Vibe coding on box 👨‍💻

[araczkowski]

I will show how to add simple app on box, displaying info about box and manage LED display, all without coding only using gemini cli 👨‍💻 the app will look like this:

1. Install tools

• git

# Install git:
apt install git

• nodejs

# Download and install nvm:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash

# in lieu of restarting the shell
\. "$HOME/.nvm/nvm.sh"

# Download and install Node.js:
nvm install 22

# Verify the Node.js version:
node -v # Should print "v22.18.0".
nvm current # Should print "v22.18.0".

# Verify npm version:
npm -v # Should print "10.9.3".

• pm2

# Download and install pm2:
npm install -g pm2

• gemini cli

# Download and install gemini cli:
npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

2. App in gemini

# Crate project directory:
mkdir -p /home/Projects/Box1

# navigate to project directory:
cd /home/Projects/Box1

#run gemini cli
gemini

First prompt - display info about box

• prompt:

Create an application in nodejs named app.js. The application should show info about the system on which it runs, in the form of a table in HTML. The application should start via command node app.js and run on port 3000

• run app in terminal

node app.js

• see the app in browser

• run app in pm2

pm2 start app.js
pm2 save

Second prompt - Adding the ability to start and stop the tm16xx-display.service service to the application - turning the LED display off and on

• prompt:

Add two buttons to the application: the first one should start the tm16xx-display.service service (systemctl start tm16xx-display.service command) and the second one should stop the tm16xx-display.service service (systemctl stop tm16xx-display.service command)

• restart app in pm2

pm2 restart app

Now we have first app on box - we can disable and enable LED display 🎉

[araczkowski]

To display own text on LED panel

• Prompt:

add in app.js possibility to write (input type text) and send (button) text to the display by executiong in the backend two commands:
echo 7 > /sys/bus/platform/drivers/tm16xx/fd6551/brightness
echo > /sys/bus/platform/drivers/tm16xx/fd6551/digits

• restart app

pm2 restart app

• check app in browser