Best Hardware to display control pages

Posted on
Tue Feb 07, 2017 11:08 am
Nine offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Feb 15, 2015
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Best Hardware to display control pages

To control Indigo I'm currently using Indigo Touch on an old iPad (3rd gen), connected on wifi. Every time the iPad goes into standby-mode, it looses wifi-connection and my "problem" is: after waking it up, it lasts about 20-40 seconds to reconnect to wifi and Indigo. That does not work for my girlfriend – and she has right :?

So, I'm looking for a cheap tablet to replace my old iPad. The tabled should immediately connect to wifi/Indigo or stayed connected and have something like a black screensaver (btw: I do not want to leave my iPad (or any other tabled) turned on all the time, because at night, the display disturbs the darkness).

Any suggestions?

Nine

Posted on
Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:39 pm
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

What size display are you looking for - something similar in size to the existing iPad? Domotics Pad can dim the screen to a user-defined darkness if it is left untouched on a control page, awoken by either touch or (optionally) looking at the screen. However, the depth of darkness allowed by the device is somewhat device-dependent. Some go almost completely dark, others seem to max out at maybe 20-ish percent. Of course, you'll need the device plugged in for charging to do this as the screen does draw a slight amount of power in this mode and will drain the battery.

Adam

Posted on
Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:43 pm
jalves offline
Posts: 744
Joined: Jun 16, 2013

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

If you can leave the old iPad plugged in all the time, just set the controls for it to never sleep (aka auto lock).

Running Indigo 2023.2 on a 24" iMac M1), OS X 14.4
Jeff

Posted on
Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:52 am
Nine offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Feb 15, 2015
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

I'm looking for a similar size to the existing iPad...

jalves wrote:
If you can leave the old iPad plugged in all the time, just set the controls for it to never sleep (aka auto lock).


As I wrote, I do not want to leave my iPad (or any other tabled) turned on all the time, because at night, the display disturbs the darkness) @jalves
Last edited by Nine on Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

Posted on
Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:57 am
Sharek326 offline
User avatar
Posts: 377
Joined: Jul 20, 2014
Location: Lansford, PA

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

If you have Push Services enabled on the iPad for a App the Wifi doesn't go completely asleep.

Posted on
Wed Feb 08, 2017 11:46 am
Nine offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Feb 15, 2015
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

Sharek326 wrote:
If you have Push Services enabled on the iPad for a App the Wifi doesn't go completely asleep.


I have the Pushover app installed and can receive push messages... but that does not prevent my iPad to disconnect from the wifi... Is there any setting to make?

Posted on
Wed Feb 08, 2017 12:06 pm
Sharek326 offline
User avatar
Posts: 377
Joined: Jul 20, 2014
Location: Lansford, PA

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

You could try setting up a secondary almost never used email account and install it on that iPad. Even though asleep the wifi should still be watching for pushed emails. In theory even when in sleep mode and unable to ping the iPad it still knows when to wake up when a email arrives making me think it is never completely asleep or off Wifi. I use all iPads for my contollers and at times find that when I first wake them up they need a second or two.

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 12:05 am
Nine offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Feb 15, 2015
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

Another possibility: change the control page to a black one after xxx minutes - but that would need an update for the App ;-)


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 12:09 am
Nine offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Feb 15, 2015
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

Guess thats what I need: Change Control Page on Device from Server

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_ ... are_type=t




Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 9:39 am
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

As I mentioned before, you could try the dim screen function within Domotics Pad and set the value all the way to 0 (which is not going to be technically off but on decent devices it is pretty darn black). I'll see if I can get some pictures on mine to show what it looks like if you are interested.

You could change to a full black control page, but it still will (likely) have back light bleeding through unless you get a tablet with an AMOLED based screen. Of course, could do both black control page and a dimmed screen, but might have to tap twice to wake it up (once to pull up the screen, once to dismiss the black control page).

The Pixel C tablets are nice and good sized (10"-ish screen?) but not cheap; they are less than iPads, but not the cheap $100 tablets you see around... you do get what you pay for).

Adam

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 10:22 am
roussell offline
User avatar
Posts: 1108
Joined: Aug 18, 2008
Location: Alabama

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

I'm a big fan of the Kindle Fire tablets. You can install Google Play services in about 10 minutes just by enabling Dev mode and downloading/installing the proper APKs, no rooting required and it runs DomoPad beautifully. I think for the money they represent the best bang-for-the-buck in Android tablets (they run Android 5.1.x under the covers). I just ordered an 8" to try with the 7" ones I have scattered throughout the house. BTW, the 7" ones are on sale for $39.00 USD right now. They 7" one preforming great, I just find myself needing a bit more screen real estate the a 7-inch screen provides. I personally think 8 inches of screen and 1280x800 resolution is the minimum for a good HA display (the 7" Fire is 1024x600). The physical size of an 8-inch display seems to fit well on most walls too.

For top-of-the-line, I have to Agree with Adam; the Google Pixel C is about as good as it gets for a 10" Android tablet. For an 8" top-of-the-line, I'd go with the Nvidia Shield K1, a beautiful tablet that would look nice on a wall and perform well. it comes with 5.1, but has an available OTA upgrade to 6

Terry

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 10:43 am
johnpolasek offline
Posts: 911
Joined: Aug 05, 2011
Location: Aggieland, Texas

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

Quick related question; What is the best Google equivalent for Kiosk Pro lite on the IPad? Mom's not all that tech savvy, and really likes the fact that the (very ancient) ipad we had laying around just comes up into an Indigo control page whenever she powers it on and doesn't go anywhere else accidentally... We've only got the one, but if I could find some other cheap droid pads that could act the same way, we might scatter them around.

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 11:09 am
roussell offline
User avatar
Posts: 1108
Joined: Aug 18, 2008
Location: Alabama

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

johnpolasek wrote:
Quick related question; What is the best Google equivalent for Kiosk Pro lite on the IPad? Mom's not all that tech savvy, and really likes the fact that the (very ancient) ipad we had laying around just comes up into an Indigo control page whenever she powers it on and doesn't go anywhere else accidentally... We've only got the one, but if I could find some other cheap droid pads that could act the same way, we might scatter them around.


If you have an iPad 2 or newer (iOS 6+), check out the built in "guided access" which will allow you to lock the iPad to one app among other things -basically creating a kiosk mode. If it's an iPad 1, your best bet is to root the tablet and then install something through Cydia. I have a rooted 1st gen lying around somewhere, I'll see if I can boot it up and see which app I used to use for a kiosk-style interface.

Oh wait sorry, just re-read the question; if you're looking for Android, look at "Startup manager (free)" or "AutoStart - No Root" to startup an app on boot. There are a few apps in the play store that lock the device to one app, search for Kiosk Mode). With Android 5 and above, I think you could maybe use Screen Pinning (Settings > Security > Screen Pinning) to pseudo-lock the device to an app. Its not exactly a kiosk mode, but might work. For Android 6 and above, you can look at enabling device policies for Corporate Owned Single Use (COSU) devices to get pretty detailed control over the tablet. Lastly, there used to be a way to flag an application as an Home Screen App/Launcher which would effectively replace the factory launcher with your app. Be aware that if you do this, you need a way (through your app) to launch the actual factory launcher and/or settings app to make changes to the tablet.

Terry

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 11:15 am
RogueProeliator offline
User avatar
Posts: 2501
Joined: Nov 13, 2012
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

Quick related question; What is the best Google equivalent for Kiosk Pro lite on the IPad? Mom's not all that tech savvy, and really likes the fact that the (very ancient) ipad we had laying around just comes up into an Indigo control page whenever she powers it on and doesn't go anywhere else accidentally... We've only got the one, but if I could find some other cheap droid pads that could act the same way, we might scatter them around.

FWIW, this is one of my next focuses in Domotics Pad - launching at start and/or going into a Kiosk style mode. I've seen mixed results about what we can do in order to truly lock the user out of the system, but at the least we should be able to launch a control page on startup, without the navigation bars, and require a password to go to other parts of the application. Preventing them from ever leaving the app may be trickier, but I've seen references to it at least with Android 5.0+... so we shall see.

I'm a big fan of the Kindle Fire tablets.

I always forget about the tablets - have heard nothing but good things but just haven't ever had one. The price that you quote sounds like it rocks, though the 7" is slowly getting a bit out of spec, isn't it?

Adam

Posted on
Thu Feb 09, 2017 11:42 am
roussell offline
User avatar
Posts: 1108
Joined: Aug 18, 2008
Location: Alabama

Re: Best Hardware to display control pages

RogueProeliator wrote:
I always forget about the tablets - have heard nothing but good things but just haven't ever had one. The price that you quote sounds like it rocks, though the 7" is slowly getting a bit out of spec, isn't it?

Adam


I've seriously not had a single problem with them - we bought our 5 year-old one of the kids models for Christmas and last week she dropped it while charging (on the usb plug, bending it) and broke the internal USB connectors. Amazon replaced it no-questions-asked (the kid version comes with a two year "worry-free" warranty).

The 7" has a 1.3 quad cpu and feels pretty snappy, except when loading a large app, or surfing a heavy web page - which I seldom do. The one by the bed runs a clock app, the Sonos app, and DomoPad 24/7 and is flawless. The only thing I don't like is the 1024x600 resolution. A custom designed, simple control page looks fine on it, you just have to plan out your screens a little more to adjust for the limited real estate. The Sonos app is pretty squished, but it don't use it that often on the Fires.

You should grab one while they're $39, it's seriously hard to go wrong at that price point.

EDIT: Here are the steps I followed to install Google Play on the Fire: https://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/how-to-install-google-play-store-fire-t3486603

Here are the current specs of all the Fires, I think the 8 is the sweet spot, the low resolution of the 10 (same as the 8") kinda knocks it out of the competition unless you just want larger icons. The inclusion of Dolby Atmos on the 8 and 10 is pretty comical, we'll see how it performs when my 8 comes in:
Screen Shot 2017-02-09 at 11.32.14 AM.png
Screen Shot 2017-02-09 at 11.32.14 AM.png (226.41 KiB) Viewed 4837 times


Terry

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest