Webconverger for Raspberry PI 2/3 port

A curated auto-updating Archlinux Arm (alarm) rootfs https://github.com/webconverger/rpi2 using webkit2gtk based surf2 and a new Websocket based updater allowing for instant updates to the configuration and better visibility if the device is actually online.

Currently this port is designed for DOOH / Signage applications. It can be used as a kiosk, though it will not have a "chrome", i.e. user interface options is set to chrome=webcfullscreen.

• Installation instructions
• Video of preparing the Webconverger microSD from Windows 10

A >= 4GB microSD card is recommended.

API notes

Only a limited subset of the API is implemented. The webc-config is the best documentation.

instantupdate is enabled by default, see this video demo with two rpi2s. This allows instant updates to the homepage without rebooting.

You can override the browser binary surf2 with the webck variable. For example webck=omxplayer%20-r with homepage=http://techslides.com/demos/sample-videos/small.mp4 makes Webconverger loop and play back an MP4 file.

You can power down the rpi2 with poweroff and reboot with reboot. This is actually good practice since unfortunately the rpi2 boots from a vfat partition that can easily get corrupted.

To rotate the screen, you can use rpi2config=http://prefs.webconverger.com/2015/90-degrees.txt. xrandr commands do not work with the rpi2's framebuffer powered display. You may need to patient rebooting the device a couple of times as this configuration is only embedded at boot via webc-upgrade.

Begin with the canonical config.txt when making your changes. Other examples:

• rpi2config=http://prefs.webconverger.com/2015/disable-overscan.txt if your screen isn't fullscreen

Caveats

You must have your HDMI screen on as the rpi2 boots since it does some sort of HDMI negotiation only at boot.

For hardware tinkerers

Video showing the possibilities of hardware motion detector integration

• /etc/systemd/system/dpms.service
• /root/dpms.sh

Useful for saving power when no one is in the vicinity.

Wireless

Here is an example configuration I use for testing:

boot_append=debug
homepage=https://google.com
wpa-ssid=SINGTEL-F726
wpa-psk=0011466534
instantupdate

This is naively implemented at the bottom of https://github.com/Webconverger/rpi2/blob/master/usr/bin/webc-config. On rpi2 your WEBCID will stay on the eth0's mac address.

You need to have an initial wired internet setup to provision the wireless settings.

Debug mode

Triggered with boot_append=debug. In debug mode sshd is enabled and you can log in with a ssh public configured like so ssh=http://hendry.iki.fi/hendry.pub.

Experimental shell API

Removing the API because of Why a shell API would be insecure.