I will now write down my experiences here after a painful time, maybe it will help one or the other.
My claim to my dashboard was always :
- Enough space on the screen without that I had to make many compromises.
- As a touchscreen operable, what good is a Smarthome dashboard if I can not operate it directly …
- To display the dashboard in portrait mode, there is no good solution to let a dashboard scroll automatically in landscape mode. If I have a dashboard I want to be able to display everything at a glance, everything else is useless.
-A rotation between pages to be informed about many things
Hurdles:
There are so many devices that allow you to display a dashboard,lets go for the different experiences I have had.I have as I said a 32 inch iiyama touchscreen,I deliberately bought a “decoupling” device so I am free in my decision what to connect to it.
Windows mini Pc:
Potrait mode no problem, you can rotate between pages with a Chrome browser extension “URL Slideshow”. The negative side: the interaction with Home Assistant, there is HASS agent to communicate with the computer via MQTT but not what Fully Kiosk Browser can offer.
Windows mini Pc:
Potrait mode no problem, you can rotate between pages with a Chrome browser extension “URL Slideshow”. The negative side: the interaction with Home Assistant, there is HASS agent to communicate with the computer via MQTT but not what Fully Kiosk Browser can offer.
Chromebox
Then I tried with a used Chromebox, let me tell you, not usable in portrait mode because part of the screen is cut off. Attempt aborted directly,device sold again
Raspberry Pi4
Yes, I had this one lying around and think so it can’t hurt to try it, said, done, Lineage OS installed.
Well so far some things work but not everything, but you notice that the Pi somehow doesn’t have enough steam to run it. I had crashes, then I did not pursue this further.
Android Box and SBc’s
Yes, here we come closer, Fully Kiosk Browser usable,exactly what I actually wanted But there are pitfalls here as well.
First I tried it with a MINIX X35-I Android Box. Touchscreen worked, portrait mode too (all apps I tested) except for the fact that Fully Kiosk Browser didn’t and believe me I tried a lot with ADB or apps, even the developers weren’t able to solve the problem.
Then tried an Orange Pi 5:
actually an awesome part with current RK 3588s processor that really has a lot of steam.
Unfortunately it failed (for now).
The Android 12 is apparently still a construction site, yes the device is still very fresh, so I could have expected it. The Orange Pi does not manage to switch to portrait mode although the option is there.
So I had to wander and search and found :
Khadas VIM 4
The Khadas is great in terms of usability, via OWOWOW system in 3 minutes Android installed on the EMMC memory, well done Khadas. Everything I wanted worked so far except for the fact that my Go2Rtc camera streams are loaded jerky, an old webview version probably to blame or the Android is not well adapted.
I installed Magisk and Any Webview is OK to be able to use a new webview version, this did not fix the problem. I was completely annoyed and wanted to throw everything out the window. The Vim 4 was sold again
Then I caught myself and invested again in
Khadas Edge 2
Why again the same company you may ask? Yes believe me, I did too
The Khadas Edge 2 is also based on a RK 3588s processor so it also has more than enough steam.
And yes I am finally at the finish
Streams are loaded smoothly Portrait mode works etc…
It was a time that almost robbed me of the last nerve. There are other things like Nvidia Shield but Android TV has just too many limitations, then you do not know if the touchscreen is supported. Portrait mode is also a problem with Android TV. Therefore, I have never tested these devices.
So if you have something like that in mind I give the following things on the way:
- Make sure that the webview is up to date (on my Khadas Edge I’m on v95, before on Vim 4 V83).
- If you want to have touchscreen support you should look to buy a RK based sbc. So far the USB touch has always worked there.
- No Android TV boxes if you want to use portrait mode