Introduction
In a recent encounter with the principal of our local high school, a conversation unfolded around her wish for a straightforward yet effective digital solution to display announcements. Despite the existence of commercial options, their steep prices were beyond the school's budget constraints. This challenge sparked an idea: why not leverage the versatility of a Raspberry Pi, paired with a standard TV, to create an accessible digital display? The concept involved setting up the TV to showcase images from a shared folder, offering a budget-friendly yet efficient means to communicate important announcements.
Hardware
The hardware of choice was a Raspberry PI Zero 2 W as it checked all the requirements:
- Low power consumption (can be powered by most TVs USB ports)
- WIFI-enabled
- Budget friendly
The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is particularly well-suited for this application because it strikes the perfect balance between capability and power efficiency. Its compact form factor makes it easy to hide behind or mount near the display, while its wireless connectivity eliminates the need for additional ethernet cables.
Software
For the software side of things I decided to use the suggested OS (Raspberry Pi OS based on Debian Bullseye 32-bit at the time) with the MagicMirror application. MagicMirror offers a solid and modular base for presenting information, and the Background Slideshow plugin seemed to be the best option to display full screen images from a shared folder. I removed most of the other modules and kept only the time and weather modules.
Apart from that, Samba was installed to provide access to the gallery folder over the network and SSH was enabled to allow for remote configuration changes.
Why MagicMirror?
I could develop some custom software, but using off-the-shelf software provides:
- Faster time-to-market
- Less maintenance overhead
- Proven stability and community support
- Modular architecture for future enhancements
The MagicMirror platform is particularly attractive because it's designed from the ground up to run on Raspberry Pi hardware and has an extensive ecosystem of plugins and modules.
Configuration
The setup involves configuring MagicMirror to:
- Display a slideshow of images from a shared network folder
- Show current time and weather information
- Automatically cycle through announcements and important information
- Provide remote access for content updates via Samba shares
This approach allows school staff to simply drop image files into a shared folder, and the display automatically picks them up and includes them in the rotation.
Project Resources
More details can be found at the project's page and on the project's repository.
The solution proved to be not only cost-effective but also highly flexible, allowing for easy content updates and system modifications as needs evolve. The total hardware cost was a fraction of commercial digital signage solutions, making it an ideal choice for budget-conscious organizations like schools.