Configures, using Ansible, a Raspberry Pi with a locked down desktop and browser to rotate through multiple URLs. Useful for a build monitor or wallboard display.

• Selectable Browser (Chromium, Epiphany, Firefox, Midori)
• Configurable refresh of the browser (every 5 minutes by default)
• Configurable on/off times for the display (default 0700-1800)
• Configurable full screen display size (default 1920x1080)
• Configurable use of DPMS to power down the screen during off hours (default off)
• Systemd logs directed to alternate virtual terminal (VT12) for easy diagnosis
• Optionally disables apt safety measures for faster installs (default off)

1. Install pipenv (assuming Python 3) and create a python virtual environment in which to run Ansible
2. Run Ansible Galaxy to retrieve the external roles
3. Add an inventory entry for your Raspberry PI (ansible/inventory/hosts)
4. Run Ansible against the Raspberry PI

pip3 install pipenv
pipenv install --three
pipenv shell
mkdir ansible/galaxy_roles
ansible-galaxy -r ansible/requirements.yml -p ansible/galaxy_roles install
ansible-playbook -i ansible/inventory ansible/site.yml

It is easier to setup the Pi on a wired connection. Wifi is possible but you need to:

1. Manually configure the Wifi
2. Install openssh-server on the Pi
3. Update the inventory to use the correct IP / host as needed
4. Run Ansible as above

Modify group_vars as needed. Each role has its own defaults, the following are common settings:

Extra settings and their defaults can be seen in ansible/roles/kiosk/defaults/main.yml

---
wireless_networks:
  'MyWifi': 'MyPassword'

If desired, this value could be encrypted using Ansible Vault

Apt, the package manager for Raspberry Pi's Raspbian is extremely slow and heavy on I/O due to safety measures to ensure the reliability and recovery of the package database.

If the Pi has no other manual customisations, then this repo can be used to restore a Pi from nothing so its becomes worth disabling APT's safety checks and simply going as fast as possible, however if the process breaks, the Pi may need to be formatted and re-initialised to bring it back to working state

The safety measures can be disabled by setting debian_apt_unsafe_fast: true in the Pi's group_vars or host_vars. This behaviour is switched on (true) in vagrant by default

Systemd timers are used to schedule the page switch so the resolution can be specified in seconds Systemd has support for integration with the graphical user session (see systemd.special(7), target graphical-session.target) but this integration is not implemented by any of the session managers yet. Instead a work-around described here is used: https://naftuli.wtf/2017/12/28/systemd-user-environment/

1. Install Vagrant
2. Install pipenv and create a python virtual environment in which to run Ansible and Vagrant pipenv install --dev --three
3. Run vagrant up

Not all roles will execute on Vagrant (timesync is skipped)

Screenly OSE - supports local content / video too and has a web console for configuration. There is a professional version that has cloud storage for configuration etc.