Webview under Raspian-Linux and Amazon Fire TV

[jelvers]

Just another experience feedback with IMA.

Have installed the new Raspian Pixel Desktop for my Raspberry Pi 2, connected  it via LAN to my network and used my computer monitor (via HDMI) for display. The Webviewer was launched  without any problems in the provided "chrome like" browser (see attached picture). Operation wasn't understandly quite as fast as with other systems but still more than acceptable! When I used a 38'' Philips TV as my screen output, it worked all right, but I couldn't get a full screen display, and therefore the pcitures were a little small to watch. Now this has nothing to do with IMA/Webviewer but with the TV, which doesn't always utilise autozoom. Anyways, it shows that IMA works also well with a very simple Linux computer!

I then also tried to get it up and runing in an Amazon Fire TV environment, which basically simulates an Android-like system.  With some tricks it's also possible to install the Chrome browser and open the webviewer. Again this worked without any problems. Display on TV, however, was messy. Again, nothing to do with IMA/Webviewer but with the internal set up in the Amazon stick. I wouldn't recommend to use it for this prupose.

For quick "shows" I always use my Galaxy S7, start the Chrome browser, open the Webviewer and then mirror the display via "Google Home"-Streaming to my TV screen. The display is not as crisp as with a directly (via HDMI) connected computer (be it Rasberry Pi or the Android Minix) but again absolutely sufficient for the quick use.

Next step for me will be to open a VPN access to my AVM router and then access the IM database. New experience for me, as I haven't set up VPNs in the past.

Hope, this of interest for the community.

Regards, Juergen

[Mario]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

The Raspi is probably as "low" in performance you can go  It probably has a hard time already just to run the browser. But that's not really what it is designed to do. A bit more hardware "Oomph" helps here.

There are silent PCs ready for Linux or Windows with HD graphics etc. available for ~200 € now. Enough power to run a full web browser, play 4K videos and run IMatch WebViewer. Or even IMatch WebServices, if it is a Windows system. Unless you need to handle hundreds of thousands of files or 10 parallel users, even a small Celeron 4 GB 128 GB SSD with Windows 10 box will work nicely.

PS: I have side-loaded KODI (awesome!) on my Fire Stick and I can watch movies streamed over Wi-Fi from my Fritz Box on my TV. Works like a charm.

[jelvers]

PS: I have side-loaded KODI (awesome!) on my Fire Stick and I can watch movies streamed over Wi-Fi from my Fritz Box on my TV. Works like a charm.

I know KODI, which is a great Mediacenter. But I never tried it via the Fire Stick.........................

[jch2103]

Another data point regarding using Webview with TV:

I have an Nvidia Shield TV, which has significant graphics processing capability (including 4K options). I thought this might make it an ideal candidate for presenting access to IMWS through a TV. However, my brief attempts ran into issues with the Android TV user interface. The first is that the currently available web browser (oddly enough, not Chrome, at least in the UI) is pretty wretched and difficult to use. The second is that at least this browser app doesn't work well for Webview with either the Nvidia controller or a mouse. So I wasn't successful in using Webview on the Shield TV.

An updated version of Android for the Shield TV is supposed to be available in the near future. Once it is and I have a chance to test it, I'll update these observations.

[Mario]

The WebViewer has been designed for really interactive devices like PC, Mac, Linux or tablets/smart phones with a usable browser implementation.

If you use a 'kiosk'-like browser with limited user interface or you don't have a real keyboard / mouse / touch, a WebViewer version designed for this would be better. With a much reduced user interface, e.g. where you just select a pre-made set of files (category,...) and then just display the files in a slide show with some very simple controls.

Basically a slide show app that pulls data out of IMWS.

[jch2103]

Right. I should have added that I can easily use the Chromecast that's built in to the Nvidia Shield TV to cast from my phone or tablet to the TV screen. It works reasonably well.