Basic computer to run a promo screen

Forums › Desktop computing › Basic computer to run a promo screen

nate

6319 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 382

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Topic # 151167 15-Aug-2014 23:45

I have a old shuttle box that runs a promo screen in my cafe. The promo screen is just a webpage that is loaded in Chrome in full screen mode. That's all this machine does.

Looking at replacing it with an Intel NUC or similar - any suggestions?

Yabanize

2106 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 525

Reply # 1109373 16-Aug-2014 01:02

6 people support this post

Raspberry pi?

sampler

275 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 33

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 1109393 16-Aug-2014 08:00

Nate!,

NUC's in general just work (and work well). They have little if no sound at all (fan noise etc, and are available with Wireless, 4 gig of ram and a 30 gig SSD (mSATA) for under $350. Slap your fav version of Linux on it, set it up to auto run chrome etc and away you go.

As much as I would normally be interested in cheaper options that required more geeking and thoughts, using a NUC would effectively become a set and forget item. Perfect for the intended location (must pop in and grab a salad again).

Cheers

Lee

hellonearthisman

1818 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 52

Trusted

Reply # 1109395 16-Aug-2014 08:10

Raspberry Pi, small size, quiet, low power and cheap.

Dynamic

2413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 704

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 1109397 16-Aug-2014 08:24

One person supports this post

Ingram have an NUC which is a fanless single core Atom. I bought one for this exact purpose. VGA and HDMI outputs. Cost next to nothing. 'Standard' NUCs have a fan to wear out.

"4 wheels move the body. 2 wheels move the soul."

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Stu

Hammered
5045 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1062

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 1109400 16-Aug-2014 08:43

One person supports this post

Pretty sure the Raspberry Pi would do the job fine. In saying that, I think the single core Atom NUC as mentioned above would do it better.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

CYaBro

2942 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 281

Reply # 1109403 16-Aug-2014 09:08

One person supports this post

Gigabyte also have fanless brix unit with a dual core celeron if you want something a bit more powerful than an atom.
It has VGA and hdmi outputs.

Computer Repairs Whangarei
Apple Authorised Reseller
Apple Authorised Service Provider

jonb

1443 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 321

Trusted

Reply # 1109413 16-Aug-2014 09:39

One person supports this post

People have had good experiences with the Chinese NUCs in this thread www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=50&topicid=147440 .
You could also try a tablet with a hdmi out, maybe a Dell Venue 8 from Trade Me.

toyonut

1508 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 213

Reply # 1109440 16-Aug-2014 11:36

+1 for a NUC. Small cheap and have vesa mounting kits too. Sure the Pi would too, but I just feel the NUC is a bit more versatile.

*EDIT*
Just remembered, chromeboxes.
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=WKSHDT2706976&name=HP-ChromeBox-G1-Intel-Celeron-2955U-1.4-GHz-4GB-16
Cheap, and pretty much all they do is run Chrome.
A NUC is nearly as cheap though.
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=WKSPB3005&name=PB-3005-Intel-NUC-Ultra-Compact-PC-Intel-Celeron-N

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

HowickDota

399 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 62

Reply # 1109442 16-Aug-2014 11:44

My vote is for the raspberry pi, save yourself some money if it's only going to be doing this one basic task.

Dynamic

2413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 704

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 1109447 16-Aug-2014 12:02

A Windows-based PC is a no-brainer to have auto-starting with the desired function and can be easily VNC'd into from another terminal if required. The Pi might take a bit of head scratching or research.

"4 wheels move the body. 2 wheels move the soul."

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
61001 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 11841

Administrator

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 1109448 16-Aug-2014 12:11

nate: I have a old shuttle box that runs a promo screen in my cafe. The promo screen is just a webpage that is loaded in Chrome in full screen mode. That's all this machine does.

Looking at replacing it with an Intel NUC or similar - any suggestions?

Get the Gigabyte BRIX, 4GB RAM and a mSATA SSD 64GB from Amazon. Cheaper than the NUC and fast. I use as HTPC (with a larger SSD) and David Cole got one this week for his.

Backblaze cloud backup (personal and business) | Geekzone broadband switch | Amazon (Geekzone aff) | MightyApe (Geekzone aff) |

My technology disclosure | Business Transformation | Enterprise Content Management |

raytaylor

3215 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 620

Trusted

Reply # 1109625 16-Aug-2014 19:38

jonb: People have had good experiences with the Chinese NUCs in this thread www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=50&topicid=147440 .
You could also try a tablet with a hdmi out, maybe a Dell Venue 8 from Trade Me.

I ended up using three of those little chinese units - bought them off trademe, swapped out the hard drives for SSD's and installed windows 7.
We use one as our DNS server, one as the backup DNS and one as a shared file server / dumping ground.
Am even thinking of moving our email server over to one.

They are really good.

Ray Taylor
Taylor Broadband (rural hawkes bay)
www.ruralkiwi.com

There is no place like localhost
For my general guide to extending your wireless network Click Here

richms

21283 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4289

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1109633 16-Aug-2014 19:50

Can be risky getting things out of china like that. I have bought an ITX motherboard in the past that had a duplicate mac address and was missing heaps of capacitors, because it was a "third shift" production run.

Richard rich.ms

TwoSeven

1221 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 123

Reply # 1109636 16-Aug-2014 20:10

I think the device you may be looking for is a Wireless Advertising Display (or even a wired one).

Software Engineer

richms

21283 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4289

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1109639 16-Aug-2014 20:15

Wireless advertising players tend to just run thru a remotely administered slideshow of stills and video, not have a functioning web browser on them. When I looked at one to do a rates board at work, they were totally unable to pull in data from elsewhere so I would have had to make something render things to images and stick them into a network share for the player to display from. We just fullscreen an excel spreadsheet because that was the easiest way to get something usable quickly, but I will be re-doing it via HTML sometime soon.

Richard rich.ms