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First Boot Guide

This guide walks you through the essential steps after booting your Xibo Kiosk image for the first time.

1. Log In

The kiosk image ships with a default user account:

  • Username: xibo
  • Password: xibo

Log in at the console or via SSH.

2. Change Your Password

For security, change the default password immediately:

passwd

You will be prompted to enter the current password (xibo) and then your new password twice.

3. Connect to Wi-Fi

If your device is not connected via Ethernet, configure Wi-Fi.

Interactive (recommended)

nmtui

Select Activate a connection, choose your network and enter the password.

Command line

nmcli device wifi connect "SSID" password "pass"

Replace SSID and pass with your actual network name and password.

4. Configure CMS Connection

The setup wizard appears automatically on first boot. You will need:

  • CMS URL -- the address of your Xibo CMS (e.g. https://your-cms.example.com)
  • Server Key -- found in CMS > Administration > Settings > Display Settings > CMS Secret Key
  • Display Name -- a friendly name for this display (e.g. lobby-screen-01)

Once submitted, the player registers itself with the CMS.

5. Authorize in CMS

The new display must be authorized before it can receive content:

  1. Open your CMS web interface
  2. Go to Displays
  3. Find the new display in the list (it will show as unauthorized)
  4. Click Authorize

6. Content Plays Automatically

Once authorized, the display downloads its assigned layouts and starts playing content. The initial download may take a few minutes depending on the size of your layouts and your network speed.

7. Choose Your Player

The kiosk image includes multiple player implementations. Switch between them:

doas alternatives --config xiboplayer

Available options:

  • Electron -- full-featured player with hardware acceleration
  • Chromium -- lightweight kiosk-mode browser player
  • arexibo -- minimal native player

After selecting a player, reboot for the change to take effect:

doas reboot

8. Remote Access

SSH is enabled by default. Connect from another machine on the same network:

ssh xibo@<ip>

To find the device's IP address, run on the kiosk:

ip addr

Alternatively, check your router's DHCP lease table.

9. Updating

Standard image

doas dnf upgrade --refresh

Atomic image

rpm-ostree upgrade

Then reboot to apply the update.

10. Troubleshooting

View player logs

journalctl --user -u xiboplayer-electron -f

Replace xiboplayer-electron with xiboplayer-chromium if using the Chromium player.

Restart the player

systemctl --user restart xiboplayer-electron

Check CMS connection

Look at the overlay bar on the display. It shows the current CMS connection status, display name and IP address.

Common issues

  • Display not appearing in CMS -- verify the CMS URL and Server Key are correct. Check network connectivity.
  • Content not downloading -- ensure the display is authorized in the CMS. Check available disk space.
  • Black screen after boot -- check player logs for errors. Try restarting the player service.