Anthias

Anthias is an open-source digital signage platform. It transforms Raspberry Pi devices or old PCs into dedicated display solutions for broadcasting digital content to monitors. The software is deployed as a server and web application, allowing users to manage the visual output of a connected screen from a remote administrative dashboard.

The system supports a variety of hardware environments, including Raspberry Pi OS and balenaOS. It also provides best-effort support for generic 64-bit ARM single board computers running Debian-based Armbian images, such as Rock Pi, Orange Pi, and Banana Pi. Users interact with the platform via a web-based interface to organize, upload, and schedule the specific assets displayed on the signage screen.

Key features

• Management of images and videos for display
• Support for rendering web pages as signage content
• Integrated asset library for content storage
• Scheduling system to control when content appears
• Compatibility with Raspberry Pi and x86 PCs
• Support for Debian-based Armbian on ARM64 boards
• Deployment options via balenaOS or Raspberry Pi OS

The architecture relies on a centralized dashboard and scheduler to push content to the viewer application. While images and web pages run smoothly across most supported boards, video playback performance depends heavily on the hardware. On non-Raspberry Pi ARM boards, video is currently decoded in software, which is suitable for casual 720p content but can be stutter-prone at 1080p and is not suitable for 4K. For high-resolution video content, the software recommends using a Raspberry Pi 4, Raspberry Pi 5, or x86 hardware. The software is designed for users who require a self-hosted method to manage public or internal information displays without relying on cloud-based subscriptions.

Anthias is a flexible, community-driven tool for turning low-cost hardware into professional digital signage endpoints.