Raspberry Pi display setup

1. Prerequisites

• Raspberry Pi (3B+ or 4 recommended) with Raspberry Pi OS (Bullseye or Bookworm)
• Display connected via HDMI
• Network connection (Ethernet or Wi‑Fi)
• Your 6-digit screen code from the Drop In Displays admin (Locations → Screen → code)

2. Install Chromium

On Raspberry Pi OS, Chromium is usually preinstalled. If not:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y chromium-browser

3. Optional: disable screen blanking

So the display does not turn off or show a screensaver:

# Disable screen blanking (Raspberry Pi OS with desktop)
sudo raspi-config
# Display Options → Screen Blanking → No

Or add to ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart (create if needed):

@xset s off
@xset -dpms
@xset s noblank

4. Create the systemd user service

This service starts when the user logs in and launches Chromium in kiosk mode. Replace 123456 with your actual 6-digit screen code.

Create the service file (run as the user that auto-logs in to the desktop):

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
nano ~/.config/systemd/user/dropin-displays-player.service

Paste the following. Change 123456 to your screen code:

[Unit]
Description=Drop In Displays screen player (Chromium kiosk)
After=graphical-session.target
PartOf=graphical-session.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
ExecStart=/usr/bin/chromium-browser \
  --kiosk \
  --noerrdialogs \
  --disable-infobars \
  --no-first-run \
  --disable-session-crashed-bubble \
  --autoplay-policy=no-user-gesture-required \
  --check-for-update-interval=31536000 \
  https://player.dropindisplays.com/123456
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical-session.target

On some setups the Chromium binary is /usr/bin/chromium. If chromium-browser fails, try that path.

5. Enable and start the service

Enable the user service so it starts at login, then start it now:

# Enable lingering so the user service runs without an active session (optional, for headless or SSH-only)
loginctl enable-linger $USER

# Enable and start the service
systemctl --user enable dropin-displays-player.service
systemctl --user start dropin-displays-player.service

If the Pi auto-logs in to the desktop, the service will start when the graphical session starts. You can also add a short delay by using ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 10 in the unit if Chromium starts before the display is ready.

6. Useful commands

• systemctl --user status dropin-displays-player — check status
• systemctl --user restart dropin-displays-player — restart the player
• systemctl --user stop dropin-displays-player — stop the service

Changing the screen code

Edit the service file, update the URL at the end of the ExecStart line with the new 6-digit code, then run:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user restart dropin-displays-player