Building an Unattended Computer Presentation?

hastenslowly asks: "I'm a member of a non-profit Association restoring a 1920's gas station, here in the midwest, for National Historic Register status. I'd like to provide an 24/7 'unattended' audio (visual) presentation for visitors using an 'el cheapo' computer, monitor, and mouse. I'd like to connect the entire thing to the doorbell which, when triggered, will start the presentation. Can anyone steer me to some hardware, software (for whatever OS), programming, newsgroup or any other source of info, so I don't re-invent the wheel when I do this?"

Make sure the mouse has a long cord

[Anonymous Coward]

Make sure that the mouse has a long cord (so it can be dragged to the left side of the keyboard), or you have some sort of mouselike device (trackball/etc) mounted in the center in front of the keyboard. Otherwise, it is useless to anyone who is left-handed.

Also, something that reboots when it fails would be good. Otherwise, you'll have Blue Screen of Death, Guru (Amiga equivalent) or similar screens eventually.

Re:Make sure the mouse has a long cord

[compwizrd]

But I'm left handed, yet can't use a mouse with my left hand! How insensitive, you clod! :P

Macromedia Director

[vasqzr]

Macro media's website [macromedia.com]

Author once and deploy anywhere with Director MX 2004, the proven multimedia tool for building rich content and applications for CDs, DVDs, kiosks, and the Internet.

Pretty much the standard for doing Kiosks since the early 90's.

Re:Macromedia Director

[rkz]

flash would work too, if its just a presentation it doesn't matter. Director adds more interactive functionality but flash has actionscript which is quite powerful in its own right.

Do you need a computer?

[AtariAmarok]

Do you even need a computer? If this presentation is not interactive, it could be recorded to tape and put in one of those video-display systems like they have had in hardware stores and Sears for years and years.

On-demand

[phorm]

This would somewhat kill the "on-demand" angle though, since a tape isn't instant-seek the way a DVD or video files is. You could probably accomplish this with a DVD, or even a VCD. I've seen cheap MP3/VCD mplayers on ebay for under $30... in fact I own one and it has a decent picture.

Shouldn't be too hard to rewire the controls to a timed "power-on" circuit (timed to power off after presentation length), and maybe some chapters so that you could skip through sections.

With a computer you could go that e

Here's an illustration

[AtariAmarok]

Here's a helpful illustration [ptc.com] to get you started with your doorbell-mouse-computer device. Also see this one [anl.gov]

Re:Here's an illustration

[rufus0815]

You must have been playing 'The incredible machine', eh ??

First Idea

[Tux2000]

Connect the doorbell via opto coupler / relais or similar to a key on an old keyboard. Use an application that can restart a presentation when a single key is pressed. For example, Mozilla reloads the current page when F5 is pressed, so do Opera and the IE. Set a local html page as homepage, containing a Flash or similar presentation. Connect the doorbell interface to F5. Make the browser start when the OS starts. For Win9x, place a shortcut to the browser into %windir%\start menu\startup.

Tux2000

A related question...

[Singletoned]

What options are there for multi-platform multi-media presentations other than Macromedia?

Is there any open source solution?

Go solid state

[AvidGeek]

I would look at the products from http://akman.com/, they make solid state video and audio players for just this type of thing.

Cheap...

[djdanlib]

Well, you could go down to some used computer shop and pick up a $50 Pentium or 486 PC with Windows 95 on it, and a cheap 14" sub-$50 SVGA monitor, and put one of these combos on there. As long as you've got those minimum specs, you should be able to do any of these. Except for #3, which requires much beefier hardware.

1) Powerpoint ($$)
2) OpenOffice [openoffice.org] (Free) with either its Impress [openoffice.org] component, or Impress plus its built-in Flash movie (SWF) exporter (for which you will need the plugin [macromedia.com], which is free) plus Mozi [mozilla.org]

Re:Cheap...

[Andy_R]

The powerpoint viewer software is free, as is the playback component of flash, so if you go down either of those routes, you only need to *build* the presentation with the full version of the software, you don't need it to be on the playback machine.

It would help if you told us more about the presentation, does it need sound? interactivity (beyond the doorbell to start) etc.

X-10

[GiMP]

Use this [smarthome.com] X-10 module to interface to the computer easily. You could roll your own at a lower cost, but this is really easy off-the-shelf method.

For the interface, you could have it fire up an mpeg/divx player, run a flash-based presentation, or run an Impress slideshow. All of the above should work on Windows, MacOS, *BSD, or Linux equally.

You might find the best X-10 software for Linux and *BSD, however.

Opera

[JohnQPublic]

Opera's [opera.com] "kiosk mode" is intended for just such uses. You get all the benefits of a web browser (links you can select, etc.) and it's neatly and easily secured against general use.

And they have a donation program [opera.com] for worthy causes, so the price might wind up being US$0.00

Re:Opera

[Rick the Red]

Mozilla's [mozilla.org] "kiosk mode" is also intended for just such uses, and worthy cause or not the price is exactly US$0.00.

Re:Opera

[His name cannot be s]

Opera isn't the only browser with a Kiosk Mode.

Firefox(Mozilla) has One, and so does IE.

Hardly worth spitooing money into a corporate hole :p

Re:Opera

[Jebediah21]

I think Galeon can even be used as a Kiosk. I remember somebody working it out on the mailing list about a year ago.

Re:Opera

[iantri]

For those saying "But wait! Other browsers have a kiosk mode!!", Opera's is a little different.

Using XHTML and CSS it allows you to create a webpage that, when viewed in regular mode looks like a normal webpage, but when viewed in Kiosk mode magically turns into a Powerpoint-style presentation.

This page [opera.com] explains it -- in fact, it is a demonstration itself -- if you put Opera into full-screen mode on that page you will get exactly what I am talking about, a set of slides for a presentation.

Neat stuff.

Director / Flash

[dr00g911]

Have you considered the use of Macromedia Director?

Director has a pile of extensions to allow it to receive input from external apps -- serial port, X-10, etc. It's also much more suited to presentation work than, say, HTML or Powerpoint.

Just use an X-10 [smarthome.com] contact receiver to your existing doorbell, wire up your Mac/PC/Linux box with a reveiver and software [smarthome.com] and set your system's macros to emulate keypresses or launch the presentation from a black screen.

The guys above who said just rig an old keyboard's key to start / restart a presentation on a keypress have a great idea as well -- not as elegant, but way cheaper and easier.

Thanks, guys . . .

[hastenslowly]

I'll be donating a 50 or 90 MHz, 210 MB, floppy-based laptop and 15" monitor, but as far as commercial presentation 'authoring' software, DVD burners, . . I don't think I can justify the extra cost for this one project. Basically my initial thought was something like using simple, freeware WAV/MP3 players and/or a (*.jpg) 'slide slow' programs under DOS, Win95, . . . (gasp, I apologize) with 'batch' files/macros, C/Basic language programs, . . . (I'm really showing my age :-) looping on a 'screen-saver program' until a mouseclick/keypress starts the audio (visual) presentation. I DO appreciate everyone's replies, will delve into every one of them, and will keep everyone posted. And as they say in 'Ol Time Radio, "Please keep those cards and letters coming !" Regards. P.S. And AtariAmarok, thank you for alerting me to the ANL work. I worked for them some decades ago and I'll have to write the DOE a nasty letter for wasting our taxpayer dollars by not commercializing/'productizing' it yet. :-)

Revolution

[paugq]

Try Revolution [runrev.com]. It's like Macromedia Director, but it's available for Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, Mac OS, Mac OS X, AIX, Solaris, SunOS, HP UX and SGI Irix

Museums and Interactivity

[rueger]

Most museums and galleries have been doing this sort of thing for years. I'd suggest contacting whatever similar groups exist in your city.

In particular there are probably any number of multimedia artists that have been doing this sort of thing with varying levels of interactivity.

One of our friends, Andra McCartney [andrasound.org], just finished a gallery installation using a Mac, midi, and controller to handle video and audio for an interactive and unattended installation [concordia.ca] about the Lachine Canal [concordia.ca] outside Montreal.

She

Doorbell pushbutton to Mouse switch candidate

[hastenslowly]

Just found this http://www.dmb-ergonomics.com/footmouse.htm for connecting the doorbell pushbutton.

Skip the computer, use a DVD player

[sakusha]

It always amazes me that people think computers are the solution to everything. In this case, you're just making device that can only be maintained by experts, and is likely to break down due to abuse by every little kiddie who can push a button. DVD players are ubiquitous and cheap, and any idiot could replace it when it dies of old age.

Skip the computer. Create a video presentation on a DVD, use DVD Studio Pro or anything you like. Get a cheapo Apex DVD player. You can set the player to autorepeat your v

Re:Skip the computer, use a DVD player

[metamatic]

Yup, I was going to suggest using a DVD player. Advantages:

1. Reliability. (Ever seen a DVD player crash? Ever seen optical media wear out from over-use?)

2. Cheapness. (Pick up a DVD player for $60 from Best Buy and attach it to an old TV.)

3. Capability. (Nicer sound and video than you'll get from an old $60 computer.)

4. Familiarity. (At this stage, most people know how to operate a DVD player.)

5. Portability. (You can get a handheld DVD player for a few hundred bucks that'll play for hours and is much

Re:Skip the computer, use a DVD player

[satterth]

A simple solution. Bravo.

And even if the fellow needs it to be interactive they can still use simple menus.

Scala

[neonstz]

Take a look at Scala [scala.com], it's exactly what you need. If you can get your hands on an older version, you won't need anything more than a Pentium or Pentium 2.

Keep it Simple - Screen Saver

[madstork2000]

Make your presentation a bunch of images, put them in a directory then use a screen saver to roll through them, no keyboard / mouse required, and you get fancy effects for free! Be sure to lock the screen or better yet, unplug the keyboard and mouse after you turn the screen saver on.

I used a CD based linux distro (i believe knoppix) when I setup a similar system a while back. The images were stored on a CD in a second CD drive.

Anyway, set the PC in the window, and walk away....

-MS2k

Kickoff Crash Recovery

[leprasmurf]

Its probably a bit more expensive than what you need/want but thinkgeek has a crash recovery device here [thinkgeek.com].

If you decide to use a computer for it, you might want to have something like PcAnywhere (or something similar [com.com]) running so you could remote into it if there is a problem. You'd probably want something like this [com.com] to automate your keystrokes/mouse clicks. And something like this [com.com] might work for daily maintenance and scheduled shutdowns.

I imagine you could pretty easily take apart the mouse and take the