Pi Presents: A display package for museums & visitor centres

[KenT]

Ive just installed PiPresents on a raspi that's been packed a way for a while. I tried accessing some web based apps already installed on the box, but instead of getting them Im getting a page from thttpd, which appears to be a web server. Is this installed as part of the Pi Present installation?

If so, is there anyway to just use the existing NGINX installation I already have, thus allowing me to keep my old services running in tandem?

Thanks.

No Pi Presents has nothing to do with any of these programs. Its just a python program that runs mplayer and omxplayer as seperate processes

[munklefish]

OK thanks just checking.

[munklefish]

Hi,

Im just trying out this software but cant get it to run properly. I get the black screen popping up and the welcome message but I also get an error message that says;

"The commandline options specified a profile that does not exist"

Ive installed the examples, but still no luck. However, Ive now getting a bit confused as to where everything is supposed to be located. In the instructions it essentially says that everything should be located in the home directory. However towards the end of the install the instructions say to call python via

python /home/pi/pipresents/pipresents.py -p pp_mediashow


So, should everything be located in /home/pi/ such as:

home/pi/pexpect-2.3
home/pi/pipresents
home/pi/pp_home


or should it be:

home/pexpect-2.3
home/pipresents
home/pp_home

Or something else entirely???

Thanks.

[KenT]

Hi,

Im just trying out this software but cant get it to run properly. I get the black screen popping up and the welcome message but I also get an error message that says;

"The commandline options specified a profile that does not exist"

Ive installed the examples, but still no luck. However, Ive now getting a bit confused as to where everything is supposed to be located. In the instructions it essentially says that everything should be located in the home directory. However towards the end of the install the instructions say to call python via

python /home/pi/pipresents/pipresents.py -p pp_mediashow


So, should everything be located in /home/pi/ such as:

home/pi/pexpect-2.3
home/pi/pipresents
home/pi/pp_home


or should it be:

home/pexpect-2.3
home/pipresents
home/pp_home

Or something else entirely???

Thanks.

These, your home directory:
home/pi/pexpect-2.3
home/pi/pipresents
home/pi/pp_home

[munklefish]

Ive installed everything to /home/pi/* but im still getting the same error about the profile not existing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[munklefish]

I used the editor to make a new profile and this placed them in root/pp_home, yet these work.

According to everything ive read so far the profiles should be in /home/pi/pp_home

Am i doing something wrong???

[KenT]

I used the editor to make a new profile and this placed them in root/pp_home, yet these work.

According to everything ive read so far the profiles should be in /home/pi/pp_home

Am i doing something wrong???

use the options menu item in the editor to change the location of the pp_home directory and the media directory.

it might have got set to /root if you started the editor for the first time using sudo.

[jipkai123]

Is there any way to default my tracks(pictures) to have a duration of 20s instead? And about blackbox operations which medialist allow for instant start cause i using the default and it asking for start button

[KenT]

Is there any way to default my tracks(pictures) to have a duration of 20s instead? And about blackbox operations which medialist allow for instant start cause i using the default and it asking for start button

change the duration field in the show
change the trigger field to start.

It sounds like you are using the pp_exhibit template, if you want the show to repeat change Repeat to interval.

The mediashow template could be a better starting place for you

[jipkai123]

So i got everything working already,but the fullscreen.
It not the full screen not working but even after full screen it surrounded by black spaces.
It is because of the picture resolution i using is smaller than the monitor output resolution?

[KenT]

So i got everything working already,but the fullscreen.
It not the full screen not working but even after full screen it surrounded by black spaces.
It is because of the picture resolution i using is smaller than the monitor output resolution?

Yes very likely. Pi Presents does not scale the images.

[JasonJ]

I have a model B rev 2 Rpi running the standard wheezy install on a 4gb sd card. Followed the instructions in the readme.md file to install everything i was instructed to.. get to the part where I test the install of pipresents and i receive the following back:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File " /home/pi/pipresents/pipresents.py" , line 22, in <module>
from pp_menushow import MenuShow
File " /home/pi/pipresents/pp_menushow.py" , line 4, in <module>
import PIL.Image
ImportError : No module named PIL.Image

I get the identical result when trying to run the example profiles. What the heck did I do wrong? Ive got all the directories in /home/pi including pexpect-2.3, pipresents, and pp_home (which i copied from the examples folder).

Any help I can get would be appreciated. I would like to set up these rotating content displays outside a few conference rooms.. but i cant even get the example to run! Once I do get it to run, is there any easy way to get it to display html content from a URL? Or does pipresents only display content that is inside the media folders.. ? I guess I am also confused on how to put the content I want on screen.

[KenT]

I have a model B rev 2 Rpi running the standard wheezy install on a 4gb sd card. Followed the instructions in the readme.md file to install everything i was instructed to.. get to the part where I test the install of pipresents and i receive the following back:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File " /home/pi/pipresents/pipresents.py" , line 22, in <module>
from pp_menushow import MenuShow
File " /home/pi/pipresents/pp_menushow.py" , line 4, in <module>
import PIL.Image
ImportError : No module named PIL.Image

I get the identical result when trying to run the example profiles. What the heck did I do wrong? Ive got all the directories in /home/pi including pexpect-2.3, pipresents, and pp_home (which i copied from the examples folder).

Any help I can get would be appreciated. I would like to set up these rotating content displays outside a few conference rooms.. but i cant even get the example to run! Once I do get it to run, is there any easy way to get it to display html content from a URL? Or does pipresents only display content that is inside the media folders.. ? I guess I am also confused on how to put the content I want on screen.

PIL is the python imagging library. Something has gone wrong with the installation of one of these, probably the first.

sudo apt-get install python-imaging
sudo apt-get install python-imaging-tk

Try installing them again.

You cannot display html content. I believe you can display images e.g..jpg from a url but I haven't tried it. If you want remote web server display or html display then Screenly OSE might be better for you. Pi Presents is more about display of pre-defined images,videos and audio tracks from local folders.

When you get it working use the pp_mediashow example. Look at the profile in the editor and read the manual.

[heidiangove]

Greetings,

I love pipresents and have used the software in two different gallery installs (both are non for profit). I would like to thank you by way of donation and just want to make sure giving to the below museum is your preferred method of donation:


https://www.facebook.com/MuseumOfTechno ... eatWarWw11

Many thanks for your hard work once again.

[jipkai123]

Is it possible to run the liveshow on a loop? Currently everything works with image scaled correctly only left having to make the thing loop

[KenT]

Is it possible to run the liveshow on a loop? Currently everything works with image scaled correctly only left having to make the thing loop

Not sure exactly what you mean but a liveshow will always loop around the tracks you have put in live_tracks. If not make sure that the duration field is not zero.

[KenT]

Greetings,

I love pipresents and have used the software in two different gallery installs (both are non for profit). I would like to thank you by way of donation and just want to make sure giving to the below museum is your preferred method of donation:


https://www.facebook.com/MuseumOfTechno ... eatWarWw11

Many thanks for your hard work once again.

Hi
Glad you are finding Pi Presents useful. Yes, you have got the correct museum. The facebook page just documents the building of the new museum which in itself is quite fascinating. If you click on the link to the museum website proper http://www.museumoftechnology.org.uk you will see a Donate Now button which takes you to a secure website which handles charity donations. Do contact us here http://www.museumoftechnology.org.uk/form.php so we can thank you.

[jipkai123]

Oh that the problem.I set the duration to 20 seconds. So if i set it to 0 ,how long will each picture last and is there a way to default secs but repeat itself(by editing the code)?

[KenT]

Oh that the problem.I set the duration to 20 seconds. So if i set it to 0 ,how long will each picture last and is there a way to default secs but repeat itself(by editing the code)?

If you set it to zero then the first slide will be displayed for ever. You set the duration in the liveshow profile using the editor program (run pp_editor.py) and it affects all the tracks in the liveshow. If you create a new liveshow using the editor it will default to 5 seconds.

[Benonymous]

First of all I'm really grateful for this excellent presentation software. Thanks for making it available to us to run on the pi

I got caught out by a couple of things between the manual and the files as downloaded/installed. First, the sample profiles, located in the PP_Home folder were all named PPT_(profilename) not PP_(profilename). So on the numerous attempts I had to open a profile other than the default, the presentation window threw up an error telling me the path was wrong. This is because of the errant "T" in the folder name. I may have missed something in the manual on this but I read over it a bunch of times trying to solve my problem.

Secondly, I tried over and over to download the sample folder with the 26Mb video file in it and I got an error message each time from github in the form of " unexpected end to file" or somesuch indicating the file was damaged (or a component of it possibly).

Lastly, i have experimented with several types of video file and it would appear that the media player only works well with .avi format. Mp4 runs the pictures too fast and unsyncs the audio. Flv and mpeg are not recognised . I'm not complaining about this, just entering it into the conversation as it may assist other users.

[Benonymous]

Happily, i have Pipresents doing everything I want except for one thing.

I'm attempting to use the pp_exhibit profile and the -g or --gpio function to kick off the presentation. here's my syntax,
"sudo python /home/pi/pipresents/pipresents.py --home /home/pi --noblank --fullscreen bottom --profile --gpio pp_exhibit"

When i attempt to run this i get the following error "pipresents.py: error: unrecognized arguments: pp_exhibit"
This happens regardless of whether I use the full or abbreviated call for gpio or just -g. Without the -g or --gpio, the pp_exhibit runs fine and allows itself to be started with the return button on the keyboard.

What am I doing wrong?

edit: I just noticed i don't have a "gpio.cfg" file in the pp_home directory.....

edit: I created a gpio.cfg file and have copies in pp_home and the pp_exhibit folders but no dice. If i use "sudo" to get privileges then the error returned is "cannot find resources.cfg "

[KenT]

Happily, i have Pipresents doing everything I want except for one thing.

I'm attempting to use the pp_exhibit profile and the -g or --gpio function to kick off the presentation. here's my syntax,
"sudo python /home/pi/pipresents/pipresents.py --home /home/pi --noblank --fullscreen bottom --profile --gpio pp_exhibit"

When i attempt to run this i get the following error "pipresents.py: error: unrecognized arguments: pp_exhibit"
This happens regardless of whether I use the full or abbreviated call for gpio or just -g. Without the -g or --gpio, the pp_exhibit runs fine and allows itself to be started with the return button on the keyboard.
What am I doing wrong?

ypo - try "sudo python /home/pi/pipresents/pipresents.py --home /home/pi --noblank --fullscreen bottom --profile pp_exhibit --gpio

edit: I just noticed i don't have a "gpio.cfg" file in the pp_home directory.....

It is in /home/pi/pipresents/pp_home/gpio.cfg copy it to /pp_home if you want to edit it

[KenT]

First of all I'm really grateful for this excellent presentation software. Thanks for making it available to us to run on the pi

I got caught out by a couple of things between the manual and the files as downloaded/installed. First, the sample profiles, located in the PP_Home folder were all named PPT_(profilename) not PP_(profilename). So on the numerous attempts I had to open a profile other than the default, the presentation window threw up an error telling me the path was wrong. This is because of the errant "T" in the folder name. I may have missed something in the manual on this but I read over it a bunch of times trying to solve my problem.

There is a pp_home directory inside /pipresents which contains the templates that are used by pp_editor to create new profiles these are named ppt_ to distinguish them from ordinary profiles (they are however mini complete profiles and will run)

You need to create your own pp_home outside /pipresents to hold your profiles. Beware Linux is CASE SENSITIVE so its pp_ not PP_

Secondly, I tried over and over to download the sample folder with the 26Mb video file in it and I got an error message each time from github in the form of " unexpected end to file" or somesuch indicating the file was damaged (or a component of it possibly).

just tried this myself and it did fail the first time but worked the second; so something flakey on the internet and not my data

Lastly, i have experimented with several types of video file and it would appear that the media player only works well with .avi format. Mp4 runs the pictures too fast and unsyncs the audio. Flv and mpeg are not recognised . I'm not complaining about this, just entering it into the conversation as it may assist other users.

MP4 should be OK. You need buy codecsc for some types of file, look at the Raspberry Pi website for what to buy and where. Pi Presents uses omxplayer to play the videos so its omxplayer that is causing the problems. Have you increased your GPU memory to 128Mb. Lots of threads on the forum on omxplayer problems.

[Benonymous]

Thanks for the quick response Ken. I've strained a lot of braincells on this today so I'll have a crack at solving this tomorrow.

Cheers!

Ben.

[jipkai123]

Well....apparently i was making the mistake thinking that it wasn't repeating when apparently it was because i didn't disable screen blanking when running it in black box.......... Thank for the advice though, helped me understand more on how the editor works