Production assistants often need "digital slates," call sheets, or set rules displayed on monitors around the craft services table. Running Ethernet cables on a backlot is a safety hazard. Screenly Anthias Portable solves this.
Exhibition halls are notorious for expensive "power drops" and flimsy Wi-Fi. With a portable Anthias rig, you roll in, set up your booth TV, and the signage runs instantly. No begging the IT team for a network password.
Before we discuss the "Portable" aspect, we must understand the engine. screenly anthias portable
Screenly Anthias (formerly known as Screenly OSE—Open Source Edition) is a web-based digital signage platform designed to run on a Raspberry Pi. Unlike the paid "Screenly Cloud" version, Anthias is completely free and self-hosted. It allows you to manage a playlist of assets (images, videos, web pages, and even live weather feeds) via a simple web interface.
Key Features of Anthias:
The traditional limitation? Screenly Anthias assumes a static environment: a Pi bolted to the back of a TV, always connected to the office Wi-Fi.
SSH into your Pi. Run the following commands to set up an Access Point that starts automatically on boot. The traditional limitation
sudo apt install hostapd dnsmasq
sudo systemctl unmask hostapd
sudo systemctl enable hostapd
Configure /etc/dhcpcd.conf to give the Pi a static IP (192.168.4.1). Then configure hostapd.conf for your SSID. Once rebooted, your Screenly Anthias player will broadcast its own Wi-Fi.
Pro Tip: Install watchdog so that if the Wi-Fi dongle or Pi crashes in the field, it auto-reboots. Configure /etc/dhcpcd