BUG: Background upload thread was crashing the app
Problem:
- _upload_to_server() runs in daemon thread
- Was directly setting self.player.should_refresh_playlist from thread
- Kivy is NOT thread-safe for direct state modifications
- App crashed after 2-3 minutes during editing
Root cause:
Line 503: self.player.should_refresh_playlist = True
This directly modified Kivy object state from non-main thread
Caused race conditions and memory corruption
Solution:
- Use Clock.schedule_once() to schedule flag update on main thread
- Ensures all Kivy state modifications happen on main thread
- Thread-safe and proper Kivy API usage
- No more app crashes during editing
This was causing the app to crash every 10-20 seconds during edits.
Should now be stable!
- Added signal_screen_activity() method to SignagePlayer class
- Runs every 20 seconds automatically
- Also triggered on any touch/user input events
Multiple methods used to keep display awake:
- xset s reset - Resets screensaver timer
- xset dpms force on - Forces display on
- xdotool - Subtle mouse movement to trigger activity
This complements the system-level power management:
- Works alongside display power management settings
- Non-blocking and non-critical (fails gracefully)
- Signals every 20 seconds + on user input
- Prevents display from sleeping during playback
Screen should now remain active throughout media playback.
- Enhanced install.sh with comprehensive autostart workflow:
* XDG autostart entry (desktop environment)
* systemd user service (most reliable)
* LXDE autostart support (Raspberry Pi OS)
* Cron fallback (@reboot)
* Terminal mode enabled for debugging
- Added Raspberry Pi power management features:
* Disable HDMI screen blanking
* Prevent CPU power saving (performance mode)
* Disable system sleep/suspend
* X11 screensaver disabled
* Display power management (DPMS) disabled
- Fixed sudo compatibility:
* Properly detects actual user when run with sudo
* Correct file ownership for user configs
* systemctl --user works correctly
- Player launches in terminal for error visibility
- Autostart configured to use start.sh (watchdog with auto-restart)
- Complete Kivy-based signage player application
- Fetches playlists from DigiServer via REST API
- Supports images (JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP) and videos (MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, WEBM)
- Modern UI with touch controls and settings popup
- Separated UI (KV file) from business logic (Python)
- Fullscreen media display with proper scaling
- Server feedback system for player status reporting
- Auto-hide controls with mouse/touch activation
- Virtual environment setup with requirements.txt
- Installation and run scripts included
Features:
✅ Cross-platform Kivy framework
✅ Server integration with DigiServer
✅ Media playback with duration control
✅ Player feedback and status reporting
✅ Settings management with persistent config
✅ Error handling and recovery
✅ Clean architecture with KV file separation
