I saw this question from an old thread posted in 2010, and was wondering if there was any update on this. There seems to be a lot of people interested in this, including myself...
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Lyndon We do not have a mac app unfortunately. For customers that use our brightsignnetwork hosted service we're continuing to update the web ui and will be adding the ability to create some brightauthor projects using the web interface. We'll also be adding the ability to setup units from the web. More advanced features will be added to the web interface.
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Douglas Toltzman Alright. I am totally Mac and Linux based in my office. I just purchased an HD220, and previously I had asked if I would be able to write scripts for it without the software, and I was told that I could. I have tried some simple scripts, saved as AUTORUN.BRS, and I have gotten pretty much nowhere.
Is there a quickstart guide for people who are writing scripts manually (I am a professional software developer), and is it possible to setup the unit without using BrightAuthor? I'm not even sure what is involved in setting up the unit. I understand some network configuration may be required, but right now, I'm just trying to get it working as a standalone display controller.
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Lyndon The object reference guide has sample scripts. There's an in memory script so you can just put content on an sd card that has supported extensions, and those files will play.
There's also a legacy playlist format that's text based that will also playback content. Just call your plain text file autoplay.bsp. The faq has examples for this old playlist format. If you also look at the user guide for the older models, you'll find information about this old playlist format.
And, yes you can do scripts. IF you post your sample script, I can look to see what's wrong with it. You need to make sure your text editor is saving the texts as plain text, and not something with formatting in it.
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Douglas Toltzman I can make the legacy playlist format work, however, I'm setting up an entire network of signage for an airport, so I'll have to be able to configure the boxes for network updates.
I am indeed using a plain text editor. Does it matter that I'm saving files with Unix rather than DOS line feeds?
How do I configure the box?
How do I update the firmware?
(in a nutshell, I'm evaluating this hardware for the airport signage person. I need to know that it's going to do the job before I can give her the go-ahead, and I really don't have a week to learn how to program it, just to find out we can't coordinate the content over the LAN.)
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Lyndon There isn't a ready made network update process for the units if you're using scripting alone. You could write one from scratch, but it would be rather involved. The object reference guide has examples for http communication. All of the BrightSign's communication, downloads, are done via http. So you would have to write the script to download some sync file to tell the unit what to download. This could be a plain text file or xml that you would parse through.
IT might be easier to just use a media rss feed for playback on the u nit. But, again, if you're doing this from scratch, you would write that also. I do have a sample script for a downloading files from a flickr feed, and a very simple media rss script. But, if you're deploying a network, I would recommend using brightauthor.
We are making updates to the brightsign network and will eventually have the ability to create setup files from the web login itself.
It might be easier to just
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Douglas Toltzman The content for the signage will be hosted on the LAN, but the person managing that content will be accessing the LAN via a VPN. My job is to find the right solution for their requirements. I'd prefer something like a series of folders with content and a simple playlist. I had hoped I could just access the SD card on the Brightsign with FTP, so my code could remain on the server. If the Brightsign toolset isn't going to work, then I'll explore other options. There are going to be independent displays all over the airport, so this has to be an elegant solution.
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GUILLAUME TESSIER Please add me to your MAC client Author list
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Stefanie Hawk You really need to get a mac version of the app. Most designers use macs, at least all of the one's that I know, and it's really not practical to buy another machine just to host your software, and window's parallels on mac just isn't great either and really drains the machine.
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Douglas Toltzman Given the the Windows application is very poorly written, I'd offer to write the Mac user interface. I can't believe how stupid the Windows application is. The project file doesn't retain the schedule, or any of the settings (source folder, target publication folder, log settings, etc.). Also, I can save the file (hot-key, or File->Save), and when I switch to the publish tab, the application still tells me I need to save the file (again?). I've been a professional computer software developer for 30 years and Bright Author is on my short list of worst applications, ever.
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