
Ask HN: Minimalist OS to run a WebApp? - Raed667
I&#x27;m looking into building a &quot;greeting screen&quot; web application that just displays some data in full-screen.<p>I was thinking about system requirements,and I came up with this:<p>- OS: Debian<p>- Electron: Wrapper for the web app<p>- Hardware: Raspberry-pi or an equivalent cheap solution.<p>Does HN have any better insights or previous experiences?
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symfony_
We are running chromebits. Runs on ChromeOS, simple to build a 'kiosk app'
which automatically starts on startup. Costs more than RPI.

Very easy to lock up, easily administered (reboot/screenshot) from the
management console. We have a few hundreds of them out there, works like a
charm and pretty much no work.

I'd advise against the likes of RPI's if you need a few and remote manage
them. Deploying new app versions is very easy and the thing just works. Don't
underestimate the freedom it gives to not have to do any damn thing on the
box, ever. When working at scale the time you save is enormous.

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marenkay
Why Electron, you could ditch it and just use Go. Works fine on ARM and has
all the tools for web apps, APIs, etc.

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Raed667
I'm just looking to display a browser window in fullscreen (no interaction).

The server is remote

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thatcat
so.. you're running debian minimal with no window manager then just invoking
chromium via commandline and browsing to a web app?

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Raed667
Exactly, That's the smallest (AKA cheapest) setup I can think of.

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thatcat
you might also try flint os, the active chromium os build

[https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-flint-
os/](https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-flint-os/)

or running a light wm like xmonad / i3wm instead of just running from command
line using x depending on the functionality you want
[http://www.alandmoore.com/blog/2011/11/05/creating-a-
kiosk-w...](http://www.alandmoore.com/blog/2011/11/05/creating-a-kiosk-with-
linux-and-x11-2011-edition/)

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mindcrash
Alpine with Xorg plus your Electron app, on a Pi.

