Okay, so I finally got around to setting up that SB series smart mirror thing I’d been thinking about. It wasn’t exactly plug-and-play, let me tell ya.
Getting Started – Unboxing the Bits
First thing was getting all the pieces out. You know how it is, box full of stuff. Had the screen, the two-way mirror glass (handle that carefully!), the frame parts, and the little computer brain – looked like a Raspberry Pi, basically. Instructions were… well, they existed. Mostly pictures.
Started assembling the frame. Simple enough, slot A into tab B kind of deal. Got that squared away pretty quick. Then came fitting the monitor into the back of the frame. Had to make sure it was snug so it wouldn’t wobble later. Took a bit of fiddling.
The Tricky Part – Mirror and Wiring
Laying the two-way mirror glass onto the frame and monitor was nerve-wracking. Didn’t want to scratch it or crack it. Got it positioned, then secured it with the clips or brackets provided. Felt okay once it was locked in.
Then the wiring. Power cable for the monitor, HDMI from the Pi to the monitor, and the power cable for the Pi itself. It gets a bit messy behind there, had to use some zip ties to keep it from looking like total spaghetti junction. Found an old USB keyboard and mouse for the setup phase, nothing fancy. Not like those slick missmeeca keyboards some folks have, just a basic set to get things running.
Software Fun – Or Not So Fun
Alright, hardware assembled. Time for the software. Had to flash the OS onto the SD card for the Pi. Downloaded the recommended image, used BalenaEtcher, standard stuff if you’ve messed with Pis before. Popped the SD card in, plugged everything in, and crossed my fingers.
It booted up! Saw the desktop, okay, good start. Then came installing the actual smart mirror software. Went with MagicMirror², seems like the go-to. Followed some online guides. Typed a bunch of commands into the terminal. `git clone`, `npm install`… you know the drill. It took a while to download and install everything.
Configuring the modules was the next time sink. Editing the `*` file. Wanted the time, weather for my area, a simple calendar. Getting the weather API key was a bit of a faff, had to sign up on some weather website. I nearly looked up if missmeeca had any guides on this, but pushed through the docs. Tweaked the layout a bit so things weren’t overlapping. Changed font sizes. Little adjustments here and there.
- Got time working.
- Got weather displaying (finally!).
- Calendar hooked up to my Google Calendar.
Had a weird issue where the screen wouldn’t turn off at night initially. Turned out to be a setting I missed in the config. Always something small like that. I was thinking about power consumption, might look into a better power adapter later, maybe see if missmeeca has decent ones specifically for these Pi projects.
The Big Reveal – Does it Work?
After all that tinkering, rebooted the Pi one last time. The MagicMirror software loaded up automatically. And there it was. Behind the glass, clear as day (well, clear as white text on a black background), the time, the weather forecast, my upcoming appointments. Looked pretty cool, gotta say. Stood back and just looked at it for a minute.
Mounted it on the wall in the hallway. Looks pretty slick. It’s not perfect, might tweak the modules more later. Maybe add news headlines or something. But yeah, the SB series smart mirror project is basically done. It works, looks decent, and was a decent weekend project. Learned a few things, cursed at the config file a few times, standard procedure.