Hey everyone! At my workplace, we need to keep track of how many people are in our facility, as we're limited to 50 due to fire safety regulations. Currently, we are using two tablets: one at the reception to count everyone coming in and another one at the door to display how many spots are still available. We're relying on a Raspberry Pi with a fully kiosk browser and some other connected apps, but the Raspberry Pi is really unreliable and takes forever to boot up every morning. I'm looking for suggestions for a cleaner and more efficient way to handle this counting process. Thanks!
4 Answers
If the Raspberry Pi isn’t cutting it for you, maybe invest in a used company laptop or a mini desktop with Linux? It should work just as well for the web apps, but you'll have a more reliable setup overall. Setting it to start automatically might require a bit of tweaking, but it’s worthwhile.
It seems like there are tons of alternatives out there! A Raspberry Pi doesn’t actually take long to start unless it’s being shut down every day. Instead of restarting everything, could you keep it running? But if you're set on switching things up, consider using a web app or mobile app that's built for visitor management. Lots of options with custom hardware exist as well.
A great solution could be a lightweight web app that connects both tablets to a shared backend. The tablet inside could handle the counting, while the door tablet simply displays the number of people currently inside. This way, you avoid boot times and potential hardware issues since everything runs on a server and updates in real time. You would have a much cleaner UI and require almost no maintenance. What do you think?
What software are you currently using? If the Raspberry Pi is configured well and you have a good SD card, it should start up quickly. If you're looking for off-the-shelf solutions, there are plenty of simple counting apps available that might fit your needs. Have you considered what budget you have available for a programmer, or if you can stick with something that requires minimal alteration to what you already use?
Yeah, I'm definitely leaning toward finding an off-the-shelf solution that can replicate the functionality we’re getting from the Raspberry.
You might think about implementing a QR code system for visitors to scan when they arrive and select their age range. This would let them check in and out easily, and if someone doesn’t have a phone, the Raspberry Pi can still act as a backup. Just some food for thought!