Developer Shares Nine-Year Struggle to Run Digital Signage Software on Raspberry Pi

·56 views

A software developer has documented nearly a decade of attempts to make his open-source digital signage application, garlic-player, run smoothly on Raspberry Pi hardware. Early efforts on the Pi 3 around 2017–2018 were hampered by the lack of zero-copy display output in Qt, causing video stuttering even at low CPU loads, despite partial workarounds using a GPU-based tool called PiOmxTextures. A breakthrough for smooth HD playback was eventually achieved in 2018, but it broke WebView and multi-zone layout support — two key features of the application — with no useful error output to diagnose the cause. The 2019 release of the Raspberry Pi 4 brought hardware improvements including dual HDMI ports, but hardware-accelerated video decoding was only available on the 32-bit OS, while the more capable 64-bit Raspbian remained in beta without acceleration. 4K video support also proved unreliable, working only in VLC under specific conditions, leaving the developer repeatedly forced to choose between a modern operating system and functional hardware decoding.

Read the full story at DEV Community

This is an AI-generated summary. ShortSingh links to the original source for the complete article.

Discussion (0)

Why Automated Testing Pays Off: Catching Costly Bugs Before Release

A developer-focused guide argues that automated testing saves money by catching expensive mistakes early, before they reach customers. It describes how a bug in production, such as a broken checkout button, causes cart abandonment, support load, and emergency hotfixes that disrupt planned work. The article recommends automating revenue-critical journeys like login, cart, checkout, and form submission first, and running a regression pack before each release. It also notes that automation complements rather than replaces manual testing, which remains valuable for copy, layout, and edge cases.

0 comments Read more at DEV Community

ProgrammingDEV Community ·

Experts Warn AI Automation Could Erode Technical Jobs and Expertise

A DEV Community article argues that rapid AI automation threatens to devalue specialized technical knowledge and the jobs that depend on it. It contends that AI tools can handle narrow tasks like scanning for open server ports but lack the contextual understanding needed to judge the real risks. The author compares AI to a calculator that speeds up arithmetic without replacing professional judgment, and warns that flawed AI-generated code could fail under stress. The piece also cautions that companies pressured to adopt AI may end up relying on systems they do not fully understand, while public and private money flows into an industry with unclear returns. The author calls for investing in AI where it adds genuine value while preserving foundational human expertise.

0 comments Read more at DEV Community

ProgrammingDEV Community ·

Chirograph Verify uses passkeys with server-side decisions to replace CAPTCHAs and SMS codes

Chirograph Verify is a WebAuthn-based device verification service that its developers are launching on October 30, 2026. The approach moves the verification decision to the server, which validates a cryptographic assertion from a user's passkey or security key instead of trusting a browser-side success flag. Developers can embed a hosted widget that starts registration for new users or authentication for returning ones, then redirects back to the application. The article also explains that publishable widget keys are kept separate from secret tenant API keys, which servers use to redeem results. Redemption of a callback token by the server is required, since URL parameters alone do not prove successful verification.

0 comments Read more at DEV Community

ProgrammingDEV Community ·

How to Add a 60-Second Explainer Video to Your GitHub README

A short explainer video at the top of a project README can convey what a repository does faster than several paragraphs of text. The article recommends a one-minute script of about 150 words that covers the problem, the target audience, three core features, a concrete example, and getting started. Creators can record a screen capture with voiceover, narrate over a slide deck, or use an AI generator that turns a script into an animated video. GitHub accepts MP4 files up to 10 MB on free plans and 100 MB on paid plans, and the piece offers an ffmpeg command to compress a 720p video. For places that cannot play video, it suggests a silent 10-second GIF of the strongest moment.

0 comments Read more at DEV Community