[u-u] Electronic signage...

[Colin McGregor]

On Sun, Jul 17, 2016 at 8:04 PM, William Park <opengeometry at yahoo.ca> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 14, 2016 at 11:55:12AM -0400, Colin McGregor wrote:
>>                                 The resource demands of the web server
>> / browser are non issue when for $35 (US) + shipping you can get
>> sort-of (there will be a few additional accessories needed for a few
>> more $) get a computer that is adequate to the task. Further given the
>> Raspberry Pi foundation's history there will likely be another,
>> better, version of the Pi within 18 months that will make resource
>> usage even less of an issue.
>
> Is Raspberry Pi a requirement?  I mean, you can do far more with used
> laptop.  Webcams are more likely to work with "standard" Linux or
> Windows.  If you're looking to a used laptop, KWLUG has tons.  Let me
> know, I'll hook you up with them.

To start with I was planning to use up some of the spare hardware I
have kicking around home, which includes a 17" LCD screen and some
Raspberry Pies (namely a B+ or a 2). Bottom line to start with I was
hoping to keep the price of this project as close to zero as possible
(I will have to buy a wall mount for the monitor, a microSD card, and
I have ordered a barometric pressure sensor, but hopefully not much
more).

Further, there are things that work against a laptop in this
situation. I want the biggest display I can get (cheap) that will fit
in the entrance hall between the cork notice board and the ceiling. To
start with that display will be a 17", but I would like to make it
fairly painless to move to something larger. Changing displays is
problematic with a laptop. The laptop's built in keyboard, which is
not wanted in this sort of application, and display mean the laptop is
a bigger/bulkier option than the Pi a problem when you want to mount
everything on the wall. The laptop's faster CPU isn't really needed
here, we are not talking a computationally intense set of problems
here, I mean time updates, once per second, check sensors once per
minute, do a dial-up (or wireless) connection to the internet once per
hour to grab and re-format some weather data. Nothing here demands a
screaming fast CPU.

There are a lot of nice things that can be said about laptops, but a
laptop isn't the right solution here.


Colin.

> --
> William
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