Xibo Digital Signage Version 1.3.0 Released

Xibo has just announced the release of Xibo 1.3.0 (codename: “Faye”). Bear in mind that this is a development release and is not supposed to be used in production environments. The next stable release will be version 1.4.0 and The current stable version is 1.2.2.

If you would still like to evaluate Xibo 1.3.0, you may download it at https://launchpad.net/xibo/1.3/1.3.0

New features in Xibo 1.3.0:

Permissions Overhaul: The most significant change in 1.3.0 is the permissions system in the server interface. This update introduces individual and group permissions for:
- Layouts
- Library Media
- Regions
- Region Media Assignment
It is also now possible to assign permissions to “Everyone” on all of the above items.
Media Manager Homepage: A simple user interface for managing layout/media assignments that the user has access to. This “homepage” can be assigned on a user by user basis.
Customer Counter: The Python client has been enhanced to support a “customer counter” which is incremented using a “Presenter” style remote control.
Schedule Now: A Schedule Now button has been introduced on the layout admin, layout designer and display admin pages – allowing easy scheduling of a layout across displays/display groups.

Improved RSS handling: The .NET client has been improved to correctly parse Atom Feeds. Both clients now have additional options for only showing a “Number of Items” from the “Beginning or End” of a feed.
Client Media Inventory: Clients will now report if they have all their required media downloaded. This can be viewed using a “status light” on the display management page.
Enable Mouse: The .NET client now supports a new option to enable the mouse pointer.

Bug Fixes in Xibo 1.3.0

27 bugs have been fixed in this release:

If all media is invalid and only 1 layout exists Xibo will crash
Error in SQL when selecting Management>Displays [DisplayGroupAuth]
Default value missing from MediaInventoryStatus database flag
[Server] Problem with special characters in name of contents
IIS doesn’t set $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’]
Display not visible in display management when deleted if delete fails
Prob/WorkAround for ‘Can not get Usertype information’
Typo in code “maintenance.php”
Video End Detection broken
Flash Media has non-transparent background
Delete a user created template
End time missing from repeat until on schedule
In some configs SoapServer cannot load WSDL
Maintenance alerts don’t signal the client back online
Installer changes the case of MySQL usernames
Ticker feed with a negative timezone in pubDatefails
n weekly repeats not working for n > 1
Using api-testsuite code crashes if server unavailable
User permissions to edit displays in display management
Image thumbnails missing from timeline hover
Media Duration Defaults aren’t honoured
Stats export is not sorted by date
Language/locale files using wrong naming convention
Accept button does not have focus when adding from library
Red/Green dots to indicate status/group memberships etc are difficult for people who are red/green colour blind
edit user homepage not saved
Library / Content main view does not default to alphabetical

An important part is the updated preview of the Python client for Linux. All the details for getting and running the client are available in the wiki here: http://wiki.xibo.org.uk/wiki/Install_Guide_Python_Client

Since there is a python client available for Linux, we might now be able to port Xibo client to other platforms (e.g. ARM, MIPS). The Linux Python client can be automatically installed in Ubuntu 10.04 (only) by running the following script as sudo: http://launchpad.net/xibo/1.3/1.3.0/+download/xibo-1.3.0-ubuntu.all-pyclient.sh. The instructions for a manual installation of the python client on Ubuntu can be found here. The main problem with porting this client to other platforms is that it appears to be currently hardware dependent (you need a NVidia Graphics card if you have a slow hardware).

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.