Digital Wall Calendars - Skylight / Echo

[strath44]

Hi Folks,
I am looking at either a Skylight or Amazon Echo 15 to allow all the family to see what’s going on a bit more easily.
I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews just wondered if anyone has any real world experience or input.
Also any alternatives!

Most interested in the calendar aspect.
The thought of slide shows and weather are appealing as well.

Many thanks!

[lancslad58]

strath44 said:

Hi Folks,
I am looking at either a Skylight or Amazon Echo 15 to allow all the family to see what’s going on a bit more easily.
I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews just wondered if anyone has any real world experience or input.
Also any alternatives!

Most interested in the calendar aspect.
The thought of slide shows and weather are appealing as well.

Many thanks!

I'd just get an ordinary calender for £10 and write on it.

[strath44]

Tried that! Doesn’t work!

[Dave.]

Magic Mirror?

DIY or I think you can buy them.

[Ham_and_Jam]

strath44 said:

Tried that! Doesn’t work!

What makes you think a digital version of a calender, will work better than a traditional calender?

[JoshSm]

If you're going to use it in such a minimal way just buy a cheap 15" portable USB monitor, stick it on the wall, and have a Pi or something else small & cheap drive it using the OS of your choice.

Seems a bit pointless spending £300 quid for either of the others unless there's something really compelling about them. It's not like they're magically cable free so going a different route doesn't hurt that aspect.

[x5tuu]

Ham_and_Jam said:

What makes you think a digital version of a calender, will work better than a traditional calender?

It automagically pulls all the info out of everyone’s personal and shared calendars and displays it in one place with no need for any effort for starters.

[Ham_and_Jam]

x5tuu said:

It automagically pulls all the info out of everyone’s personal and shared calendars and displays it in one place with no need for any effort for starters.

Won’t make any difference if nobody looks at it or follows it.

[DoubleSix]

Don’t you just use a shared calendar on your iPhone?

[phil4]

"plus plan"... I wondered where the catch was, looks like there's a monthly subscription.

[Derek Smith]

I used a wipe-board. My wife and I listed events we were intending to attend. We knew where each other were going to be, and have an idea of work-rounds in the event of any conflict. That's between dates. It included a cork-board initially but that gave way to small magnets on the fridge/freezer door.

When I edited a magazine, I had a wipe-board large enough for 3-month's content with lists of 'awaiting copy'.

Much more effective than digital I found.

[AndrewGP]

We use a Pi 4 8Gb running Dakboard, it's mounted in the kitchen where everyone can see it easily.

It displays the whole family's linked calendars in a colour coded format (not obvious in the photos though) as well as weather info (from Windy) and a live feed from Google maps showing my commute time. I'm a bit of a weather geek and as it's critical to my job, it's nice to get a feel for what's going on before I leave the house.

It works brilliantly,it's easy to set up on the Pi and with it being a web based interface means it's easy to tinker with to get what you want. There's tonnes of customisation, in fact I'm looking at getting a bigger display because I've run out of room.

[heisthegaffer]

AndrewGP said:

We use a Pi 4 8Gb running Dakboard, it's mounted in the kitchen where everyone can see it easily.

It displays the whole family's linked calendars in a colour coded format (not obvious in the photos though) as well as weather info (from Windy) and a live feed from Google maps showing my commute time. I'm a bit of a weather geek and as it's critical to my job, it's nice to get a feel for what's going on before I leave the house.

It works brilliantly,it's easy to set up on the Pi and with it being a web based interface means it's easy to tinker with to get what you want. There's tonnes of customisation, in fact I'm looking at getting a bigger display because I've run out of room.

That looks brilliant. I like the idea of knowing where people are except when I'm nipping to McDonald's when on a diet.

[Condi]

heisthegaffer said:

That looks brilliant. I like the idea of knowing where people are except when I'm nipping to McDonald's when on a diet.

But surely for it to work everyone has to keep their personal calendars updated - seems like a lot of effort.

Piece of paper works for me.

[xx99xx]

Apart from the calendar, I'd love to have a permanent display with various weather maps up. I have literally no idea how to do that though. And I have loads of wall space. Looks great what you have there.

[heisthegaffer]

Condi said:

heisthegaffer said:

That looks brilliant. I like the idea of knowing where people are except when I'm nipping to McDonald's when on a diet.

But surely for it to work everyone has to keep their personal calendars updated - seems like a lot of effort.

Piece of paper works for me.

Depends if it links to time tree. If it does, great.

[donkmeister]

AndrewGP said:

We use a Pi 4 8Gb running Dakboard, it's mounted in the kitchen where everyone can see it easily.

It displays the whole family's linked calendars in a colour coded format (not obvious in the photos though) as well as weather info (from Windy) and a live feed from Google maps showing my commute time. I'm a bit of a weather geek and as it's critical to my job, it's nice to get a feel for what's going on before I leave the house.

It works brilliantly,it's easy to set up on the Pi and with it being a web based interface means it's easy to tinker with to get what you want. There's tonnes of customisation, in fact I'm looking at getting a bigger display because I've run out of room.

Love that.

How easy is it to add in live web pages (I'm thinking CCTV from my server and local air traffic from a website)

[Zetec-S]

AndrewGP said:

We use a Pi 4 8Gb running Dakboard, it's mounted in the kitchen where everyone can see it easily.

It displays the whole family's linked calendars in a colour coded format (not obvious in the photos though) as well as weather info (from Windy) and a live feed from Google maps showing my commute time. I'm a bit of a weather geek and as it's critical to my job, it's nice to get a feel for what's going on before I leave the house.

It works brilliantly,it's easy to set up on the Pi and with it being a web based interface means it's easy to tinker with to get what you want. There's tonnes of customisation, in fact I'm looking at getting a bigger display because I've run out of room.

Have another from me, that looks awesome, I really like the idea of something similar, just no idea where to get started

[AndrewGP]

donkmeister said:

Love that.

How easy is it to add in live web pages (I'm thinking CCTV from my server and local air traffic from a website)

Thanks. Dakboard allows both of those as well as live feeds off youtube webcams if your airfield has one. In fact you pull pretty much any data off the internet and display it. A mate of mine uses it to display a smart home schematic of his house showing what state all the plugs are in and the state of his solar panels and battery. That's way beyond what I'm using it for, but it shows what it's capable off.

Condi said:

But surely for it to work everyone has to keep their personal calendars updated - seems like a lot of effort.

Piece of paper works for me.

We've been using linked calendars for years now as a family so it's automatic and as such works really well.

[AndrewGP]

Zetec-S said:

Have another from me, that looks awesome, I really like the idea of something similar, just no idea where to get started

Have a watch of the Dakboard guide video. You'll need a Pi 4, a display and the associated wires, psu etc.

Then make an account at Dakboard, edit your screen to put on it what you want to display and then use the guide to point the pi at your account. Thats it!