Contents
1. Choose your computer
One computer, the hub, runs everything: the zmanim, the screens, the audio and the admin pages. It's usually behind the TV in the main hall. Every other TV and phone connects to it over the shul's network.
Raspberry Pi 5 (recommended)
Small, silent, low power. Fit the clock battery so the time is right after a power cut even with no internet. About £100 with case, power supply and SD card.
Windows 10 or 11 PC
Any 64-bit PC or mini PC from the last ten years. Easiest if you already have one: a normal installer with a few questions.
An old PC or laptop
Too slow for Windows any more? Put Ubuntu or Debian on it and it runs zmn signage happily. 4 GB of memory is plenty.
2. Windows PC
Download and start the installer
- Fill in the request form and click Download for Windows.
- Open
zmn-signage-setup-0.4.0.exefrom your Downloads. - Windows may show a blue box, "Windows protected your PC". That appears for software from small publishers. Click More info (1), then Run anyway (2).
- Click Yes when Windows asks to allow changes.
Answer the questions
- What will this PC do? For the PC behind the main TV, keep the first choice: run zmn signage AND show a screen. Choose only show a screen for a PC behind an extra TV.
- Which screen? Keep
main-hallfor now; you can add and rename screens later in the admin. A screen-only PC also needs the hub's address (see Extra TVs).
Leave the four boxes ticked
- Start automatically – zmn signage runs whenever someone is signed in to this PC.
- Kiosk mode – the TV page opens full screen at sign-in, with no browser bars.
- Keep awake – turns off sleep and the screen saver.
- Network – lets TVs and phones in the shul reach this PC (only on private networks, not public Wi-Fi).
Click Install. When it finishes, leave Start zmn signage now and Open the admin ticked and click Finish. The admin opens in your browser after a few seconds; carry on at First setup.
Where things are afterwards
- Start menu → zmn signage: the admin, start, open the screen, the log, this guide, uninstall.
- A zmn signage admin shortcut on the desktop.
- Your settings and media are in
C:\ProgramData\zmn-signage. They're kept if you uninstall, and an update never touches them. - To change your answers later, simply run the installer again.
3. Raspberry Pi
Prepare the SD card
- On any computer, install Raspberry Pi Imager from raspberrypi.com/software.
- Choose your device (1), Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) – the normal one, with the desktop – (2), and your SD card (3).
- Click Next → Edit settings: set a hostname such as
zmn-hub, a username and password, your Wi-Fi (or plan to use a network cable), and your time zone. - Write the card, put it in the Pi, connect the TV by HDMI, then power on. The first start takes a few minutes.
Fitting a clock: on a Pi 5, plug the official battery into the BAT connector. On a Pi 4, fit a DS3231 or PCF8523 clock board. The installer asks which one you have.
Run the one-line installer
On the Pi, open Terminal (the black icon at the top), paste this and press Enter:
curl -fsSL https://signage.powerledelectrics.co.uk/install.sh | sudo bash
Answer the questions with the arrow keys and Enter:
- What will this Pi do? – usually both.
- Which screen? – keep
main-hall. - Which clock? – the one you fitted.
- Which audio output? – shown only when there's more than one, e.g. a USB audio adapter.
- Network name –
zmn-hubis a good choice; phones then reach it athttp://zmn-hub.local:4000.
It takes 5–10 minutes, then the Pi restarts and the TV shows the screen by itself. Carry on at First setup from a laptop or phone.
Setting up without a keyboard (over SSH)? Run the same command there; the questions work the same way.
4. An old PC with Linux
- Download Ubuntu Desktop (ubuntu.com, 24.04 LTS) or Debian (debian.org) and write it to a USB stick with Raspberry Pi Imager ("Use custom") or balenaEtcher.
- Start the PC from the USB stick (often F12, F11 or Esc at power on) and install it, wiping the old system. Choose a simple username, e.g.
shul, and tick Log in automatically if offered. - Open Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), paste the same command as for the Pi and answer the same questions:
curl -fsSL https://signage.powerledelectrics.co.uk/install.sh | sudo bash
On a PC there's no clock question: PCs already have a clock battery.
5. First setup in the admin
Open the admin from any computer or phone on the shul's network:
- on the hub itself:
http://localhost:4000/admin/ - from elsewhere:
http://zmn-hub.local:4000/admin/(use the name you gave it), or its IP address, e.g.http://192.168.1.20:4000/admin/
- Choose a password the first time. Write it down somewhere safe.
- Settings: the shul's name, location (so the zmanim are right) and minhagim.
- Minyanim: your fixed and zman-based times.
- Displays: start from a ready-made design, or build your own.
- Screens: which display shows on which TV, and when.
- Audio (optional): what plays through the speakers and when.
Finding the IP address: on Windows, run ipconfig; on a Pi or Linux, hover over the network icon or run hostname -I. Your router's device list shows it too. Giving the hub a fixed address in the router is worthwhile.
6. Extra TVs
First add the screen in the admin under Screens and note its id, e.g. ezras-noshim. Then, for the computer behind that TV:
Small Raspberry Pi
A Pi 4 or 5 (2 GB is enough). Run the one-line command and choose Only show a screen, the screen id and the hub's address.
Windows mini PC
Run the Windows installer and choose Only show a screen for a zmn signage PC elsewhere, then the screen id and the hub's address.
A smart TV or stick
Open its web browser at http://zmn-hub.local:4000/tv/?spot=ezras-noshim. Fine for trying out, but TV browsers vary and may not start by themselves.
The hub's address is http://<its name>.local:4000 or http://<its IP address>:4000. If the name doesn't work on your network, use the IP address.
7. Starting by itself after a power cut
A shul PC should come back on its own after a power cut or when the power is switched on in the morning, with nobody pressing anything. Three things make that happen:
a. Power on when the power comes back
Raspberry Pi: does this already.
PC: at power on, press the setup key (usually Del, F2 or F10) to enter the BIOS. Under Power or Advanced, set Restore on AC Power Loss (or AC Power Recovery, After Power Failure) to Power On. Save and exit.
On a laptop, keep the charger plugged in and the lid open; most laptops can't power on by themselves, so a desktop or mini PC is better.
b. Sign in automatically
Raspberry Pi: the installer turns this on.
Ubuntu/Debian: Settings → Users → Automatic Login.
Windows:
- Use a local account for the shul PC, not a personal Microsoft account.
- Windows 11: Settings → Accounts → Sign-in options → turn off "For improved security, only allow Windows Hello sign-in".
- Press Windows+R, type
netplwiz, press Enter. - Untick "Users must enter a user name and password" (1), click OK and type the password twice.
If the box isn't there, Microsoft's free Autologon tool (Sysinternals) does the same.
c. Start zmn signage and the screen
The installers set this up: on Windows the Start automatically and Kiosk mode boxes, on Linux and the Pi always. Windows updates can still restart the PC; set active hours (Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options) to cover the times the shul is used.
8. Kiosk mode: living with a full-screen TV
- To get out of the full-screen page: press Alt+F4. On a Pi or Linux it reopens after a few seconds by itself; on Windows open it again from Start → zmn signage → Open the screen.
- The screen picks up changes you make in the admin by itself; there's no need to touch the TV.
- If the hub is off or restarting, the TV keeps showing the last display it had and catches up when the hub is back.
- The mouse pointer: move it to a corner, or unplug the mouse once set up.
- Picture cut off at the edges? On the TV, set the picture size to Just Scan, Screen Fit or 1:1.
- Turn off the TV's own energy saving and "auto power off" in its menu, or it may switch itself off after a few hours.
9. Shul speakers
- Connect the hub's audio output to a line input on the amplifier. A USB audio adapter gives a cleaner signal than a PC's headphone socket; on a Pi 5 (no headphone socket) use one, or the audio over HDMI through the TV.
- On a Pi or Linux the installer asks which output to use. On Windows, zmn signage uses the default sound output: set it under Settings → System → Sound.
- Try it from the admin: Media → play, and Audio → test a rule. Start with the amplifier turned low.
10. Updates
In the admin, Settings shows the version and checks for new ones. On a Raspberry Pi or Linux, updates can install by themselves overnight; they never install on Shabbos or Yom Tov or close to it, every update is checked against our signature, and if the new version doesn't start, the old one comes back by itself. On Windows, download the new installer and run it; your settings stay.
11. If something isn't right
- The admin won't open from another computer: try it on the hub itself with
http://localhost:4000/admin/. If that works, it's the network: use the IP address instead of the name, and on Windows check that the network is set to Private (Settings → Network → your network → Private network). - The zmanim are a few minutes out: check the location, elevation and minhagim in Settings, and that the time zone of the computer is right.
- The time is wrong after a power cut: on a Pi, fit the clock and choose it in the installer. With internet, the time corrects itself within a minute.
- No sound: check the output chosen in the installer or Windows, the cable to the amplifier and the amplifier's input; then use Test in the admin.
- An extra TV stays blank or shows "Starting…": the hub is off or restarting, or the hub's address given to that TV's computer is wrong. Run its installer again to correct it.
- The log: on Windows, Start → zmn signage → Data and log file, then
zmn-signage.log. On a Pi or Linux:journalctl -u zmn-cms -u zmn-engine -n 100.
Still stuck? Email info@powerledelectrics.co.uk with what you see. We also supply and install complete systems in London.