Some weeks back, we released Concerto 2.3.4. This release contains fixes for many bugs and updates to the calendar and weather plugins. For the full list of changes, compare the commits between this release and 2.3.3. Of note, this release contains fixes for how we upload graphics, particularly disabling the submit button while a graphic is uploading. We have also enabled content to have custom edit forms. At this moment Ruby 2.4 is not supported in this version of Concerto. We are targeting it for 2.3.5. Please look forward to it.

Today, we’re releasing Concerto 2.3.3. The main change in this release is a fix for the image rotation issues we’ve had reported to us that were causing images to display much more often than expected. This release also contains a number of bug fixes for how we handle large images, group membership, and the list of screens. Those installing from source should also know that because of updates to Rails and many of our gem dependencies, Ruby 1.9 is no longer supported. Concerto is now tested on Ruby versions 2.0.0 through 2.3.0.

Some weeks back, we released Concerto 2.3.0, the first release the feature the new frontend plugin (written using the Polymer framework). This removes the previous javascript frontend code from core Concerto and allows future plugins to provide alternative HTML to displays, perhaps a lightweight version suitable to systems like the Raspberry Pi.

Shortly after releasing 2.3.0, we found a few shortcomings, the biggest being that assets from an upgraded frontend plugin weren’t getting updated (resulting in blank screens) and that some users had their core Concerto version out of step with their content and frontend plugins. After we made a few complex and interdependent changes amongst Concerto and the various core plugins, we decided to go to version 2.3.1 to avoid further issues. In the future we  intend to also disallow the installation of plugins not compatible with older versions of core Concerto.

With the release of 2.3.1, we have fixed the asset updating issue, Github API overage errors, some minor security issues, and a variety of other tweaks. We’ll also be making some basic upgrade instructions available to those running older versions of Concerto in the 2.x series to get up and running with the new frontend. For those running into any issues, please remember to stop by our community mailing list for help – concerto-digital-signage@googlegroups.com.

Today’s release of Concerto 2.2.5 will likely be the last in the 2.2 series. It comprises a large contribution to the state of internationalization in Concerto, CSS to remove the cursor from the frontend, and numerous bugfixes. This is thanks primarily to the contribution of code and suggestions from our wonderful user community.

The 2.3 release, which will hopefully be along soon as our team members work to familiarize themselves with the new framework and toolchain we’re using to architect the frontend. Our main priority in this respect will be having a performant frontend that doesn’t leak memory (which has led to crashes on low powered computers) and is feature-equivalent to our previous frontend incarnations.

With the release of Concerto 2.2.2, the 2.x series is at a pretty stable place, seeing very few code changes outside of the views, but many stability fixes. Concerto 2′s web interface has been production-usable for some time, but many users are still experiencing difficulties running the screen frontend, particularly on underpowered platforms like the Raspberry Pi, where the memory leaks have been particularly noticeable. To that end, Concerto 2.3 will feature a new frontend, based on Dart, which should significantly reduce the memory issues the frontend has had in the past.

With the release of 2.3, we will also be linking to a new Concerto 2 demo and discontinuing any legacy documentation and support for Concerto 1. Links will be provided to code and documentation archives, but concerto-signage.org will be a resource exclusively for Concerto 2 deployments.

As we’ve moved through the .8 series of releases, we’ve brought Concerto 2 closer and closer to a feature-complete release. With the 0.9 series (the last before Concerto 2.0, strangely enough), and 0.9.0 in particular, we’ve fixed one of the more annoying frontend bugs (the continually refreshing time field) and are trying to work in both a way to disable text resizing and a refresh for the formidable Blue Swoosh template. Depending on the pace of development, some of the trim and polish (such as full internationalization support), may come in some additional .9.x releases, or just after the 2.0 release.

Concerto-signage.org is also in the process of being updated to reflect the latest Concerto 2 beta, and an entirely new site is on the way. While a link is provided to Concerto 1 for those still wishing to use it, an upgrade to Concerto 2 is strongly recommended, as v1 has not been maintained actively in many years.

Hi Everyone!  I’m usually excited when we’re announcing a new version of Concerto, but this version has me extra excited.  We’ve managed to pack more bug fixes, improvements, and features into our 0.7.0.IndiaIbex release than the previous couple releases we’ve put out.  If you’ve been ignoring these updates, or Concerto 2 in general, this is definitely the release to check out.  To get started quickly, you should download the latest concerto_server VM here and fire it up to follow along.

This release added some much needed security for screens with the addition of screen authentication.  Screen security, something that Concerto 1 lacked, is something we (and by we I mean Mike) spent a lot of time thinking about for Concerto 2.  I couldn’t do it justice in this short form, so we’ll dive into the details in a full post after we’ve tidied up the last few bugs.

We also added support for Capistrano-based deployments if you’re into that sorta thing.  Our external error-reporting has been fixed in this release so we should get those bug reports automatically streaming in if you’ve check the box during setup.  If you’ve tried to visit that settings page and gotten an error, we’ve fixed that as well.  The config / settings as a whole should be a lot easier to navigate as well.  The VM is properly writing logs now so you can see what’s going on in logs/production.log and the dynamic content updaters are running in the background like they should be.  Behind the scenes this release also includes some improvements to our JSON / XML API that we’ll be including in V2, it’s not quite ready for mainstream yet but we’re making progress.

You can find a full diff of the work we did here.  Our installation instructions should be up to date, but you should really just download the VM and run it for a fast start.  Alternatively, you can check out our instance running this release @ http://nightly.concerto-signage.org.  Do let us know what bugs you run into or features you’d like by writing to our Google Group or opening Github Issues.

After a few hiccups along the way (like the mysterious 0.5.0.GolfOtter release), we’re ready to share 0.6.0.HotelHummingbird with you.  It’s been over a month since our last release and we’ve been busy at work making the experience a bit snappier and improving the Add Content form.  To get started, you can find our installation to get started in our Github wiki.

Since you likely missed out on the 0.5.0.GolfOtter release you also missed a new background processing model which should make Dynamic Content processing much more robust and reliable.  Concerto now includes a script to kick off background processing using something like sudo /etc/init.d/concerto start and manage the background workers just like you would a regular process.

Some notable changes include:

• Textile support in the Ticker Text field.
• Frontend support for subdirectories, like /concerto/frontend/1.
• Slightly better garbage collection in the frontend.
• New background processing model.
• New feed selector, system-wide.
• New templated creation / editing workflow.
• New content creation experience with preview support.

You can find the full list of changes between our last announced release and this one here. Please get in touch with us via our group or issue tracker if you come across a bug or have a feature suggestion for us!

It’s been two weeks since our previous Concerto 2 beta release and we find ourselves at “0.4.0.FoxtrotFlamingo”. This release is jam-packed with UI enhancements and bug fixes. To get started, you can find our installation to get started in our Github wiki.

Most notable among the UI changes is a revamped dashboard. Previously, Concerto 2 had a bit of an identity crisis going on with an admin “dashboard” and a front page for logged-in users that acted a little as a dashboard of its own. We’ve rectified this by creating a consistent dashboard that is visible when a user logs into Concerto 2. The dashboard is broken up into a number of portlets and acts similarly to what you might expect: it’s a front door to everything you can do with the Concerto Panel. The dashboard tailors itself to your user account. If you have submissions to moderate, you will see a message right on your dashboard. If you belong to one or more groups or control screens, those will appear on the dashboard. An Activity Log of the latest happenings in your Concerto world appears along the right side of the dashboard. And future portlets will be coming!

A screenshot of the new dashboard in the Concerto 2 0.4.0.FoxtrotFlamingo beta release.

The new dashboard is accessible via the root url of your Concerto 2 instance when you are logged in as a user, and it can be reached by clicking the big blue Concerto logo button in the top left of the page.

In addition, the administrator views have been reorganized into three main areas: Settings, Plugins, and Users. The Settings are grouped into several tabs based on common functional areas. We hope this organization will serve us well as we flesh out the final components of plugin management.

We’re really interested in your feedback about these changes to the Concerto 2 UI. Please tell us what you think in our discussion group and post to our issue tracker if you discover a bug or want to suggest a change.

You can find a full list of changes for this release here. Expect another exciting beta release in a couple weeks!

We’ve just finished pushing our latest update to the Concerto 2 beta, “0.3.2.EchoInchworm”.  In the two weeks since our last release we’ve been busy addressing a handful of feature requests and bugs reported since the last release. You can find our installation to get started in our Github wiki.

Among the notable changes you’ll find support for legacy (V1) screen urls.  Concerto 2 correctly responds to urls like http://concerto/?mac=00:aa:bb just like Concerto 1 did.  You should now be able to test out Concerto 2 without updating the URL on your existing clients.

We also added a new <iframe> content type.  If you need to display a remote web page or dashboard, you can create a piece of content which will use an iframe to display the url on a screen.

This release also includes some speed improvements to content browsing and bug fixes to template importing (aka it works now, unlike the last release).

Almost as exciting as all of those changes is the updated demo system.  Head on over to http://nightly.concerto-signage.org and check out this Concerto 2 release running on Heroku.  If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, the demo’s worth checking out to see what Concerto 2 is all about!

Do get in touch with us via our group or issue tracker if you come across a bug or have a feature suggestion for us.  It’s great to hear when things work (or don’t) so we can improve for the future!

You can find a full list of changes for this “0.3.2.echoinchworm” release here.