How to set up dashboards with a Windows PC
This walkthrough will help you understand how to set up dashboards on a Windows PC with preferences to save power and reduce wear and tear on equipment. It may be done in countless ways, but this method may be one of the more reliable ones with the interference that can come from a Windows-based PC. The main point of this setup is to make the machine turn automatically off and on again.
What you need
- 2x TVs, any size
- 1x Mini-PC, Windows-based. Needs to have 2x HDMI or 1 HDMI/ 1DP
- 2x HDMI-cable or 1x HDMI and 1 DP-cable
Walkthrough in Windows
1. Set up the PC with a passwordless local account. This will remove some of the more annoying features of Windows with rudimentary apps. The premise is that we want this machine to be as "clean" as possible.
2. Go to Ninite and download Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Teamviewer
3. After these are installed, you can go through the browsers one by one
1. Open Chrome, make it your standard browser when prompted. After this is done, you can go over to bi.recman.no/tv and set this as your home page. You can either activate this now or do it later.
2. Go to your desktop, right-click Chrome and choose properties. Then go to "Shortcut". Here you will add the following to the target field
--start-fullscreen
This will make Chrome launch in fullscreen every time it is opened
The field should look like this:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --start-fullscreen
1. Open Mozilla, and set bi.recman.no/tv as your homepage.
2. Download this plugin, the browser should now automatically open in fullscreen.
3. Type about:config in the address bar and press enter.
A warning page may appear. Click Accept the risk and continue to go to the about:config page.
In the Search box at the top, type browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash
In the resulting grid, click the Toggle button next to browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash to set it to false.
4. Next, on your Windows computer - go to Settings --> System --> Power & Sleep.
Under the Power & Sleep section, set the screen to turn off Never for both “On battery power” and “When plugged in.” If you are working on a desktop, there will only be the option for when the PC is plugged in. Also, choose Never for Sleep mode.
Plan shutdown of PC
- Start Task Scheduler by going to the Start Menu, typing schedule in the Search bar, and choosing Schedule tasks.
- When Task Scheduler opens, click the Create Basic Task.
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Enter the name for your task, i.e., "Shutdown".
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Now choose When you want the task to start. In our case, we will choose Daily.
- Now enter the time it will be executed. This should be a while after work has ended, i.e., 18:00.
- Next, choose Start a program.
- Click the Browse button and go to "C:\Windows\System32," and select a file called shutdown. Then click Open.
- In the Add arguments field, add -s, and then click Next.
- Now you should see the task information. You can check it one last time, and if you’re pleased with your settings, click Finish to schedule a shutdown.
BIOS
The settings you can set here vary from machine to machine. The general rule here is that you want it to start automatically at a given time of day. This should fit your office hours. When the PC starts, it will also start the TVs as the signal awakens the TV. The TVs will hibernate when the signal is lost by it shutting down.