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      Raspberry Pi

      OptiSigns is compatible with and works well on Raspberry Pi, we recommend Raspberry Pi 3B+ and above.

      • For Raspberry Pi 4 or older, continue to read this article

      For Raspberry Pi 5, please read this article.

      Raspberry Pi 4 or older:

      In this guide, we will walk you through the end-to-end process of installing OptiSigns Digital Signage App on your Raspberry Pi and assign a playlist to it.

      2 ways to get OptiSigns running on your Raspberry Pi:

      1) Download our prebuilt SD Card image and flash it to your SD Card

      2) Install OptiSigns on your existing Raspberry Pi OS by downloading and running AppImage file

      If you are using the Raspberry Pi 8GB model, please follow method 2, and start with the fresh Raspberry Pi OS.

      Here's the step-by-step guide for each method:

      1) Download and use a prebuilt SD Card image:

      Download the latest SD Card image here.

      You can double-check the MD5 hash if needed.

      Unzip and Flash the SD Card image to your SD Card (minimum 16GB card is required).

      Download and Install Etcher. 

      Open Etcher software and select the OptiSigns .img file that you just unzipped.
      Select the SD card drive.
      Click "Flash".
       After flashing the SD card and booting up, you can connect to your network.
      OptiSigns is preinstalled and will auto-start on start-up.
      Next, you can skip to step 2) iii) to pair the screens and start assigning content.

      2) Install OptiSigns on your existing Raspberry Pi OS by downloading and running AppImage file

      Here are the high-level steps:

      i) Get a fresh image of Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian) boot up and configure your network. If you already have Raspberry Pi OS running, you can skip this.

      ii) Download OptiSigns to your Raspbian and run it.

      iii) Pair your screen with OptiSign portal.

      iv) Using OptiSigns's web portal to assign content and manage your screens.

      i) Get a fresh image of Raspberry Pi OS and configure the network

      If you already have Raspberry Pi OS running, you can skip this step.
      Download a fresh image of Raspberry Pi OS.

      Use a tool like Etcher to flash the image to your SD Card.

       After flashing the SD card and booting up, you can connect to your network.
       ii) Download OptiSigns AppImage to your Raspberry Pi OS and run it
      Download the OptiSigns AppImage file here.

      If you are not familiar with AppImage, it is a way for a Linux package app to run just like you would run an .app file on Mac or .exe file on Windows.

      Once Downloaded, open File Explorer, right-click on the downloaded file, and select Properties.

      In the Properties box. Click the Permissions tab in the Access Control → Execute drop-down.

      Select Anyone. Then Click OK.

       After that, double-click on the optisigns.arm7l.AppImage file to execute it. In the pop-up, select Execute.
      Raspberry Pi is not very fast, so it may take a few seconds to load. The app will run in full-screen mode, and generate a pairing code for you to pair with the app.optisigns.com portal. You can also move the mouse around and see the top 3 buttons to resize, open the sidebar menu, or close the app.
       
      On the side menu, you can set Orientation, etc. The app has Autostart and Fullscreen on Startup checked as default. So now, the next time the Raspberry Pi starts up, it will run OptiSigns app automatically.

      iii) Pair your screen with the OptiSign portal. 

      You can now go to our portal at: https://app.optisigns.com/ to pair the screen. 
       If you don't have an account already, create one, or you can also log in with Google or Facebook account.

      Once you log in Click the "Add screen" button

      In this pop-up, type in the Pair Code showing up on your Fire TV screen. Then click Pair

      The screen will change to:

      iv) Using Optisigns' Web portal to assign content and manage your screens.

      Once you go to our portal at: https://app.optisigns.com/ to pair the screen and start assigning content to it, you can follow these guides for more detailed steps:

      Summary:

      Now your Raspberry Pi image already has Digital Signage player features configured:

      • Autostart up and launch OptiSigns.

      • It will resume, and play what's assigned to it, even after hard power is lost.

      • It will not go to sleep.

      • It can play downloadable content (images, video, documents) even when the internet is lost.

       

      If you have any questions or issues that need support, please feel free to reach out to us at support@optisigns.com.