My slides from a presentation at the 2015 Arizona Library Association annual conference. Let's talk about Raspberry Pis, FOSS digital signage, and public libraries.

1. Delivering your message
with a slice of Pi
Raspberry Pis and digital signage
Daniel Messer – Cyberpunk Librarian
Web Content Manager
Maricopa County Library District
danielmesser@mcldaz.org

2. Hello.
You’re supposed to say a little about yourself, so…
• 20 years in the library field
• 29 years geeking out on computers
• A slider with a broad background in tech
• Podcaster
• Cyberpunk Librarian
• Intragalactic Librarian
• Author
• Hyperlinked History
• All My Rattling On
• Musician
• The View from Amalthea
• Sonoran Standard Time

3. Take it easy…
You can write a bunch of stuff down if you want, or
you can just go to:
cyberpunklibrarian.com/digital-signage
Notes, links, slides, walkthroughs, podcasts…

4. I’m recording this.
Speaking of podcasts…
Welcome to Episode 39 of Cyberpunk Librarian!

5. Let’s talk digital signage…
Why bother?
• Save on paper, ink, printing costs, etc
• Easily updated and duplicated
• Multimedia
• Compelling content

6. Also, it’s kind of everywhere.

7. You might even say it’s the future.

8. Potomac Digital Signage
• $800+ per screen
• $1,000+ central server
Overpowered hardware
• Small PCs running Windows 7
• Tucked behind a big screen TV
• Far too much power to run a simple slideshow
Buggy software
• Java based management app running on a self-signed server
• Worked only in Internet Explorer
• Firefox, Edge, and Chrome quite literally would not open the site
Outdated
• Fedora 14 (Currently on 22)
• Kernel 2.6.35 (Currently on 4.3rc2)
What we had, and why it was horrible.

9. Raspberry Pi 2 (Electric Boogaloo)

10. • Inexpensive (~$60 - $80)
• Small (credit card sized)
• Highly hackable (Let’s build robots!)
• Runs on FOSS (Free Open Source
Software)
• Operating system runs on microSD
card (Raspbian = LOVE)
The raspberry what now?

11. But why Pi?
• Inexpensive, 10% of the cost of a Potomac box
• 18 Potomac boxes: $14,400 + server cost
• 18 Pis: $1,440 + no server cost because we reused an
old server
• Runs on FOSS
• Debian Linux derivative called Raspbian
• Central content server runs Ubuntu Server
• Screenly OSE
• Energy efficient
• Fanless
• Low power
• microUSB
• Small and easy to hide behind a monitor

12. Gearing up
You could run the content server on an old PC
or a netbook
Raspberry Pi - CanaKit (www.canakit.com)
Dell PowerEdge 1950 (~6 years old)

13. Setting up
Download & install Screenly OSE
• screenlyapp.com/ose
Once set up, create a master image
• Win32 Disk Imager
• sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

14. Building solutions
District wide slide deck
• Use an internal website that flips images
Central control
• Modified Bootstrap template with sidebar

16. Stand Alone
Why surplus when you can reuse?
• Pairing Pis with older monitors
Single image signs or using a browser.
• Chromium in kiosk mode displaying
local content
• Remember that website that flips
images? It’s portable!
• Update in the background with rsync

18. Alternatives
It doesn’t have to be a Pi. You can do a lot with a
simple slideshow.
• A PC running LibreOffice Impress, PowerPoint or
Google Slides full screen.
• Use a full screen website and computers calling the
content in a full screen browser. (Chrome/Chromium)
• Hack around with a Chromecast or Roku.
• Heck, a screensaver will do it.
• Commercial options exist and vary wildly in prices
and features. Shop around.

20. Thank you.
Daniel Messer
Cyberpunk Librarian
Notes available at:
cyberpunklibrarian.com/digital-signage
danielmesser@mcldaz.org
@bibrarian
cyberpunklibrarian.com

21. Credits
Shinjuku image
By Ray Tsang from Irvine, USA (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia
Commons
Blade Runner image
Directed by Ridley Scott. Performed by Harrison Ford. USA: Warner, 1982.
Film.
Pixabay