Xibo for Linux Installation

The Xibo for Linux Player is released as a snap package, distributed via snapcraft. This offers a clean, dependency free installation, as well as the potential for automatic upgrades in the future.

There are 4 steps to follow:

1. Preparation of the CMS
2. Installation of the Player
3. Connection of your Player to the CMS
4. Authorisation of your Display with the CMS

Prepare your CMS

If you have a 1.8.12 or later CMS, you can connect the Player directly.

You may need to create a Display Settings Profile for the Linux Player ahead of connecting your first Linux Player.

Not all of the settings in the Display Settings Profile will work at present, but have been included in readiness for them being fully implemented into the Player.

Installation

To install the Player, simply run:

snap install xibo-player --channel=stable

The Player will be installed without affecting any other software you might have installed on your machine.

You may also visit: https://snapcraft.io/xibo-player or use the button below.

Upgrading from an older release

You can check to see what version of the Player you have installed by running:

snap list

You should see an entry in the output like this:

Name                  Version         Rev   Tracking  Publisher     Notes
xibo-player           1.8-beta1       16    beta      xibosignage   -

• Upgrading from 1.8-alpha6 or later

To upgrade from the 1.8-alpha6 or later release, run:

snap refresh xibo-player --channel=beta

You may find that snapcraft has automatically upgraded your xibo-player snap.

• Upgrading from earlier than 1.8-alpha6

You cannot upgrade to 1.8-alpha6 from older alphas, so if you previously installed 0.3.3a, 0.4a or 0.5a and haven’t removed it, then run:

snap remove xibo-player-test

After removing the older release, continue to install the Xibo Player.

Connect to the CMS

Newly installed Players must be configured and registered with the Xibo CMS before they can be used using the Player Options.

Player Options

Most of the Player options are set on the CMS and delivered over the network to the Player. This keeps the Player configuration to a minimum on each new installation.

• To run the Player select Xibo Linux Player from the desktop/app drawer or open a terminal and run:

  xibo-player

If running for the first time, an options form will open asking for your CMS details. Before any options can be sent from the CMS it is necessary to register the Display with the CMS instance. This can be done by completing the necessary fields using the Connect tab as pictured below:

• CMS Address: This is the fully qualified address of your CMS installation. For example https://cms.example.org or http://example.org/cms
• Key: The secret CMS Key that will authenticate the Display with the CMS.

The secret CMS Key can be viewed from the CMS under the Administration menu by clicking on Settings and the Configuration tab.

• Local Library: Please choose an appropriate local library for the Player to store its files.

• On the Advanced tab a unique Display ID has been generated for you.

• Once all the above fields have been completed, click to Save.

At this point, the message window will update with the status “Saving with CMS… Please Wait…”

The Player will register with the CMS:

• Press Exit to quit
• Launch the Player again.

To get back to Player Options form in the future run xibo-player.options.

Display Authorisation

Before the Player can receive Scheduled Events and display Layouts/Campaigns you will need to Authorise the Display to connect to the CMS.

• Click on Display Admin from the Player Options window or log in to the CMS and select Displays from the main CMS menu to see your newly registered Player in the list.

• Use the row menu for this Player and select Authorise from the drop down menu.

• Click Yes to confirm the authorisation of this Display.

At this point, you may want to select a Default Layout for your new Player to run!

Display Setting Profiles

Once registered, the Player will be given a default Display Setting Profile. For further information see the Display Settings section.

Launch Xibo Player

You can now launch the Player from the Player Options.

You should see the Xibo Splash Screen while the Default Layout and its media contents (and anything else you have scheduled) are downloaded. The Player will then begin playing Layout content.

Uninstalling

You can safely delete the files the Player created in your temporary directory, and if you want to remove the Player from your system, simply run:

snap remove xibo-player