RedPost

What’s it take to be a Sign?

You can buy one of our RedPost/Signs, but anything that runs Firefox can be a Sign. Have an old Mac or PC laying around? Got an LCD display (or *gasp* a CRT)? You’ve got a Sign.

Firefox is available in over 40 languages for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Full system requirements are available here, but generally you need a computer that has:

• Windows 98 or later, MacOS X 10.2.x or later, or Linux kernel 2.2.14 or later
• 256 MB memory or greater
• 1 GB of storage (hard drive or flash-based) or greater

Multimedia functions like YouTube videos, Adobe Flash, QuickTime, etc. will add to the hardware requirements.

Build your Sign on anything that runs Firefox

Note that we’re not responsible if you mess up your computer. Proceed at your own risk.

First, connect your computer to the Internet.

Next, download and install all required components

1. Firefox: free download for Mac, Linux or Windows
2. Autohide extension for Firefox: free download
3. Adobe Flash Player: Go here to install the latest version
4. Customized Firefox sittings: make sure Firefox isn’t running and then copy and paste these settings into your prefs.js file (in your Firefox profile folder):

Next, install and configure Firefox to connect to RedPost

1. Open Firefox
2. Right click, deselect “Full screen”
3. Log into your Redpost account (you can sign up for a 30 day trial if you haven’t already)
4. Click on the “Organize” tab
5. Create a new sign if you don’t already have an existing one by selecting “New Sign” from the drop down menu on the right, entering the appropriate information, and clicking “Create”
6. Click on the Sign you just created in the left hand column on the bottom
7. Copy the CID + URL field, paste it into the URL field, and hit enter
8. Go to Firefox > Preferences > Main and click “Use Current Page” to set this page as your default home page.
9. Right click, select “Full screen”
10. Quit Firefox to make sure the settings are saved.

Next, you need to do 2 things: set your computer to load Firefox automatically upon boot and turn off any screensavers, sleep modes, or anything else that would cause your Sign to go blank. Instructions vary depending on which platform you’re on.

Mac -> Sign

There are several steps that will make your Mac a better Sign.

Also, note that the newest version of Firefox, version 3.6, includes fully functional full screen support, which has been lacking until now. Hoorah!

1. System Preferences: Energy Saver
   • Sleep: Set computer to never go to sleep
   • Sleep: Set display to never go to sleep
   • Options: Turn on “Restart automatically after a power failure”
2. System Preferences: Desktop & Screen Saver: Screen Saver: Set “Start screen saver” to never
3. System Preferences: Accounts
   • Automatic login: Enabled
   • Click on the user account, then the “Login Items” tab, and add Firefox as a login item
4. Hide the mouse cursor: Install Cursorcerer, set it to hide idle cursor after 1 sec

Linux -> Sign

Note that instructions vary depending on your hardware and Linux distro. We use Ubuntu.

1. In the BIOS, set the computer to reboot upon power failure
   
2. Hide the mouse: install unclutter (on Ubuntu, “sudo apt-get install unclutter”, directions vary depending on the Linux variant)
3. If you want video to work, download and install our customized redpost_video .deb files from SourceForge. To install, use the command "dpkg -i filename.deb"
4. Screensaver, screen blanking, booting directly into Firefox: Setup your .xinitrc file by pasting these settings into your .xinitrc file
   • In Ubuntu, at the login screen, click "Options" in the lower left and change the session setting to "Use Xclient script" instead of Gnome, once you have .xinitrc installed in the user's home directory
5. Restart your computer (unplug the power to simulate a power failure): Make sure Firefox loads correctly and connects to RedPost

Windows -> Sign

Note that instructions vary depending on your hardware and Windows version.

1. Turn off the screensaver: right-click on the desktop and choose “Properties”, click the “Screen Saver” tab and set Screen saver to “(None)”, click “Apply”
2. Turn off the monitor sleep option: Under the “Screen Saver” tab in display properties, click the “Power...” button and set the monitor to never sleep (details vary depending on your hardware, should be easy to figure out), click “OK”
3. Set computer to reboot upon power failure: Not available with all hardware
4. Turn off any startup notices, Virus updates (make the automatic), etc.: instructions vary depending on what you have installed
5. Set Firefox to load on startup: Right-click the Start menu and browse to the “Documents and settings\(User name)\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\” folder, create a shortcut to Firefox in this folder
6. Hide the cursor: varies depending on your version of Windows (Windows XP instructions here)
7. Restart your computer: Make sure Firefox loads correctly and connects to RedPost

Run Wicker on any compatible hardware

Wicker is our customized version of Ubuntu with an 5 minute configuration process and all the kinks worked out for you. It boots off a USB flash drive, which you can buy from us pre-installed or download Wicker for free and install it on your own.

We will be certifying more hardware and components that are compatible with Wicker. For now, this is what’s required:

Features

• Easy, 5-minute configuration
• Connects over wifi to RedPost, a website URL, or loads images from a local folder
• Can be used as a digital photo frame without an Internet connection
• Boots from USB flash

Hardware Requirements

• x86 compatible processor
• 1 GB memory or greater
• 1 GB of storage or greater
• Zonet ZEW1602 series 802.11 b/g wifi card

Compatible Hardware

• VIA PC3500G series motherboards