Follow our instructions below to create a beautiful wall display for your photos, calendar, news and weather, powered by a Raspberry Pi!

Not into DIY? Check out the shop to purchase the 24-inch wall display!



Things You’ll Need

Monitor with HDMI input (preferably an IPS panel)

(preferably an IPS panel) Short HDMI cable (1 foot is perfect, but 3 feet works too)

(1 foot is perfect, but 3 feet works too) Raspberry Pi computer (version 3B+ or 4B recommended)

(version 3B+ or 4B recommended) 8GB+ SD/Micro SD card – purchase a micro SD card in our shop. It’s pre-loaded and ready to go!

– purchase a micro SD card in our shop. It’s pre-loaded and ready to go! Micro USB or USB-C charger (for Raspberry Pi)

(for Raspberry Pi) Power Extension Cord ($7, Amazon)

($7, Amazon) Photo Frame Wire ($4, Amazon)

Sign up and configure DAKboard

If you haven’t already done so, create an account (free!) and configure DAKboard.

Note your Private URL, as we’ll need this later when configuring the Raspberry Pi. The Private URL can be found when editing a screen, under the “Settings & Defaults” tab:

Download and install Raspbian OS

If you already have a Raspberry Pi up and running Raspbian Stretch, skip ahead to the “Configure the Raspberry Pi” section.

I recommend downloading NOOBS, which is a simplified Raspbian OS installer:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/

Once downloaded, follow the setup guide to get the OS onto your SD card, and the Raspberry Pi up and running:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup/

After following the NOOBS setup instructions, you should now have your Raspberry Pi running but we’ll need to update a few settings to optimize it to run DAKboard.

Configure the Raspberry Pi

We’ll want our Raspberry Pi to boot directly into a browser running DAKboard in fullscreen mode, without having to press the keyboard or click the mouse! So, you’ll either want to open the terminal application if you’re in the Raspberry Pi desktop, or SSH into your Raspberry Pi.

Run raspi-config to configure some system options:

raspi-config

In here, choose to:

Boot to desktop

Enable SSH server (optional, if you want to connect from another computer)

Set the proper timezone

Exit and choose to reboot later.

Set your Wifi network name and password:

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

and change your SSID and PSK:

network={ ssid="YOUR_NETWORK_NAME" psk="YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD" }

Then save changes and quit (ctrl-o, ctrl-x). Next, install the unclutter app, which will hide the mouse cursor after a few seconds of inactivity:

sudo apt-get install unclutter

Now we’ll make a couple system configuration changes:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

and add

# Display orientation. Landscape = 0, Portrait = 1 display_rotate=1

You’ll also want to check and make sure that disable_overscan=1 and no other overscan configs are uncommented in this file. Save and quit when done.

If you installed the latest version of the Raspbian OS above, then skip ahead. Otherwise, update Raspbian Jessie to the latest version which will install the chromium browser:

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade sudo apt-get install -y rpi-chromium-mods

And lastly we’ll want to force the screen to stay on, and load the Chromium browser running DAKboard on boot, so edit this file:

sudo nano /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

and add:

@xset s off @xset -dpms @xset s 0 0 @xset s noblank @xset s noexpose @xset dpms 0 0 0 @chromium-browser --noerrdialogs --incognito --autoplay-policy=no-user-gesture-required --check-for-update-interval=1 --simulate-critical-update --kiosk https://dakboard.com/YOUR_PRIVATE_URL

Note: if the above autostart file does not work, please try the following file:

/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

Now reboot, and when the RPi comes back up, we should see DAKboard running in full screen!

sudo reboot

Turn the monitor on and off automatically (optional)

To turn the monitor on/off on a daily schedule, grab this script and put it in /home/pi/rpi-hdmi.sh. Next, make it executable:

chmod +x /home/pi/rpi-hdmi.sh

Now we’ll need to add a cron entry to call this script at the desired time, so open the cron editor:

crontab -e

And add the following lines at the bottom of the file:

# Turn HDMI Off (22:00/10:00pm) 0 22 * * * root /home/pi/rpi-hdmi.sh off # Turn HDMI On (7:00/7:00am) 0 7 * * * root /home/pi/rpi-hdmi.sh on

The first number (0) is the minutes and the second number on each of those lines (22 and 7) is the hour in 24 hour time. So in this example, the monitor would turn off at 10:00pm and back on again at 7:00am. Adjust the time for your needs.

Keep in mind: this does not turn the Raspberry Pi off! It just turns off the monitor, saving energy and hopefully extending the life of your monitor. The Raspberry Pi is still on and running however.

Install hardware on the back of the monitor

I used a Dell S S2340L 23-inch monitor for a few reasons:

First, it’s an IPS display , which means if you’re going to be hanging it vertically on the wall, you’ll still be able to see it when viewing at an angle greater than 90 degrees!

, which means if you’re going to be hanging it vertically on the wall, you’ll still be able to see it when viewing at an angle greater than 90 degrees! Second, the HDMI and power connections on the back of the monitor face down , not straight out. This is crucial if you’re going to be mounting it to the wall, because if they face out, the monitor will stick out from the wall much further.

on the back of the monitor , not straight out. This is crucial if you’re going to be mounting it to the wall, because if they face out, the monitor will stick out from the wall much further. And third, the plastic case is perfect for this setup. There’s almost no bezel on the front, and the back cover pops off easily, leaving the frame which I then attached the photo frame wire to use for hanging!

When you’re all done, plug it in, hang it on your wall and enjoy!

Next Steps

Get stuck? Buy the Wall Display or CPU in our shop.