One day I came home to see my mom taping notes all around her pinboard and I thought to myself, there has to be a better way.

Problem:

Messy pinboard wall—Yikes!

Hypothesis:

There must be a better way… Comparing Home Assistant, Dakboard, and Magic Mirror.

Budget & Materials:

• Raspberry Pi 4B (8GB): (A 1GB version could suffice, but I have an 8GB model available.)
• Monitor: (I’m using a portable monitor.)
• Necessary cables: to power and connect the components (Ensure they are long enough to reach an outlet. Alternatively, consider a USB hub that can accommodate longer connections when mounted on the wall.)
• Wall mount: for the monitor
• Cable hider
• Keyboard and mouse
• Timer Plug / Smart Plug This is optional but helps with auto-on/off with the raspberry pi & Monitor, just make sure to choose one that would be able to handle the combined wattage of both.

Planning:

I will need Raspberry Pi OS and Magic Mirror, along with third-party modules that meet my mom’s needs, such as:

• To-Do List
• Contacts
• Reminders

Additionally, incorporating a list of upcoming family events would be a great bonus.

Research:

During my initial research on google/reddit/magic mirror module forums, I found a Google Sheets 3rd Party Modules that would meet help with the To-Do list, cotnacts, and reminders. I also found a way to connect Cozi events to the calendar module that came preinstalled with Magic Mirror (this was pretty easy).

Procedure:

1. Install Raspberry Pi OS on the Raspberry Pi.
2. Install Magic Mirror on the Raspberry Pi.
3. Add any desired third-party modules & adjust to your preference.
4. Install the wall mount and connect all the cables. I temporarily hid the Raspberry Pi behind the monitor by coiling it around the wall mount.
5. Install your cable hider to conceal any dangling cables.
6. Lastly, plug it all in to the smart plug and schedule a timer for when you want the MM to be on or off.

Data Collection & Analysis:

After completing this project, I did notice the wall to be neater and cleaner. In addition to that, I believe there are other modules that would make this more useful for my parents.

Adjustments:

While exploring ways to enhance the "Magic Mirror Dashboard," I discovered a 3rd party module that utilizes the Google Maps API to provide ETAs to specific locations. I thought this feature would be beneficial for tracking my dad's commute to work. In addition to adding this ETA module, I removed the quotes module as it was a bit awkward to have random quotes like "Hey S**y!" fade in and out.

Results:

No more messy pinboard wall!

Conclusion:

Overall, this was a fun project, and I would highly recommend it. With the current build, I'm estimating an annual cost of around $60-$70 USD to keep this running for about 16 hours a day.