Use a Raspberry Pi to Build a Display for All of Your Data Graphing Needs

Some professions and hobbies require that you closely monitor data throughout the day, and that can be cumbersome if you’re frequently…

Cameron Coward
6 years agoDisplays

Some professions and hobbies require that you closely monitor data throughout the day, and that can be cumbersome if you’re frequently pulling up graphs on the computer you’re using for other tasks. You might, for instance, want to keep an eye on the load of a server, or the operating temperature of equipment. If so, MonsterMuffin has a tutorial on how to build a dedicated display for graphing any data you want.

This project relies on the open source Grafana software, which provides a clean dashboard to display data graphs from a variety of sources. Those include CloudWatch, MySQL, Graphite, and more than 40 others. The data from your sources is then displayed on graphs in panels, and you can setup alerts based on whatever parameters you choose. To get started with MonsterMuffin’s guide, you’ll need a full-size Raspberry Pi and a monitor with HDMI input that, ideally, can rotate into a portrait layout.

MonsterMuffin’s Dell Ultrasharp LCD monitor has it’s own powered USB ports, so he didn’t need a separate power supply for the Raspberry Pi. Just use some Velcro or double-sided tape to stick the Pi’s case to the back of the monitor and connect the HDMI cable. After installing Raspbian, you can follow MonsterMuffin’s instructions to configure Raspbian and turn off the screensaver. From there, it’s just a matter of setting up Chromium to launch automatically and go to the Grafana dashboard display that you setup.

Cameron Coward
Writer for Hackster News. Proud husband and dog dad. Maker and serial hobbyist.
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