Alternative Chromium-based viewer in Anthias

Anthias
1

I opted for Anthias instead of a simple bash-script-based Chromium kiosk because I see the availability of a backend, the availability of an API and the general usability for non-technical users really well implemented. Many thanks to the open source community.

For the viewer, however, I need extended functionality. Above all, I need to be able to use a website with keyboard interaction. According to previous posts, this is not and will not be supported by Anthias. I also read in some posts about incompatibilities when displaying certain web content.

For this reason, I would like to use an alternative viewer without sacrificing the benefits of Anthias described above and I am just starting to explore various options. I’m asking myself whether the modular structure of the various Docker containers would make it possible to run an alternative Chromium-based viewer and connect it to the rest of the Anthias components?

After initial thoughts, I have looked at browser control using Puppeteer or using an Electron-kiosk-app for example. Both variants should provide interaction with the Anthias components. I would be grateful to receive feedback at this point that is critical of the possibilities and impossibilities of these approaches.

1 Like
2

@markus, thanks for sharing your ideas. They look promising. We have thought of replacing the viewer backend (which currently uses Qt, which uses Chromium for displaying web and image contents) a while ago, while in the midst of doing bug fixes and dependency migrations.

Appreciate you bringing this topic up.

Here’s a list of things that we could consider while assessing the possibility of your suggestions:

  • Compatibility across currently supported devices—Raspberry Pi (1 to 5), generic x86 devices
    • Should it not work with older models like the Pi 1 and Pi 2 (for example), we can leave them as is and have the rest of the models use this alternative approach, if possible.
  • Anthias currently supports playback of videos, images, and web content. It would be great if the alternatives can still support these kind of content.
  • Anthias used to support playback of RTSP but doesn’t work at the moment. It would be a plus to have alternative approaches support this as well.
  • Given the projects modular structure (via Docker containers), a bit of housekeeping (i.e., code changes, PRs) could be made.

Hope to hear back from you.

1 Like