Evaluate OS and Software Releases

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Last updated: Sept 25, 2024
4 min read

You should use the latest Operating System (OS) and client software to get new features and bug fixes in BSN.cloud and BrightAuthor:connected. See the following information to evaluate and implement the latest OS and BrightAuthor:connected release.

Updating BrightSign OS andSoftware

To update the desktop client, choose Check for Updates in BrightAuthor:connected menu dropdown in versions 1.6.40 or higher. You can also subscribe for notification of updates and/or download the most recent release from our Software Downloads page. If you only use BrightAuthor:connected through a web browser, then you will automatically be running the latest version of the client. 

To update the OS on your players, see Update the player OS.

CMS partner applications may use a specific OS version. If you are using a CMS partner application, contact them for guidance.

Evaluating BrightSignOS and Software

With the number of configurations that are possible with our products, it is extremely important to validate your use case before deploying any updates across your fleet/installation. Certain upgrades could impact the behavior of your players and finding that out when the update is only deployed in a lab environment (recommended) or on a small number of players will allow you to make an informed decision on whether to proceed with the update(s) or not. You may wish to adopt an internal policy to check for updates routinely.

To validate a new version:

  • Update a single player to evaluate it for testing before deploying it more widely

  • Publish a few presentations that you commonly use and monitor the display as well as some of the key features that you typically rely on in your day-to-day publishing.

  • Check the workflows that you use to manage your players to ensure they are working as expected.

Finding and Using Release Notes

BrightSignOS and BrightAuthor:connected release notes are available to help you determine what is in the release and to identify possible areas to evaluate. For example, if there was a new feature in the area of the software you rely on, you may want to spend a bit more time evaluating that area of your particular use case to ensure that your workflow and functionality hasn’t changed.

Each release notes document is divided as follows:

  • New Features are completely new pieces of functionality that have been added.

    • Some new OS features may only be available through custom scripts but may become available through BrightAuthor:connected at a later time.

    • New features in BrightAuthor:connected may rely on a specific or newer OS.

  • Improvements are changes made to improve accessibility or ease of use for existing features.

  • Bug Fixes are resolutions to issues in the OS or client software. We only announce fixes for problems that are found in public releases of OS or software.

Beta Releases

BrightSign will also occasionally make Beta releases available. These releases have NOT been tested by our QA team but contain functionality that users might want to access instead of waiting for an official release. Beta releases can be public, which means that they are available to anyone who wants to download and test them, or private, which means that they are only given to customers who might need certain functionality.  Beta versions have important new features and bug fixes, but they may also contain known or unknown stability issues. If the reliability of your digital signage system is more valuable than new features and improvements, wait until those features become available in an official version.

BrightSign rarely releases an automatic update to the operating system. However, if your player is running a version of the operating system that is lower than required for operation with BSN.cloud, and the BrightSign player is not running an autorun, an automatic update will be pushed to your device during the provisioning process.

Warning

The data storage system in use by Chromium processes changes when there is a major upgrade to the Chromium version bundled with BrightSignOS. While updating to a newer version of the OS is generally stable, there are cases where downgrading the OS can cause the data accessed by Chromium to be inaccessible. Other data not in use by Chromium that can be stored on SD, SSD, USB connected and external devices that contain media, systems files and other data do not share this limitation. Test your workflow for any OS upgrades or downgrades before deploying to a production environment.

Open Source Licenses and Other Notes

  • BrightSign player operating systems use many open-source licenses. The applicable open-source licenses and code are available here. 

  • Older versions of BrightAuthor:connected are generally compatible with newer OS versions. This means that you can update the OS on your players even if you don’t want to republish the presentation using a new version of BrightAuthor:connected, but we still recommend deploying to your lab or test device(s) first to confirm this before pushing any updates broadly to your fleet.

  • Previous OS releases are available on this page; previous BrightAuthor:connected release notes are on this page.

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