Switch for Screenly

I was a long time user if screenlyOSE and loved it. It’s come time to switch to Anthias, and I am just not feeling it yet. I have search for answer to my challenges, and it seems much more compelled to do these things, mostly I’ll need to learn docker and Balena. I have seen threads about these things, but didn’t find divinities solutions, but if anyone has suggestions on these two things, I would be grateful!!

  1. Setting Hostname - this is important because we have hundreds of devices on the network so it’s not easy to find with fing or others, and I need to be able to tell a group of content admins the IP, which is currently assigned by DHCP, so obviously could change under certain conditions. I don’t think we have a DNS, so I can’t do any custom domain mapping. Anyone have a definitive way of setting the hostname? Is it better to do a MAC DHCP reservation on our DHCP server?

  2. Cron - I have a series of CEC commands scripted and I had it scheduled to turn the display on and off during breakfast and lunch in our dining hall with exceptions for holidays, etc. Apparently docker doesn’t use cron, and I don’t know how to configure a scheduled task. Any good guides in task scheduling

Thanks!!

Hi @Bill,

You can also install the Anthias on top of regular Raspberry Pi OS other than Balena. To know more about the installation using Raspberry Pi OS you can check here GitHub - Screenly/Anthias: The world's most popular open source digital signage project. .

  1. If you are using the Raspberry Pi Image flasher, you can set the hostname and you can also configure the network.

As a new user, may i ask why you consider switching from the cloud based Screenly to Anthias which is more for personal use?

@Orfeous, Anthias is more suitable if you prefer to self-manage your assets.

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