Got a BrightSign XD1030. Now what?
I just received a BrightSign XD unit, with the request to display a web page using it. No further instructions included, but there was a label with an IP address on it — of course not matching my local LAN configuration.
The setup is not complicated at all, but the instructions on the BrightSign website are somewhat confusing.
I connected the unit to a screen using a VGA cable, removed any SD card present, and powered it. LEDs blinked, but nothing happened. The screen stayed blank. I tried using a HDMI cable, and the screen turned on showing the logo and the firmware version number.
To create the presentation, i.e. the Chromium loader pointing to your website, proceed as follows:
- Clean the SD card.
- Download and install the appropriate version of BrightAuthor from the BrightSign website, and open it.
- Create a new presentation. Choose the right model, set mode to VGA or HDMI as needed, and set the screen resolution.
- Select a Full Screen template.
- On the Playlist tab, click on “other” on the left pane, and drag the HTML5 icon to the right side. You will be prompted to create a new Site — click on URL and point it to the address of your page.
- Click on Elable external data and click OK. The HTML element is now configured.
- Move to the Publish tab. A message may appear, saying that this version of BrightAuthor requires a firmware update. Say OK, click on Specify Firmware Update, check the Production Release radio button in the section corresponding to your model, and confirm. You have booked a firmware upgrade. This step should be performed only once, then after the firmware has been updated it is not necessary anymore.
- Choose the path of your SD card.
- Click on Publish.
- Remove the SD card, insert it into the BrightSign unit, and turn it on. You should see the Upd led blinking, and the unit will turn on and off several times.
- After this, the unit should power on, and display something. However, it is still not configured.
To configure networking:
To have it running, those are the steps that worked for me.
- Get a clean SD card
- Open BrightAuthor.
- Click on Tools > Setup BrightSign unit
- The default settings are generally OK. Check in Advanced Network Setup > Wired that Obtain an IP address automatically is selected, and in the main screen that the Standalone unit configuration is checked.
- Click on Save to file, and point it to the SD card.
- Move the SD card to the Unit, and turn it on. A message saying that the Standalone mode is now configured should appear.
- Remove the SD card and clean it (it is important to remove the configuration files from there!).
- Return to point 7 of the previous section, save the files, and move it to the BrightSign again. Turn it on: now it should work.
