Set up a Raspberry Pi
A Raspberry Pi behind the screen makes a dedicated sign: it starts straight into your playlist, keeps the screen on, comes back by itself after a power cut and updates itself.
What you need
- A Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi 5 with at least 2 GB of memory, and its own power supply.
- A microSD card of 16 GB or more, and a computer that can write to it.
- A micro-HDMI to HDMI cable to the screen. Either of the Pi’s two HDMI ports works.
- Wi-Fi, or a network cable — and your phone, to finish the setup.
1. Download OmniSigns OS
Raspberry Pi OS with OmniSigns built in. One file for the Pi 4 and the Pi 5; don’t unzip it.
Download OmniSigns OSThe download isn’t open to everyone yet. Ask us and we’ll get you a copy and help you set it up.
2. Put it on the card
- Install Raspberry Pi Imager from raspberrypi.com/software and put the microSD card in your computer.
- Under Raspberry Pi Device, pick your Pi. Under Operating System, scroll to the bottom, choose Use custom, and pick the OmniSigns OS file you downloaded.
- Under Storage, pick the microSD card — carefully: everything on it is replaced.
- If Imager offers to apply settings, choose No. The Pi doesn’t need any: it sets itself up on the screen.
- Write it, and put the card in the Pi when Imager says it’s done.
3. Start it and connect it
- Connect the screen, and a network cable if you’re using one, then plug in the power. The OmniSigns logo shows while it starts; the first start takes a few minutes.
- With a network cable, it goes straight to the next step. On Wi-Fi, the screen shows Connect this screen to Wi-Fi with two QR codes. Scan the first with your phone to join the screen’s own setup Wi-Fi; the setup page usually opens by itself (if not, scan the second). Pick your Wi-Fi, type its password, and tap Save. A wrong password comes back with the reason.
- Pair it. The screen shows a pairing code and a QR code. Scan it, or sign in at portal.omnisigns.app, choose Pair a Kiosk, and type the code. Give the screen a name, pick its timezone and whether it hangs landscape or portrait.
- That’s it. Choose what it shows in the portal — a playlist, or a theme park view — under Show on this kiosk.
Once it’s running
Everything is set from the portal, never on the Pi: what it shows, which way up the screen hangs, and a screen-off time for the night. Where the TV supports it (HDMI-CEC, on most), the Pi turns the TV off and on with that schedule too.
It looks after itself. Updates install at night, during the screen-off time if it has one. On its first night it also locks its system down against power cuts and restarts a couple of times — that’s expected.
If the Wi-Fi goes away — a new router, a changed password — the screen brings back Connect this screen to Wi-Fi after about ten minutes, even in the middle of the night, and keeps trying the old network meanwhile. A router that was only off reconnects by itself.
Worth knowing first
A Pi 4 or 5, with 2 GB or more
Older Pis and 1 GB models aren’t supported: a modern browser needs the memory, and pages stutter without it. The portal shows each screen’s hardware and flags anything below that.
Home Assistant needs one setting
The Pi shows Home Assistant dashboards, but Home Assistant has to let the screen in without a login. How to set that up.
Keep loaded: up to four pages
Tick Keep loaded on a slow page, such as a Home Assistant dashboard, and the Pi keeps it open between turns, so it appears at once, already signed in. Up to four slides; any more reload each time their turn comes. Kept pages are refreshed once a day.
Other ways to run a screen
A Web Kiosk needs nothing but a browser, on a tablet, laptop or smart TV. Our Google TV app runs on the television itself — see Screens.
An Android app for tablets is also available on request — ask us.