Raspberry PI digital signage solution

Question

This is probably not the first digital signage discussion but I think my requirements are a bit different.

I'm looking to set up a Raspberry Pi to connect to a network via Wifi and a TV via HDMI, on boot it needs to open a URL inside a browser in full screen. That's it. Its very simple and I know it can be done. I just don't have any Raspberry Pi experience nor do I own one yet so I don't have a clue where to start.

I've just put an order for one but I'm not sure if something like this needs to be bought as a pre built kit with a box (obviously as it will be mounted on the back of a TV.

• joan: I can't see the digital signage part of the requirement.
• EDP: If only the Pi would be able to render HTML5 videos without too much hickups that indeed would make a great digital signage box. We've given up trying about a year ago, without finding acceptable performance in any of the browsers available.

Answer 1

That is quite a straight forward request.

Start with updating your Pi (I am assuming Raspbian)

sudo apt-get update -y 
sudo apt-get upgrade -y 
sudo rpi-update 
sudo shutdown -r now

Then install chromium the open source version of google's chrome

sudo apt-get install chromium

then test the full screen aspects with

chromium --kiosk

Set the default homepage to the web address you want

Setup this command to run at startup, there are lots of articles detailing this, start here

How do I load a module at boot time?

If you have any specific problems with the above it may be worth starting separate questions.