Raspberry Pi Digital Signage

There have been many different attempts at inexpensive digital signage over the years.  My favorite, one that I use regularly where I work, is Raspberry Pi for digital signage.  Put simply, I set up a Raspberry Pi to load a continuous loop of a Google Slideshow.  This refreshes once every 15 minutes to load new content.

Here’s how we do it.

First, run all updates on your new Pi. (sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get upgrade).  I like to also run sudo apt-get dist-upgrade and sudo autoremove to fully upgrade plus clean things up.

Next, install clutter and automation (sudo apt-get install clutter and sudo apt-get install automation).

Set your auto config to keep the Pi from going to screensaver as well as load the slideshow automatically on boot.  The file you need to edit is /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart.  You’ll want it to look like this:

@lxpanel –profile LXDE-pi
@pcmanfm –desktop –profile LXDE-pi
point-rpi
@xset s off
@xset -dpms
@xset s noblank
chromium-browser –noerrdialogs –disable-infobars –incognito –kiosk http://web.address.com

Now edit crontab to refresh every 15 minutes (crontab -e):

#Refresh every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * xte “key F5” -x:0

That’s it!  Enjoy your new digital signage!

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