So we are going to login: login: = pi password = raspberry

• then type: sudo raspi-config and press enter

• Choose 2: Network Choose N2: WiFi Select your country. Enter your ssid. Enter your wifi password.

• Choose 5: Interfaces Choose P2: SSH Yes to enable.

• Tab to finish and Yes to reboot

We need a SSH client such as Putty or Bitvise.
Also Notepad++ is a great little editor that supports Unix & Windows LF/EOF formats.
If your unsure the sugestions is Bitvise & Notepad++

When the Pi reboots in the boot console log on screen you should now see a line My IP address is … copy that into the Server Host address and the pi/raspberry login details and login.

Update your system and install the base packages for MagicMirror

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

Pi0/1 owners yeap the first boot update/upgrade to get the latest will be a :sleeping: experience with Pi 2/3 owners being slightly less :sleeping:.
So now we have a completely updated and upgraded Pi and now to install Mirror specific packages.

sudo apt-get install -y chromium-browser unclutter lightdm git rpd-plym-splash plymouth-x11 xdotool

NodeJS for Pi 0/1 Armv6l is supported but not pakaged due to problems with Chromium compile for electron, this is no problem as the NodeJS NVM NodeVersionManager is excellent and probably should be used for all Pi versions.
If you have a Pi 2/3 armv7l processor then you can install NodeJS via raspbian packages sudo-apt-get instal… but the NVM gives far better control.
Read the GitHub ReadMe for a run down of how to use NVM and what it is capable of.
To install

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash

As it will tell you close the current SSH console or reboot. So do so and install Node with…

nvm install --lts

As we will use the latest Long Term Support Version.

##Cloning & Installing MagicMirror
From the MagicMirror site click on repository and copy the url or click the green clone button and copy from there.

git clone https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror.git

Then we will enter the MagicMirror folder and start the install

cd ~/MagicMirror && npm install

More :sleeping: time.
So that MagicMirror will autostart and restart on failure we are going to install the NodeJS Process Manager PM2 and if you need further infomation the documentation is great.
So to install

npm install pm2@latest -g

Then we are going to ask PM2 for the correct startup command and paste that into the console.

pm2 startup

Which for me returns, but trust PM2 and not me.

[PM2] To setup the Startup Script, copy/paste the following command:
sudo env PATH=$PATH:/home/pi/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.1/bin /home/pi/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.1/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2 startup systemd -u pi --hp /home/pi

So do as said and copy & paste what PM2 tells you.
This is where us Pi0/1 and 2/3 owners depart as the need of use of Chromium rather Electron dicates some small changes.
For Pi 0/1 owners.
For Pi 2/3 owners the last thing is.

pm2 start ~/MagicMirror/installers/pm2_MagicMirror.json

Save that for autoboot

pm2 save

Copy the sample config.js to the config folder

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3/master/config.js -O ~/MagicMirror/config/config.js

And we are ready to go with

DISPLAY=:0 npm start

Thats it unless you wish to read Make things Plymouth pretty and Save my Flash in the above to folders on instructions how to have a MagicMirror splash screen and how to use zram and tools to limit flash writes to a minimium. Apart the last bit about raspi-config and desktop autologin.

So back to Pi0/1 users.
The quickest and easiest way is to create a ~/.Xsession file and here is a sample config.

nano ~/.Xsession

Paste the following

xset s off
xset -dpms
xset s noblank
sleep 20
chromium-browser --noerrdialogs --kiosk http://localhost:8080 --incognito --disable-translate --window-size=1920,1080 --window-position=0,0

Then edit run-start.sh

sed -i 's/electron js\/electron.js /node serveronly /g' ~/MagicMirror/run-start.sh

So it looks like

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
fi
node serveronly $1

So for Desktop Autologin

sudo raspi-config

• 3 Boot options
• Desktop/CLI
• Desktop Autologin
  
  Then like the P2/3 owners add and save to PM2

pm2 start ~/MagicMirror/installers/pm2_MagicMirror.json

Save that for autoboot

pm2 save

Then reboot

Apols as have been editing and doing new for the last couple of days the unlink is nothing to worry about as if you run the script again it just deletes previous symbolic links.

I have changed the way I install and going to update that github repo maybe tonight prob tomoz.

But here is my much prefered method as basically its standard magicmirror install after you have installed node.

So here is a quick run down from a new flash of Stretch Lite onto your SD.
Boot the Pi0

sudo raspi-config

enable ssh, set your wifi, set boot to autologin console

Do the usual

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser unclutter lightdm git rpd-plym-splash plymouth-x11 xdotool

Then your choice of node install is yours but all I do is create a folder and sym link it as its easy just to delete with another version.
You can just download the tar from https://nodejs.org/download/release/latest-v10.x/ and untar and copy folder contents into /usr/local/ if you wish.
Even releases are LTS with v12 almost out, but the below will grab the latest LTS which is https://nodejs.org/download/release/latest-v10.x/node-v10.15.1-linux-armv6l.tar.gz

so if you create a script node.sh throw this in just to get the latest or just grab it yourself either /usr/local or sym link it to a neater separate folder.

web_dir="https://nodejs.org/download/release/latest-v10.x/";
wget -nv -r -l1 --no-parent -A "*linux-armv6l.tar.gz" "$web_dir";
find . -name "*linux-armv6l.tar.gz" -exec cp {} ~/ \;
rm nodejs.org -r -f;
full_file_name=$(find . -type f -name "*linux-armv6l.tar.gz" -printf '%f\n');
echo "Extracting ${full_file_name}";
tar -xzf "$full_file_name";
file_name="${full_file_name%.*.*}";
echo "Extracting ${file_name}";
sudo rm -rf /opt/nodejs;
# This next line will copy Node over to the appropriate folder.
sudo mv "${file_name}" /opt/nodejs/;
# Remove existing symlinks
sudo unlink /usr/bin/node;
sudo unlink /usr/sbin/node;
sudo unlink /sbin/node;
sudo unlink /usr/local/bin/node;
sudo unlink /usr/bin/npm;
sudo unlink /usr/sbin/npm;
sudo unlink /sbin/npm;
sudo unlink /usr/local/bin/npm;
sudo unlink /usr/bin/pm2;
sudo unlink /usr/sbin/pm2;
sudo unlink /sbin/pm2;
sudo unlink /usr/local/bin/pm2;
# Create symlinks to node && npm
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/node /usr/bin/node;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/node /usr/sbin/node;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/node /sbin/node;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/node /usr/local/bin/node;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/npm /usr/bin/npm;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/npm /usr/sbin/npm;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/npm /sbin/npm;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/npm /usr/local/bin/npm;

then we just clone the main repo

git clone https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror.git

cd ~/MagicMirror

Install magic mirror

npm install

The only thing we need to do is change the /MagicMirror/run-start.sh from

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
fi
electron js/electron.js $1

to

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
	
fi
sh xdotool.sh &
node serveronly $1

electron will not run on the zero hence why we installed chromium and make these changes.
we will also add xdotool.sh which is a sendkey ctrl+F5 which clears the java cache & refreshes as killing and restarting is heavy lifting for the zero and likely unnecessary.
When I do the git I will do something where after 3 concurrent refreshes it will kill and restart.

nano ~/MagicMirror/xdotool.sh paste the following

export DISPLAY=:0
export XAUTHORITY=/var/lib/lightdm/.Xauthority
sleep 25
xdotool search --onlyvisible --class "chromium" key ctrl+F5

Install PM2 which now complains with the current script with the startup command

sudo npm install -g pm2

Then add the PM2 sym links

sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/pm2 /usr/bin/pm2;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/pm2 /usr/sbin/pm2;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/pm2 /sbin/pm2;
sudo ln -s /opt/nodejs/bin/pm2 /usr/local/bin/pm2

PM2 startup

and that will give you the command for the correct startup so just copy and paste what the startup command tells you, which tells me, prob don’t even need to sym link it.

sudo env PATH=$PATH:/opt/nodejs/bin /opt/nodejs/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2 startup systemd -u pi --hp /home/pi

add the job and save

pm2 start ~/MagicMirror/installers/pm2_MagicMirror.json
pm2 save

copy config.js to /MagicMirror/config and sudo reboot.

I will sort that out as said prob tomoz as actually the install is now far closer to defacto Pi2/3 install.
I will give you a shout here when complete but the above should get you going.

[edit] Whoops you need something to autostart chromium
Configure /home/pi/.Xsession (create new)

xset s off
xset -dpms
xset s noblank

chromium-browser --noerrdialogs --kiosk http://localhost:8080 --incognito --disable-translate --window-size=1920,1080 --window-position=0,0

A final sudo raspi-config and set boot for desktop autologin.

Job done until I update the git.

Lols it would seem so, as so far much effort but no completed magic mirror, but much fun :)

Its been really interesting introduction to nodejs and a whole previously hidden browser console.

I am still banging my head with this PiZero as really with any complexity the proc load goes crazy.
Great if you keep it relatively simple, but being trying ‘other’ browsers to be lighter and to my surprise chromium is by the the best. Midori & Epiphany even after java problems or bad animation are still no lighter from what I am seeing in Top.

Its a tremendous project and I will bung it a donation when I have a bit of cash.

@lavolp3 said in MMM-Compliments doesn't load:

@stuartiannaylor yes that’s all you need in the config part.

The module entry looks like this for me:

    },
        {
        //disabled: true,
        module: "compliments",
        position: "lower_third",
        config: {
            classes: 'small',
            remoteFile: 'xxxxxxx.json',
            updateInterval: 12*60*60*1000,
        }
    },

As that is a top tip and ‘small’ ?
Dont know what you mean with that. I think you don’t need to give it a class but with this class you can determine the size of the text.

remoteFile is a file, not a folder. But it can be anywhere, however if it’s not in the module directory you ned to give the absolute path “/home/pi/…”

@sdetweil

Yeap works just the same.

Starting to get to grips with things Pages just suspends and restarts scripts for each page they are allocated.
So it just needs to be referenced once in pages.

If I am using pages which is which.
I will give it a go and see.

Maybe you can, but I am using mmm-pages.
Is there anyway to do it or do you just copy and rename modules?