Question 1

"What is the difference between Anthias and Screenly?"

Accepted Answer

"Anthias is free, open-source digital signage software built by Screenly, Inc. Screenly is a paid, cloud-managed digital signage platform designed for professional multi-screen deployments. You can learn more about the differences on screenly.io.
Choose Screenly if you need multi-screen management from a single account, enterprise user management, or professional support. Choose Anthias if you\u0026rsquo;re comfortable managing individual devices and want a free, self-hosted solution.
"

Question 2

"What hardware do I need?"

Accepted Answer

"Anthias runs on Raspberry Pi 2 through 5 and 64-bit x86 PCs (Intel NUC or similar). You\u0026rsquo;ll also need a screen with an HDMI input. We recommend a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 for new installations."

Question 3

"Does Anthias require an internet connection?"

Accepted Answer

"No. Anthias runs entirely on your local network. You only need internet access for the initial installation and to display content from external URLs. Uploaded images and videos play from local storage."

Question 4

"Can I manage multiple screens?"

Accepted Answer

"Each Anthias instance manages one screen. You can run multiple instances on separate devices, but each has its own dashboard. If you need centralized multi-screen management, Screenly is designed for that."

Question 5

"Can I use Anthias commercially?"

Accepted Answer

"Yes. Anthias is dual-licensed under GPLv2 and a commercial license. You can deploy it commercially under GPLv2 — including in customer-facing storefronts and lobbies — as long as you comply with the GPL\u0026rsquo;s copyleft terms when redistributing modified versions.
If you need a non-copyleft license, professional support, or fleet-scale management, see Screenly.
"

Question 6

"Is there support for Anthias?"

Accepted Answer

"Anthias is a community-supported project. You can get help on the Anthias forum or file issues on GitHub. For professional support, SLAs, and managed infrastructure, consider Screenly."

Question 7

"How do I update Anthias?"

Accepted Answer

"If you installed via balenaHub, updates are applied automatically over the air. For command-line installations, re-run the installer ($HOME/anthias/bin/run_upgrade.sh) or pull the latest Docker images. Disk image installations are pinned to the version you downloaded."

Question 8

"How do I configure Wi-Fi or change networks?"

Accepted Answer

"Anthias uses NetworkManager for networking when the installer\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;manage the network\u0026rdquo; prompt is enabled. SSH into the device and run sudo nmtui for an interactive UI, or use nmcli device wifi connect \u0026lt;SSID\u0026gt; password \u0026lt;pwd\u0026gt; from the command line.
The legacy WiFi-Connect captive portal has been removed; nmtui / nmcli are the supported path going forward.
"

Question 9

"Can I assign a static IP address?"

Accepted Answer

"Yes, via NetworkManager. SSH in and run sudo nmtui → Edit a connection → choose your interface → set IPv4 Configuration to Manual and fill in the address, gateway, and DNS. Apply and reboot to confirm. You can also do this with nmcli non-interactively if you\u0026rsquo;re scripting deployments."

Question 10

"How do I enable SSH on the device?"

Accepted Answer

"Whether SSH is enabled depends on the OS image, not on Anthias itself — the installer doesn\u0026rsquo;t touch sshd.
Anthias Raspberry Pi Imager image and balenaHub fleets: SSH is on out of the box. Raspberry Pi OS Lite (you flashed it yourself): use Raspberry Pi Imager\u0026rsquo;s advanced options to pre-enable SSH and set a username, or drop an empty file named ssh into the /boot partition before first boot. Debian on PC: the Debian installer leaves SSH on if you selected the SSH server package during install. Then connect with ssh \u0026lt;user\u0026gt;@\u0026lt;device-ip\u0026gt;.
"

Question 11

"How do I rotate the screen for portrait orientation?"

Accepted Answer

"Rotation happens at the kernel / firmware level. The Anthias viewer renders straight to the Linux framebuffer (Qt linuxfb) and to KMS (mpv --vo=drm) — there\u0026rsquo;s no Wayland compositor in the stack — so the standard Raspberry Pi config knobs apply directly.
Edit /boot/firmware/config.txt and add one of:
display_rotate=1 # 90° display_rotate=2 # 180° display_rotate=3 # 270° Then reboot. If display_rotate doesn\u0026rsquo;t take effect on a particular Pi 5 / KMS setup, set the rotation on the kernel cmdline instead — edit /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt and append video=HDMI-A-1:1920x1080@60,rotate=90 (or 180/270) on the same line. Many displays also expose a rotation setting in their own OSD as a fallback.
"

Question 12

"How do I change the screen resolution? Does Anthias support 4K?"

Accepted Answer

"Anthias displays at whatever resolution the OS reports — there\u0026rsquo;s no resolution setting in the dashboard. Set the output mode at the OS level: on Raspberry Pi OS, use sudo raspi-config → Display Options → Resolution, or set hdmi_group / hdmi_mode in /boot/firmware/config.txt.
4K is supported on hardware that supports it natively: Pi 5 handles 4K@60Hz on either HDMI port; Pi 4 supports 4K@30Hz on HDMI-0 (or 4K@60Hz with hdmi_enable_4kp60=1 and adequate cooling).
"

Question 13

"My screen is black or stuck on \"Manage the content\" — what now?"

Accepted Answer

"This usually means the viewer container can\u0026rsquo;t reach the server, or there are no active assets. Try these in order:
SSH in and run docker compose ps from ~/anthias/ — all four containers (anthias-server, anthias-celery, anthias-viewer, redis) should be Up. If a container is restarting, tail its logs: docker logs -f anthias-anthias-viewer-1 (or …-server-1). Open the dashboard from another device and confirm at least one asset is enabled with a current schedule. If the display has gone to power save, briefly unplug and reconnect the HDMI cable, or check the TV\u0026rsquo;s input source. Anthias renders to the framebuffer (Qt linuxfb) and uses no X server, so xset won\u0026rsquo;t help. If a recent update broke the display, running ~/anthias/bin/upgrade_containers.sh re-creates the containers cleanly.
"

Question 14

"Can I display YouTube videos?"

Accepted Answer

"Yes — paste a YouTube URL into the Add Asset dialog. Anthias uses yt-dlp behind the scenes to fetch and cache the video locally so it plays without buffering at runtime.
If a particular video fails to load, it\u0026rsquo;s almost always because YouTube has changed something on their end and yt-dlp needs an update — pulling the latest Anthias release usually fixes it. Embedding a live YouTube page directly (as a webpage asset) is generally not recommended; the bundled WebView isn\u0026rsquo;t tuned for streaming video playback.
"

Question 15

"How do I switch audio between HDMI and the 3.5mm jack?"

Accepted Answer

"Open the web dashboard, go to Settings, and pick HDMI or 3.5mm jack under Audio output. The change applies to video assets immediately — no reboot required.
Note: Raspberry Pi 5 only exposes the HDMI option in the dropdown — the 3.5mm jack was removed from the Pi 5 hardware, so the dashboard hides that choice on Pi 5 devices.
"

Question 16

"Can I add transitions (fade / crossfade) between assets?"

Accepted Answer

"Not currently. Anthias plays one asset, then immediately switches to the next. Adding crossfades would require composited rendering on the viewer side, which the lightweight Pi WebView pipeline doesn\u0026rsquo;t do. If this matters for your deployment, Screenly supports transitions."

Question 17

"How do I get logs from Anthias?"

Accepted Answer

"SSH into the device and use either of these:
# Tail a single container directly docker logs -f anthias-anthias-server-1 # Or via Compose (run from ~/anthias/) cd ~/anthias docker compose logs -f anthias-server The container names are anthias-anthias-server-1, anthias-anthias-celery-1, anthias-anthias-viewer-1, and anthias-redis-1. If TLS is enabled, there\u0026rsquo;s also anthias-anthias-caddy-1.
"

Question 18

"Where are my assets stored, and how do I back them up?"

Accepted Answer

"The easy way: open the dashboard, go to Settings, and click Get Backup to download a single-file archive. To restore, click Upload and Recover on the same page.
If you\u0026rsquo;d rather copy the files manually, asset binaries live in ~/anthias_assets/ and configuration plus the SQLite database (anthias.db) live in ~/.anthias/. Backing up both directories captures everything.
"

Question 19

"How do I enable HTTPS?"

Accepted Answer

"From ~/anthias/, run ./bin/enable_ssl.sh. The default mode uses Caddy\u0026rsquo;s built-in local CA, which is fine for IP-based LAN access. For Let\u0026rsquo;s Encrypt or bring-your-own certificate, see the TLS / SSL section in the docs."

Question 20

"Where is the API reference?"

Accepted Answer

"See the API page for endpoints grouped by tag with their parameters and response schemas. The live ReDoc-rendered docs are also served straight from each device at http://\u0026lt;device-ip\u0026gt;/api/docs/."

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