WallPanel kiosk browser?

ok. I have that browser working on 3 tablets. So far so good, and found out how to set motion detection for screen on.

I haven't found the browser setting to keep the Fire HD from dimming the screen

I'm using it on 3 tablets and really like it.  The clever thing that I just discovered is the API that allows you to control some basic things on the tablet.  My use case is that I have a tablet in the lounge.  The home screen has a feed from the Raspberry Pi based camera on the front door, which has motion detection.  So, you're sat in the lounge and the screen has gone off on the tablet.  The front door camera detects motion and does a call to the WallPanel API which wakes the screen up on the tablet so you can see who's at the door without having to get up.

It also supports MJPEG streaming like the paid version of Fully Kiosk but it's completely free.

@joey - Have you turned developer mode on?  You can then disable the screen going off on the tablet if it's on charge in the developer options.

Good observations about the API, AndyJ!

Fully also has an API with PLUS License (not sure if it is more or less powerful - though they also run a "cloud" service so that all of an organization's tablets' APIs can be controlled via a central administrator). We have been tempted to explore the API some more, but hesitate because it is obviously specific to those using a kiosk browser (Fully or Wall Panel - and they are both different), and not available on iPads.

how do you turn developer mode on?  I have it set to "Prevent Screen Sleep" but the fire tablet still dims the brightness to very low until motion or I touch it.  I want it always bright for one of my fire tablets

Also how do you send an API call to WallPanel when there is camera motion?  Thanks.

Ok, this one is a bit trickier.  Bear in mind that I'm talking about a Raspberry Pi camera running RPi Cam Web Interface.  This allows you to call a script when the camera detects motion.  Your script can do anything.  I've had it send me a text message in the past but in this case you want to (probably) run something like a Python script something like this:

import requests
url = "http://xxx.xxx.x.xx:xxxx/api/command"
payload = "{\"wake\": true, \"wakeTime\": 180}"
headers = {
    'cache-control': "no-cache",
    }
response = requests.request("POST", url, data=payload, headers=headers)

You'd need to change the bit with the 'x' to the IP address and port of your Kindle. This is shown in the settings in WallPanel.  Call this file screenwake.py and then run python screenwake.py from the command line to test it, or from the camera software as the action to take when it detects motion.  It sounds complicated but I'm no expert and I reckon I can build the camera in about an hour, then it's 15 minutes work to get the script working.

If you go into settings and (I think) device settings, you'll see the serial number.  Tap this 6 times and it'll turn developer mode on.  Then there will be a new option for developer options.  Go into that and you'll be able to stop the screen from going to sleep.

Yes, I think if I had a different tablet, I'd just use the "Add to home screen" option but the Kindle Fire's are just so cheap that it makes sense to use them as wall mounted control panels rather than having expensive, powerful tablets hung on the wall performing one function.

The reason I steered away from Fully Kiosk is that it just looks a bit amateurish compared to Wall Panel.  Also, unless you've side loaded Google Play, I don't know if it's possible to get the paid version of Fully Kiosk.  Neither are available in the Amazon app store but at least Wall Panel provide a link to the apk on Github.

Fully Kiosk "PLUS" Licensing is handled via PayPal using a unique identifier for each physical Tablet. It cannot be through the Play Store - i.e., the Play Store is definitely not required.

Curious what you mean by Fully looking "amateurish" compared to Wall Panel. Fully is the most popular kiosk browser being used by ActionTiles customers (by a landslide). So I'm completely surprised that more folks have not discovered Wall Panel ... especially if Wall Panel is equivalent or superior in any way!

Ah! That's interesting. I have it installed on one tablet but didn't try the upgrade path.

I come from a design background and work in UX. So I look at the font, colours and logo for Fully Kiosk and make a quick judgement based on that. To me, it looks like a (probably) very talented programmer has used Microsoft Paint. Wall Panel looks like a polished product. I've used Fully Kiosk a little bit and Wall Panel much more. From a technical point of view, they both seem ok but then I'm not qualified to judge. One might be totally unsecure and sending my keystrokes and data back to a server in China and I wouldn't know.

how do you send an API call to WallPanel when there is camera motion?

I have trouble with Fully on a Fire 7 tablet if I try to dim the screen in screensaver mode, but it is pretty reliable if I leave it at full brightness and just go to the black screen (the default screensaver in Fully). This still puts out a fair amount of light in a fully darkened room, but I can live with it in my application. 

I installed Wall Panel on another Fire 7 and it has been running now for about a week. It seems to automatically dim the display when it goes to screensaver mode (I can't find anywhere to change that). That would make it better in a dark room than Fully. It has stopped running once since I installed it and when it did crash, it left the tabled in low-brightness mode. But when I restarted Well Panel, it went back to full brightness for the ActionTiles display. I may replace the Fire 7 using Fully with one using Wall Panel since Wall Panel doesn't require a license fee and then use the tablet with the paid Fully license in another application where I want to integrate with Dakboard. At this point, it looks like Wall Panel is a viable alternative to Fully and it requires no license fee to use the screensaver mode and motion detection wake.

I am running and older Fire tablet (w/ads), and dimming would not work for me no matter what settings I fiddled with. Downloaded the Legacy version of Wallpanel and now dimming is functional, just no adjustable dim or clock screensaver as in the regular version. Also ordered a compatible Foscam camera for one of the kids rooms so looking forward to adding that tile. 

for $27 I got a refurb Foscam from Amazon.  Even though it had no disc or instructions I was able to sort it out over the last 2 days.  Despite being labeled as a V2 (only the V1 is labeled as supporting MJPEG stream) I was able to get the ActionTiles stream working.  Now I just need to convince my wife to allow me to put tablets all around the house!