Just wondering since I know a lot of people quietly use a screen-area-select -> tesseract OCR -> clipboard shortcut.

  • I separate subjects of interest into different Firefox windows, in different workspaces – so I have an extension title them and a startup script parse text to ask the compositor to put them in the correct workspace (lets me restart more conveniently).
  • I have automatically-set different-orientation wallpapers for using my 2-in-1 depending on whether I use it in portrait or landscape (kind of just for looks, but I don’t think if anyone else adds a wallpaper change to their screen rotation keybind).
  • irotsoma
    1·
    13 hours ago

    I’d love to see your implementation specs, code, pr any other technical details you’d like to share. I’m setting up home assistant and one of the things I want it to do is replace the functions of my thermostat and add some additional details.

    I used to have a Nest Thermostat, but my furnace needed to be replaced a couple of months back and I got a Mitsubishi heat pump, but their thermostat sucks, and it isnt compatible with Nest because it’s all wireless. I installed the WiFi add-on to the furnace so I can use the app, too, but it also sucks pretty bad. Plus I miss the functionality of it turning down the heat when I’m away to save money and turning it back on before I get home.

    So I’m planning to implement my own solution and documenting and open sourcing everything. But it’s going to be several months before I get to doing it due to other more urgent projects. So, I’m looking at everything available. I definitely will be setting up a small display to replace the thermostat and having motion detectors to turn on the display when you approach it to see the temperature and such and to supplement the home/away detection.

    Anyway, I would love to see your implementation to see how you did this piece of it.

    • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      3 hours ago

      It’s really quite simple - but works pretty well. There are 3 components:

      Kiosk service

      A simple systemd service that starts a kiosk script.

      [Unit]
Description=Kiosk
Wants=graphical.target
After=graphical.target

[Service]
Environment=DISPLAY=:0.0
Environment=XAUTHORITY=/home/pi/.Xauthority
Type=simple
ExecStart=/bin/bash /home/pi/kiosk.sh
Restart=on-abort
User=pi
Group=pi

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target

      Kiosk script

      The script in /home/pi/kiosk.sh just starts a web browser in full-screen mode pointed at my home assistant instance:

      #!/bin/bash

xset s noblank
xset s off
xset -dpms

export DISPLAY=:0.0 

echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/rpi_backlight/bl_power

LANDING_PAGE="https://homeassistant.example.com"

unclutter -idle 0.5 -root &

/usr/bin/chromium-browser --noerrdialogs --disable-infobars --kiosk $LANDING_PAGE

      Display service

      I have a very simple python/flask service that runs and exposes an endpoint that lets you turn on/off the display. It’s called by a homeassistant automation for when the motion detector senses or hasn’t sensed movement.

      Here’s the python - I have this started from another “kiosk.service” systemd service as well.

      #!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess

from flask import Flask
from flask_restful import Api, Resource

def turn_off_display():
    with(open(backlight_dev, 'w')) as dev:
        dev.write("1")


def turn_on_display():
    with(open(backlight_dev, 'w')) as dev:
        dev.write("0")


class DisplayController(Resource):
    def get(self, state):
        if state == 'off':
            turn_off_display()
        elif state == 'on':
            turn_on_display()
        else:
            return {'message': f'Unknown state {state} - should be off/on'}, 500
        return {"message": "Success"}


def init():
    turn_on_display()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    init()
    app = Flask(__name__)
    api = Api(app)
    api.add_resource(DisplayController, '/display/<string:state>')
    app.run(debug=False, host='0.0.0.0', port=3000)

      You can then have the HA rest action call this with “http://pidisplay:3000/display/on” or off.