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August 1, 2011
Transit Appliance Gets Personal
I'd like to introduce the author of this guest post. Matt Conway from the Bay Area has been my co-developer on the Transit Appliance project and among his significant contributions are the adapters that allow the Appliance to work with transit agencies in the Bay Area. He has now created a version of our display application targeted at the 3.5" screen of the Chumby One device. - Chris
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We are pleased to announce the release of Transit Board™ Personal, an application optimized for the small-screen environment of a Chumby One or similar device. These devices are right at home in a variety of settings where even an 8" display would be overkill, for example next to a cash register in a small coffee shop or on your desk at home or work. The Chumby One is the official target device, but I've also had success testing it on an iPhone as well as a standard PC running Linux.
The application only shows one line at a time, switching between lines at a default speed of one line every 3 seconds (user-configurable, of course).
The application isn't just for small screens, though: it works just fine on larger monitors, as well, and can greatly increase the readability of the transit information. I tested it on a 19" LCD I have, and I could still read it easily about 20' away (which is as far away as I could get in my living room). It's a good option for locations that are served by just a few lines (for example, the Northwest Portland stop shown in the image).
The application is available in the application selection dialog during appliance configuration. Take a look at the install instructions to set the page up on a Chumby or a dedicated PC.
Posted by Chris Smith at 12:27 AM
Comments
August 1, 2011 12:26 AM
Paul Johnson Says:
Images look suspiciously like from along the Portland Streetcar line in the hipster district, not that there's really a difference between that and San Fransisco given how overpriced and unlivable Portland's become in recent years.
August 1, 2011 6:41 AM
C. Neal Says:
^ What do you call a zinger that relies on trite and tired slogans - a zinger that's lost its zing? An "oh, snap" that doesn't snap, like an overcooked noodle?
The state of Portland-hating gets sorrier and sorrier all the time. It's like they don't even care anymore.
August 1, 2011 2:54 PM
Jason McHuff Says:
I'm thinking that maybe "mins" should be added after the numbers to make it clear what they are.
August 5, 2011 8:32 AM
Dave Says:
The abbreviation is "min." whether for one or many - just like "lb.". In any case there's plenty of room below the large numbers to spell "minute" out.
