Stay On Top of Things with a Beautiful Digital Dashboard

As Thomas Sanladerer puts it in his recent video description, “Is a plain old paper calendar too boring for you?” Or another related question would be, “Are you tired of getting out your phone every time you need to check the time/date and important schedules?” If you answered ‘yes’ to either or both of these, then a digital dashboard could be just the solution.

In the video, Sanladerer shows how to make a beautiful display that runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 via a software package called DAKboard. While it’s a paid/freemium service, options like MagicMirror² tend to focus on displays that are hidden behind a mirror, and can be difficult to set up if you want things optimized to function without a reflective surface. If you’re willing to pay a few bucks a month, or settle on the free version, DAKboard appears to be an excellent option. It’s browser-based, so it can run on a Pi or pretty much anything else you have handy.

Software setup, therefore, is mostly a matter of configuring Raspbian correctly, though getting the screen properly rotated on the 4K screen he’s using does involve a trick with a virtual browser window. The Pi is also programmed to turn on and shut off the monitor through HDMI every day at certain times.

Beyond that, much of the video focuses on creating a sleek wooden enclosure to house the electronics, which is perhaps optional, but does make it look much more finished than it would have otherwise.