MCC Intranet

System Documentation

Secondary message board with Raspberry Pi

Overview

The message board (TV monitor) in the Secondary Block undercroft is controlled by a RaspberryPi (RPi) Model A computer running Raspian (a version of Debian Linux).  The RPi is at the back of the TV (LH-side) in a small yellow case.  It is powered via a USB cable connected to the TV.  Communication is via WiFi to the "MCC Device" SSID.  The RPi is connected to the TV via an HDMI interface.  The display is the full-screen presentation of a Chromium web browser.

Connection

• Connect via ssh (e.g. PuTTY) to mccrpi1
• Username: pi
• Password: swordfish

Useful info

When the RPi boots, it runs /etc/rc.local which, in turn, runs /usr/local/bin/startboard.  The startboard script sets up the environment and then starts the chromium web browser.  The default URL for the browser is http://ict/msgboard and its source code is here.

The following files were added/modified on the RaspberryPi:

• /etc/rc.local
• /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
• /usr/local/bin/display
• /usr/local/bin/startboard

The crontab for user "pi" has the following entries:

0 8 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/display on
30 15 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/display off

The program raspi-config was run to set the following:

• Change user pi password to swordfish
• In Network Options:
  • Set hostname to mccrpiN (where N increments for each RPi)
• In Localisation Options:
  • Change locale and select en_AU ISO-8858-1 and en_AU.UTF-8 UTF-8 and, on next screen, set default locale to en_AU.UTF-8
  • Change Timezone to Australia/Hobart
  • Change Keyboard Layout to Generic 104-key PC and English (US) (with defaults)
  • Change Wi-fi Country to AU Australia
• In Interfacing Options:
  • Enable SSH Server
• In Advanced Options:
  • Expand filesystem to use all the the SD card storage

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