It can be overwhelming trying to find the exact products to bring your Magic Mirror to life. Here's a list of products that I've found (the best, the cheap, and the worthy) you'll need to make your own Magic Mirror. Each product has their own short review description to help you decide what will be the best option for you.
- Monitor with Speakers
- Make sure your monitor fits or is at least smaller than the Two-Way mirror you purchase. We will be taking apart the desktop so only the monitor will be used (and not the frame around).
- Raspberry Pi
- Any Raspberry Pi models can be manipulated to work, but I would recommmend getting a Raspberry Pi 3 CanaKit Starter Kit because it has all of the items without unnecessary elements.
- If using an older Raspberry Pi model be sure it has a Wifi adapter.
- Smart Lights
- This is more of the icing on the cake rather than a necessity. We're incorporating smart lights to add some fun programming activities to our mirror. We decided on using Light Strips rather than bulbs so it could surround the mirror frame.
- Two-Way Mirror
- There are a couple ways you could go about purchasing the mirror element of the project. There are "smart mirror" Two-Way Mirrors you could purchase that are for this intended use (but can be a little pricey). Another option would be to get a Reflective Film (like the one on the list) you would use with an acrylic clear sheet. Its definitely a cheaper option and would take a little extra care, but would give you the same functionality.
- USB Keyboard + Mouse
- You will need these resources in order to program your Raspberry Pi with the proper software. My students will also have an additional computer they can use to program modules for the Smart Mirror. This is unnecessary for the completion of the project, but can be helpful.
- USB Microphone
- This is for the Alexa enabled aspect of the project. This will plug into the Raspberry Pi
You can shop this list here, with all the information with my reviews: Magic Mirror Supply List