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haertig · 08-23-2019, 01:06 PM

I have looked at the ready-made ones. You can get them with a large time display, and a day/date display. Some of them allow you to add reminders, but those are extremely limited - you have to create them locally.

The day/date display is good, but I don't see the reminders as being workable. You need to be able to remotely change them at the very least. And even better, is to sync them to an online calendar - Google Calendar for example - so that the maintainer (me!) only has to modify the online calendar and the changes automatically appear on the display.

I have found two ways to do what I want. The first is the DakBoard website that I mentioned previously. That can be displayed on any device that has a web browser, be that a Fire Tablet or a computer screen.

The second way is a local application called MagicMirror2. I don't know of any tablet (Android) version of this - it's pretty complex). So it would be best run on a Raspberry Pi that is connected to a standard computer monitor. I am experimenting with both DakBoard and MagicMirror2 now. DakBoard is much easier, but I see several issues with it. For one, if you change the entries on Google Calendar that it is linked to, those changes do not get pushed out to the display for up to one hour. And if that's not bad enough, the auto-refresh interval on their screen is six hours! Huh?! So when you make a change, it may take up to seven hours before the screen updates. Who in the heck whose those defaults? I figured out how to modify that, but it makes the whole DakBoard operation more complicated than it need be. For that level of complexity I might as well switch to MagicMirror2. There is MUCH more configurability and flexibility in MagicMirror2, but you're gonna have to be a programmer to access it. You'll be writing code and CSS at minimum. Pretty straight forward for a programmer, especially one experienced in web development, but would be out of reach for a non-technical user.

I am now leaning towards a solution using a Raspberry Pi, computer monitor, and MagicMirror2 (I have been a programmer and system administrator for decades, so I will be able to muddle my way through it!) But my decision is certainly not final at this point. I am in the "trial all solutions, pick the best" mode right now.

08-23-2019, 01:06 PM	#15
haertig Wizard Posts: 1,927 Karma: 33156336 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: PW3, Galaxy Tab A9+, Moto G7	I have looked at the ready-made ones. You can get them with a large time display, and a day/date display. Some of them allow you to add reminders, but those are extremely limited - you have to create them locally. The day/date display is good, but I don't see the reminders as being workable. You need to be able to remotely change them at the very least. And even better, is to sync them to an online calendar - Google Calendar for example - so that the maintainer (me!) only has to modify the online calendar and the changes automatically appear on the display. I have found two ways to do what I want. The first is the DakBoard website that I mentioned previously. That can be displayed on any device that has a web browser, be that a Fire Tablet or a computer screen. The second way is a local application called MagicMirror2. I don't know of any tablet (Android) version of this - it's pretty complex). So it would be best run on a Raspberry Pi that is connected to a standard computer monitor. I am experimenting with both DakBoard and MagicMirror2 now. DakBoard is much easier, but I see several issues with it. For one, if you change the entries on Google Calendar that it is linked to, those changes do not get pushed out to the display for up to one hour. And if that's not bad enough, the auto-refresh interval on their screen is six hours! Huh?! So when you make a change, it may take up to seven hours before the screen updates. Who in the heck whose those defaults? I figured out how to modify that, but it makes the whole DakBoard operation more complicated than it need be. For that level of complexity I might as well switch to MagicMirror2. There is MUCH more configurability and flexibility in MagicMirror2, but you're gonna have to be a programmer to access it. You'll be writing code and CSS at minimum. Pretty straight forward for a programmer, especially one experienced in web development, but would be out of reach for a non-technical user. I am now leaning towards a solution using a Raspberry Pi, computer monitor, and MagicMirror2 (I have been a programmer and system administrator for decades, so I will be able to muddle my way through it!) But my decision is certainly not final at this point. I am in the "trial all solutions, pick the best" mode right now.