In this guide, I am going to show you how I made a smart dashboard using a Raspberry Pi Zero and DAKboard!
![](https://reyestechtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2-1024x521.png)
What you’ll need:
- Raspberry Pi
- microSD card
- Raspberry Pi power supply
- HDMI to mini HDMI cable
- Spare monitor or TV
Step 1: Install Raspbian Lite
Install the Raspbian Lite image on your Raspberry Pi (don’t forget to set up SSH and WiFi) and run some housekeeping commands.
passwd # Change the default password
sudp apt-get update # Grab updates
sudo apt-get upgrade # Install updates
sudo raspi-config # Enter GUI to make some additional changes
Next, we will make some changes by going to System Options>Boot / Auto Login> and toggling Desktop Auto Login. This will help us later in the installation process.
![](https://reyestechtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Raspi-config.png)
Now, run the following commands to install the needed dependencies for our Raspberry Pi to run DAKboard.
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg x11-xserver-utils xinit openbox unclutter
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
Step 2: Setup DAKboard
Navigate to DAKboard, make a free account (or pay for the Essentials plan), go to your screens and make edit the Predefined screen to your liking.
![](https://reyestechtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/DAKboard-screens.png)
Once you have made edits to your screen, find and save the private URL associated with your screen. This can be found at Display and Devices>Info>Private URL.
Step 3: Final Tweaks to Software
Return to your SSH client and navigate to the following directory:
sudo nano /etc/xdg/openbox/autostart
We will be making some tweaks to disable screensavers, hide the mouse cursor, and configure a few other settings such as:
- –no-first-run skips first run checks
- –noerrdialogs shows no errors
- –disable-infobars no crash warnings
- –kiosk fullscreen mode
xset s off
xset s noblank
xset -dpms
setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp # Disables the mouse unless you hit CTRL+ALT+Backspace
unclutter &
sed -i 's/"exited_cleanly":false/"exited_cleanly":true/' ~/.config/chromium/'Local State'
sed -i 's/"exited_cleanly":false/"exited_cleanly":true/; s/"exit_type":"[^"]\+"/"exit_type":"Normal"/' ~/.config/chromium/Default/Preferences
chromium-browser --disable-infobars --noerrordialogs --kiosk 'http://yourdakboard.privatescreen.here' #Replace the private URL with yours
Make sure to replace ‘http://yourdakboard.privatescreen.here’ with your actual private URL from DAKboard! Save your changes and we will move to the hardware portion of the setup.
Step 4: Monitor/TV Setup and Mount
The photo below is my current setup with a Dell P2422H monitor, and a ” No Stud” TV mount. The monitor was mounted using the existing VESA mounts and even has built-in USB ports that power the Raspberry Pi Zero W. This gives me a pretty clean setup with just the power cord showing while the Raspberry Pi and HDMI cable sit flush against the wall!
![](https://reyestechtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_3282-768x1024.jpg)
Next Steps:
You can customize many more settings on your Raspberry Pi such as:
- Switch between vertical and horizontal display modes
- Configure auto-on/off of the Raspberry Pi
- Setup Calendar, Photos, News, and much more with DAKboard (you are limited while using the free plan).
- Remove the LCD display from a cheap monitor and place all of the hardware in a custom frame for an even cleaner look.