Concerto v2x client/server on Raspberry Pi 2 Step by Step

[Kevin Dillon]

You know what would be totally awesome?  Step by step instructions on how to install Concerto client and server on a raspberry pi 2.  Would this even work?  It seems like the potential is there for it to be an all-in-one solution.  Looks like there have been some attempts and some success.  Could we work together to try and make this happen?  

[August]

You may want to check out the Raspberry Pi super thread (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/concerto-digital-signage/6y-Gub2Srus). While some folks have had good luck putting the client on a Raspberry Pi, putting the server there in addition to a client would seem to me to be an extremely poor idea. A database server, web server, cron daemons, chromium, and the frontend Javascript would be a real stretch. To be honest with you, there are computers that are a far better value for money/power out there that would do all of the above with no issue at all and without hacks/workarounds of any sort on a standard architecture.

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August

On June 25, 2015 at 6:53:31 PM, Kevin Dillon (kpdi...@gmail.com) wrote:

You know what would be totally awesome?  Step by step instructions on how to install Concerto client and server on a raspberry pi 2.  Would this even work?  It seems like the potential is there for it to be an all-in-one solution.  Looks like there have been some attempts and some success.  Could we work together to try and make this happen?  

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[Matsta]

I tend to agree with Kevin. in fact after a significant amount of persistence I have a Raspberry PI 3 with Raspbian Jessie running Concerto 2 as both a server and player very nicely indeed. 

I had already used the RPI 2 to run as a LAMP stack running Drupal 7 websites, and already used RPI 2 extensively with Kodi. Amazing what you can make them do. I generally start out by moving the root file system over to a USB 3.0 Nano Stick. So the Micro-SD just has the FAT boot partition on it, and boots it into the Linux file system on the USB. Although the PI is only USB 2.0, using a USB 3.0 stick means the PIs own USB hub is the slowest interface and I am pretty sure it gives me better read/write speeds than running from the Micro-SD. Regardless of the speed benefits, this greatly negates the issue of the limited lifetime of SD cards, where USB tends to have a much longer life with constant read/write activity. 

It took a number of goes at it to get all the components for Concerto going. Ended up having to install from source with a compiled version of Ruby 2.2.2 . Eventually got the full gem bundle to install without errors and then managed to get it running solid in rails production mode. 

I can then drop another folder into the Concerto public folder which I called "uploads" (or you can setup another virtual host on another port in Apache). Then you just drop video files into one of those locations where they can be called locally via http, and you can use the Concerto 2 backend functionality to set your video file URLs. But instead of having the video delivered over the internet it is getting played direct from the local storage (in my case from USB) which the RPI3 handle no problem.  So for applications where I mainly just want rotating images and video I can do it all from a single RPI 3. 

I am then using a startup script to boot directly into Iceweasel (Firefox esr) with the R-Kiosk addon as the frontend player. So it boots directly to fullscreen player and runs fading images and video beautifully. Using the R-Kiosk addon forces Firefox to only be usable in fullscreen mode, but I can either just ALT-F4 to kill it and then use Chromium or Epiphany to call the backend interface. 

More practically I can leave the PI running the Firefox kiosk frontend player while I bring up the Concerto backend URL in a browser on a different machine on my network. Or with XRDP installed I can remote desktop to the PI as a different user session, and manage the backend that way without disturbing the frontend player on its HDML output. 

I have then also created a symlink from my "uploads" folder in /concerto/public to a sub-folder of /home/user/ and then samba shared this folder on my network. So I have this shared folder mapped on my network on another machine, where I can just drop new video files straight into position, and then load them up via the Concerto backend. 

I have also just been playing with running a Drupal 7 as another virtual host on a different port. Where I can then call pages from the local Drupal in with custom theme layouts, or load content nodes into the Drupal and pull it through to Concerto as a local RSS feed.  Running the Drupal as well doesn’t seem to hurt as the only additional load it is putting on the PI is the calls being made from Concerto.  So it is very minimal extra load considering I already had Apache2, PHP and Mysql running anyway.

I only have one remaining significant issue as I see it...  Due to the rails/passenger architecture, Concerto still requires an internet connection at boot up for it to startup properly. I actually see this as Concerto's one achilles heal, as the primary goal for any signage display is to minimise any downtime, and reality is that internet dropouts can and do happen. Although Concerto's broader spectrum of functionality requires internet anyway, in this instance where I can be delivering all content locally, it would be nice if it could boot up and start without needing the active internet connection. This would make it even more viable when used with a cellular modem/router where the internet might not be so reliable but where you are just using the internet for backend admin functions. 

I have thrashed away at finding a solution to offline boot up, but cannot get it to work yet. It's a Passenger Net:HTTP issue that plagues me. Its not the biggest problem needing internet, but it would greatly reduce the chances of display downtime. If anyone knows how to get Concerto 2 to boot up offline I would be eternally grateful for your wisdom.

[Phott Schtup]

There wouldn't be any chance of you releasing an image of the sd card(s) and USB devices for this, would there? I have wanted to do the whole schmo on a single Pi 2 or 3. I think they have plenty of resources but I have yet to be successful in getting the newest Concerto running so that Video works good. I did get 1.9 running nicely on one, but it was some time ago and it was an early Pi with only one core. Kinda slow, but it worked. . .

Thanks!

Doug

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[halls...@gmail.com]

I would also love to have an image of the drives used for the Pi 3 as a server/client combo. We are thinking of doing this at our school.

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[Jon Edwards]

I agree as well as a VM copy a Raspberry PI SD image for the server at least would be great.

    ( I know we can debate more expensive and power servers that are easier and more up to date versions but sometimes that is all we can afford or can get funding for )

I have I think got the prerequisites loaded but can't get Concerto to install on my Raspberry Pi.

One very quick question:

I'm following the official instructions to install the Debian Packages on

https://github.com/concerto/concerto/wiki/Installing-Concerto-2 

The second point says:

Add Concerto repository using: curl get.concerto-signage.org/add_repo.sh | sh

NOTE: The file "add_repo.sh" is missconfigured, because of a Typo in the echo part for generating repo.file.

I can see that the echo line and following parts of add_repo.sh script want to add two lines to the apt source:  /etc/apt/sources.list.d

echo 'deb http://dl.concerto-signage.org/packages/ jessie main\ndeb https://oss-binaries.phusionpassenger.com/apt/passenger saucy main' > /tmp/concerto.list

Can someone tell me what the Typo is please and what should it read.

I can happily edit the source list myself so don't need a new script but I simply don't know what the Typo is to point to the correct repo.

Please help.

Jon

[mats...@gmail.com]

Hi Jon,

I think the main thing to be aware of is at the end of each source line, one has "jessie main", the other has "saucy main", make sure they both say "jessie main", or match the version you are using if it's not jessie. Otherwise I think the URLs are still correct.

However these repositories are only good for installing on an I386 device. I have done so successfully on such devices, but if you are wanting to install on an RPI, I don't think these repos dont have all compiled components for ARMF devices. So the only way I could get everything to work on a PI was to compile certain components directly from source code.

Also, for others that have requested an image of my Pi Server setup, I am not opposed to sharing, however I think the smallest image I would be able to reduce to would be about 8GB, so I am not sure if I will be able to successfully upload this for sharing. Upload speeds in Australia are a joke. Anyway, Im still working on whether there is a way I can share.

[Doug Simpson]

Great!

I would also like to have the image(s) if you can figure a way. I would be willing to host them some for others as well.

Doug

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[david...@gmail.com]

Hi Matsta, did you ever figure out how to get it working without a internet connection?

I wanted to do a demo and when I got there, the darn thing wouldn't start up.

after a few hours of trouble shooting, I finally figured out that I needed a internet connection, I start the server, open un backend, once that's done, it works offline.

Thanks, David