Digital Signage 101

[enjay]

I've been asked to look into digital signage. Any basics I need to be aware of, pitfalls to avoid, etc, and recommendations for good and bad products/suppliers?

[skell]

Use Xibo. Fantastic free piece of software. Massive thread on it here http://www.edugeek.net/forums/general-chat/36295-anyone-using-xibo.html

[glennda]

I've been asked to look into digital signage. Any basics I need to be aware of, pitfalls to avoid, etc, and recommendations for good and bad products/suppliers?

 

Have a look at Xibo - very good software plus is free!.

 

There is a long thread on it here. You just need a bog standard USFF machine (maybe an acer revo or similar).

 

It supports multiple screens. I currently have 4. Also one of the developers is a member on here

 

EDIT: Beaten to it!

[enjay]

Xibo's need for a web server could be a problem, as we've had limited success getting our CC3 FRDC set up in that way in the past. What other products are out there?

[sparkeh]

We used MediaCAT which is excellet. Pitfall is that after the initial excitement no one is updating it :/

[skell]

The Xibo server and client can go on the same box. We use XAMPP for our Xibo server, amongst other things. Is that not an option?

[enjay]

The Xibo server and client can go on the same box. We use XAMPP for our Xibo server, amongst other things. Is that not an option?

 

Possibly. Timescales are (as ever) a problem though, and I'm not sure I could learn enough about XAMPP in the time available...

[sparkeh]

Oh btw Navaho will come and give free, comprehensive, demo which was great.

[glennda]

its really easy to setup guide here for installing on windows

 

We used to have navaho the main limiting factor was it didn't support Powerpoints (not sure if it does now).

 

if you want to play with a navaho box i still have a few in the cuboard i think!

[mrbios]

Can't give any advise on what to get but don't even bother with a company called exterity. Utter crap.

[enjay]

We used to have navaho the main limiting factor was it didn't support Powerpoints (not sure if it does now).

 

Could be a deal-breaker there...

[enjay]

@mrbios - for some reason, there isn't a "thank" button on that post, but thanks :-) Who not to buy from is an important recommendation.

[mrbios]

@mrbios - for some reason, there isn't a "thank" button on that post, but thanks :-) Who not to buy from is an important recommendation.

 

Their support was the major negative point over anything else, You know a companies never good when they have to get someone over from italy to set it up

[plexer]

Powerpoint?

 

Ben

[enjay]

Powerpoint?

 

Must admit I had a similar thought, although that could be too limiting in terms of what content you can show (not at this stage sure what our people want do display)

[Midget]

Another arm of the company I currently work for has OneLAN boxes for the TV displays. I've had a play around with making new templates and things on them and they're pretty straight forward to use. Basically they're a nettop box with centos and then the onelan software installed on them (although you can only buy the boxes, not the software separately apparently).

 

No idea how much they cost though.

[TechMonkey]

I've got XIBO running on aCC3 system. Server runs on a non cc3 server though, client is quite happy on a CC3 machine. XAMPP is no trouble to set up. I'd go for that first until you know what you want and have to start laying out large sums of money.

[penfold]

Another vote for Xibo, even if it is only to have a play in what types of things you can do. I know very little about XAMPP but managed to get it set up pretty easily. Ours has been runnning happily for nearly a year now. Although if I'm honest the content needs to be updated.

[GrumbleDook]

I suppose if someone was to build a standard ubuntu build as a VM for the server side of XIBO it might be helpful ... any volunteers? That way it might help those struggling with xampp.

[glennda]

I suppose if someone was to build a standard ubuntu build as a VM for the server side of XIBO it might be helpful ... any volunteers? That way it might help those struggling with xampp.

 

What would you like it on? VMware? virtualbox?

[russdev]

What would you like it on? VMware? virtualbox?

both

 

Russ

[glennda]

both

 

Russ

 

Ok I will build it now give me an hour or so. 30gb hard disk big enough for everybody? only thing is need to find somebody to host it for download.

 

the hard disk wont actually be that size but what it thinks it is?

[mark100]

We use wix.com. Really a flash website builder, but we've made the website slightly bigger then the screen to hide the wix logos. Plug an old laptop with web access to the screen. Got the weather, bbc news highlights and a slideshow showing at the moment. Set IE to reflesh every 10 minutes.

[glennda]

Just a few questions as i need to download a 32bit version of Ubuntu. As not everybody is going to have a 64bit machine to run it on but my net connection is being slow!

 

Would you like the GUI on it? or prefer to leave it command line so you have the option to install it yourself?

[m25man]

Look at using Acer Revos,

 

1. They are cheap.

2. Will run anything you want to put on them

3. So small they will fit on the back of a screen or in the ceiling space

4. They have Wireless

5. Have HDMI and VGA out means they can drive two monitors at once.

 

I used them in a Car showroom to drive a couple of large Samsungs, I mange them over RDP with autologon and autorun the presentations.