Booting to 4 separate instances of Chromium
by tmack87 from LinuxQuestions.org on (#508CV)
Hello!
I'm working on a replacing an old digital signage system (Userful). Currently it's using four thin thin clients connected to a server (Userful [Red Hat 4 based...yeah] to display Chromium across 4 TVs (1920x1080) rotated in portrait mode.
The thin clients keep crashing/freezing/dying and it's impossible to update Userful without paying insanely high subscription prices. We can't even update open source packages without fear of the software killing the current license. The system is 1.5 years old, too.
I built a computer that can output to all 4 monitors. I've messed with i3/kde/lxde/gnome and been fairly successful with my test environment. I'm now moving onto the production machine and want to see if there are better ways to accomplish this. Basically, each TV has to load the same instance of Chromium. All 4 TVs display a different page. Each instance of Chromium will need to be loaded on the same display every time. This machine will likely remain on 24/7 minus power outages (Working on getting a UPS).
I'm thinking Ubuntu Server LTS is the best option. I don't care if it has a full desktop - just need enough to run Chromium. It'd also need to support remote control (ssh, vnc maybe) since this setup is 10~ miles from my office.
Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I'm working on a replacing an old digital signage system (Userful). Currently it's using four thin thin clients connected to a server (Userful [Red Hat 4 based...yeah] to display Chromium across 4 TVs (1920x1080) rotated in portrait mode.
The thin clients keep crashing/freezing/dying and it's impossible to update Userful without paying insanely high subscription prices. We can't even update open source packages without fear of the software killing the current license. The system is 1.5 years old, too.
I built a computer that can output to all 4 monitors. I've messed with i3/kde/lxde/gnome and been fairly successful with my test environment. I'm now moving onto the production machine and want to see if there are better ways to accomplish this. Basically, each TV has to load the same instance of Chromium. All 4 TVs display a different page. Each instance of Chromium will need to be loaded on the same display every time. This machine will likely remain on 24/7 minus power outages (Working on getting a UPS).
I'm thinking Ubuntu Server LTS is the best option. I don't care if it has a full desktop - just need enough to run Chromium. It'd also need to support remote control (ssh, vnc maybe) since this setup is 10~ miles from my office.
Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.