Max's Menu

Professional digital menu boards, without a cloud subscription.

Max's Menu turns a Raspberry Pi into a menu server for cafés, bakeries, restaurants, and other places that need information on TVs. Create and update menus from a phone or computer on your local network. Each TV displays a webpage using an inexpensive streaming device or other browser, and updates appear within a few seconds.

You can run it on your existing network or, with compatible Wi-Fi hardware, use an optional standalone hotspot that does not require internet access for day-to-day operation.

Release status: v1.0.0-rc3 is the current prerelease, supporting fresh installation and upgrades from RC1/RC2. It adds three-column menu sections, two new default sample menus, full-height column dividers, and configurable currency formatting. The maintainer has tested the new layouts, dividers, and currency controls. See TESTING_RC3.md when validating your own Pi/player combination.

• Create and edit 10 menus. Five sample menus are populated so you can explore the system immediately; Menus 4 and 5 demonstrate three-column layouts, and five menus are empty placeholders.
• Provide 10 permanent screen addresses, one for each logical display (screen1 through screen10). Any number of compatible TVs can point to the same address.
• Display different menus on different TVs, or show the same menu on several TVs.
• Schedule automatic menu changes in 30-minute increments: breakfast in the morning, lunch at noon, and dinner later, for example. The TV's URL stays the same.
• Edit items, prices, availability, layouts, colors, and fonts. Displays check for changes approximately every five seconds.
• Choose from 11 locally hosted themes, including seasonal and scenery designs.
• Use full-width, two-column or three-column sections, optional prices, and an optional food-safety footer.
• Choose the global item currency and regional number format under System. Currency formatting works offline and does not convert prices.
• Rotate an individual menu 0°, 90°, 180°, or 270° to suit your screen orientation.
• Give administrators and employees separate accounts; download history and a system backup.
• Operate on Ethernet, normal Wi-Fi, or an optional local Wi-Fi hotspot, depending on the Pi's networking hardware.

How the pieces fit together: one Raspberry Pi runs Max's Menu and publishes the web pages. Each TV has a streaming stick or other browser to display one of those pages. You do not run an HDMI cable from the Raspberry Pi to each TV.

Start on the workbench: use a spare computer monitor or TV while installing and testing. It is easier to reach the devices, change settings, and check power-cycle recovery before mounting the displays on a wall.

The example setup uses the onn. Full HD Streaming Device with Google TV, sold by Walmart, with 8 GB of storage and 1.5 GB of RAM (1080p). Walmart product listing. This is the stick shown in our build; prices and availability can change. Budget approximately $30 per screen as a planning estimate, not a guaranteed current price.

Other Android/Google TV devices may work, but setup steps vary. Fire TV devices use Android-derived software, but restrictions can make kiosk setup more involved. We recommend reproducing the tested onn. configuration before trying alternatives.

Each streaming device uses Fully Kiosk Browser & Lockdown, a third-party Android app (Google Play listing). A free version is available; some advanced functions require a paid license. Confirm your needed full-screen and startup behavior on your device before installing several TVs. The software on the Pi is independent of this browser app.

A Pi connected to Ethernet can serve TVs across the same LAN; it does not need to generate a hotspot. Wi-Fi capability alone does not guarantee that an adapter can operate as an access point. In this release, hotspot mode uses 2.4 GHz, channel 6, with no internet sharing or 5 GHz hotspot selection.

First, install the operating system onto a microSD card. You'll need Raspberry Pi Imager on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer.

1. Insert the 32 GB microSD card into your computer and open Raspberry Pi Imager.
2. Select your Pi model and an appropriate Raspberry Pi OS Lite image. This release targets Raspberry Pi OS 13 (Trixie) with its standard networking configuration. An original Pi Zero W or Model B+ needs 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS; use a compatible image for other models.
3. Choose the microSD card as the storage device.
4. In Imager's customization settings, choose a hostname (for example maxsmenu), a Pi operating-system username, and a strong password. Record these.
5. Enable SSH, initially using password authentication, to allow setup from your computer.
6. If using normal Wi-Fi, enter your network details and Wi-Fi country. If using Ethernet, connect the Pi to your router or switch before booting.
7. Write the card, insert it into your Pi, connect power, and wait for it to finish booting.

Two different logins: the Pi OS username/password are used for SSH and transferring files. During Max's Menu installation you will create a separate Max's Menu administrator account. There is no preconfigured admin password.

Try its hostname, such as maxsmenu.local. If that doesn't work, find the Pi's IP address in your router's connected-device list or, from a keyboard and screen attached to the Pi, enter:

hostname -I

On a Windows computer, open PowerShell, then connect (replace the example name):

ssh YOUR_PI_USER@maxsmenu.local

If .local doesn't resolve, use the actual IP address instead of maxsmenu.local. Accept the new-host fingerprint only after confirming you are connecting to the correct Pi; enter the Pi OS password when prompted.

Download maxs-menu.zip from Releases → Assets and save it in your computer’s Downloads folder. Use this installation ZIP rather than GitHub’s automatically generated source archives.

The repository contains source code; installable ZIPs are release attachments. No committed dist directory is needed. Use maxs-menu.zip rather than GitHub’s automatically generated Source code (zip), whose top-level folder can differ. The installation ZIP always contains a maxs-menu folder; the application and release notes record its version.

From Windows PowerShell on your computer, substitute your Pi OS username and hostname/IP:

$piUser = 'YOUR_PI_USER'
$piAddress = 'maxsmenu.local'  # Or your Pi's numeric IP address
$release = Join-Path $HOME 'Downloads\maxs-menu.zip'
scp "$release" "${piUser}@${piAddress}:~/"
ssh "${piUser}@${piAddress}"

scp copies the file; ssh signs in to the Pi. These commands prompt you for credentials; you don't need to put a password in the command.

Using a Mac or Linux computer? Run equivalent scp and ssh commands from Terminal, with the ZIP path adjusted to your computer.

The following commands run on the Raspberry Pi, after you sign in using SSH. If sudo requests a password, enter your Pi OS account password.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-venv python3-pip unzip
cd ~

Protect an existing installation: if ~/maxs-menu already exists, stop. Use UPGRADING.md or start with a new card. Don't overwrite a configured installation as part of a first-install tutorial.

test ! -e "$HOME/maxs-menu" || { echo 'STOP: ~/maxs-menu already exists. See UPGRADING.md.'; exit 1; }
unzip maxs-menu.zip
cd ~/maxs-menu
bash setup.sh

Existing RC1 installation? Do not extract over your live folder. Use the temporary-directory upgrade procedure in UPGRADING.md. It detects the current service directory, including an RC1 folder with a version in its name.

The setup script asks for:

Passwords are requested twice and are not displayed. Application passwords currently accept 4–64 printable ASCII characters; hotspot passwords accept 8–63 characters. Use strong, unique credentials.

Hotspot installations only: before enabling the startup service, install the additional components:

sudo apt install -y hostapd dnsmasq-base

Don't manually enable generic hostapd or dnsmasq services. Max's Menu manages its own hotspot service.

Stay on your existing network for this step:

sudo python3 install_service.py
curl http://localhost:8080/health

A successful health response includes "status":"ok" and version 1.0.0-rc3. The application will be managed as a startup service so it can run without a keyboard or monitor attached.

From a phone or computer on the same network, open:

http://maxsmenu.local:8080/admin

Or replace maxsmenu.local with the Pi's actual IP address, for example http://192.168.1.50:8080/admin (example only). Sign in with the Max's Menu administrator username and password created during setup, not the Pi OS credentials.

The application starts with five populated example menus. You can explore them, change names and prices, try different themes, and see how screen assignments work before creating your own menus.

• Edit Menus: edit items and headers, optional prices, availability, layouts, and the food-safety warning. Administrators can also set each menu’s rotation here.
• History: review prior publications, download them, and, as an administrator, restore an earlier collection.
• My Account: view the signed-in account; administrators can change their own passwords.
• Schedule (administrators): assign a menu to a screen URL during daily time windows. Outside those windows, the screen shows its matching menu number.
• Theme (administrators): preview and save one of 11 themes. The selected theme applies to all menus.
• System (administrators): review networking, change the schedule timezone, switch network modes where supported, and download or restore system backups. A yellow status background marks the initial network-settings load and clears when the request finishes.
• Users (administrators): manage administrator and employee accounts.

For complete editing instructions, see the User Guide.

Changes are live: once you save a menu change, display pages poll the Pi approximately every five seconds. You should see the updated price, item, or theme on connected TVs within a few seconds, without re-entering the TV URL.

Repeat this section for every physical TV that needs its own streaming player.

1. Plug the onn. Full HD Streaming Device into the TV's HDMI input, connect its supplied power adapter, and follow the Google TV initial setup with the remote. During initial setup, use an internet-connected Wi-Fi network so you can install the browser app.

2. In Google TV's app search, look for Fully Kiosk Browser & Lockdown by Fully Factory Kiosk Solutions. Install it if available on your device. Google Play page.

3. Open Fully Kiosk Browser. Find the Start URL setting and enter the display address assigned to this TV:

   http://YOUR_PI_ADDRESS:8080/display/screen1
   

   Replace YOUR_PI_ADDRESS with the Pi's actual IP or working hostname. For hotspot mode, the address is 192.168.50.1, giving http://192.168.50.1:8080/display/screen1.

4. Enable full-screen display and hide browser navigation/address controls if these options are present. The objective is for the menu to occupy the TV, without browser toolbars.

5. In Fully Kiosk's device-management settings, look for Launch on Boot / Start on Boot and Keep Screen On. Enable the options available in your installation and grant Android permissions the app requests and you are comfortable allowing.

6. Turn the TV and streaming device fully off and back on to verify the player reconnects, launches the browser and shows the correct menu without intervention. Merely enabling a startup option is not proof that your Google TV firmware will permit automatic launching.

For more displays: change only the end of the URL: /display/screen2, /display/screen3, and so on through /display/screen10. Two or more physical TVs can use the same screen URL if you want them to match.

Example: three TVs over a counter could point to screen1, screen2, and screen3. Each can show a different menu; a schedule can replace the morning menu at noon without changing any streaming-stick setting.

Free app vs paid features: Fully Kiosk is third-party software, not part of Max's Menu. Test the free edition's behavior in your actual configuration. Its extra kiosk/lockdown features may require a license; do not purchase anything until you know which options you need.

This is useful for a temporary location or a business that prefers an isolated network. It requires a Pi with built-in Wi-Fi or a compatible USB Wi-Fi adapter that supports access-point mode. Hotspot capability and range are hardware dependent.

The installer's hotspot option stores a name and password but does not immediately activate the hotspot. Keep your ordinary Wi-Fi connection working during initial configuration.

1. In the Max's Menu administration interface, open System and select Switch to Menu Hotspot.
2. The Pi will create the configured Wi-Fi network. Reconnect your phone or computer to your new hotspot SSID.
3. Open http://192.168.50.1:8080/system and select Keep this mode within three minutes. If you do not confirm, the trial is designed to return to the previous Wi-Fi connection.
4. Connect each streaming stick to the new hotspot, then set its Fully Kiosk Start URL to http://192.168.50.1:8080/display/screen1 (or the desired screen number).
   • After setting up the stick, Forget other saved Wi-Fi networks, including the internet-connected network used during initial setup, so it does not choose one of them at startup. If reconnection fails, use the Onn hotspot auto-connect guide, which includes an unlisted walkthrough video.
5. Test a restart of both the Pi and the streaming stick. Make sure the menu automatically returns without internet access.

Important: the network switch/rollback procedure requires a saved active normal Wi-Fi connection. An Ethernet-only Pi doesn't need to switch to hotspot mode. Do not assume hotspot switching will work over every Wi-Fi adapter, or that every player will automatically reconnect to an offline network.

Some streaming devices interpret a Wi-Fi network without internet as broken, even when the local menu server is reachable. If yours refuses to stay connected or doesn't reconnect at startup:

• Check that it is connected to the right SSID and that the browser points to 192.168.50.1, not the previous LAN IP.
• Changing automatic date/time settings did not resolve offline Wi-Fi auto-reconnection on the tested Onn device. It is not a confirmed replacement for the successful ADB change. The Pi must separately have the correct time for scheduled menus.
• Run a full power-cycle test after changing settings.
• Onn auto-connect workaround and video: If the stick joins the Pi hotspot manually but will not reconnect automatically, follow the step-by-step Onn Wi-Fi guide or watch the supplemental video. The guide explains how to run the single ADB setting, then connect to the Pi hotspot and Forget every other saved Wi-Fi network. The behavior may vary by firmware.

Under System, choose Download system backup, and save it somewhere other than the Pi. The backup contains application settings and sensitive material such as account password hashes and, if configured, the hotspot password. Keep it private.

A Max's Menu backup is not an SD-card image: it does not restore the Raspberry Pi operating system, the Pi OS login, your home Wi-Fi credentials, or SSH configuration.

For an existing installation, don't repeat the fresh-install unzip/move steps over the top of your installed files. Follow UPGRADING.md. For help with networking, startup, clocks, and recovery, see TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

• User Guide: managing menus, layouts, schedules, rotation, themes, accounts, backups.
• Upgrading: protecting your data and updating an existing installation.
• Troubleshooting: networking, clocks, startup, and recovery.
• Onn Wi-Fi hotspot auto-connect guide: video and optional ADB workaround for offline hotspot reconnection.
• Video rehearsal checklist: clean installation and demonstration sequence.
• Validation: checks performed and hardware tests outstanding.
• Release notes: what changed.

Max's Menu source code is licensed under the MIT License. See the included LICENSE. Third-party fonts and other bundled assets may have their own notices or licenses; see their accompanying documentation. Fully Kiosk Browser is separate third-party software, not covered by Max's Menu's MIT license.

This guide uses the onn. Full HD Streaming Device with Google TV, 8 GB storage / 1.5 GB RAM. On the tested build, the browser launched and the menu returned after power-on over a wired network. Offline hotspot startup also worked after disabling the internet-validation check through ADB. When the Pi and player were power-cycled together, the menu eventually appeared. The exact firmware/build and successful settings still need to be recorded. Before final release, capture screenshots of:

• Google TV version/build and where the viewer can find Settings → System → About.
• The actual route to install Fully Kiosk and configure its Start URL, full-screen and startup settings.
• Any Google TV special app permissions needed for launch-on-boot behavior.
• Power-cycle recovery after the Pi is temporarily unavailable, and after both devices lose power.
• The optional Wi-Fi-without-internet warning and the tested ADB connectivity-check configuration.

Optional advanced workaround: The tested configuration used adb shell settings put global captive_portal_mode 0 to change Android's captive-portal handling. See ONN_WIFI_AUTOCONNECT.md for the full initial-network setup, verification, reversal commands, security warning, saved-network cleanup, and the companion video. The exact firmware/build still needs to be captured; this is not confirmed for every Onn device.

Run python build_release.py from a source checkout to create maxs-menu.zip in its parent directory. Runtime accounts, menus, environment settings, backups, and Git history are excluded.

The Publish release workflow runs tests, builds the installation ZIP, and creates a release for the version in models.py. Repository maintainers can run it manually through GitHub Actions, or explicitly request publication with [release] in a commit message on main. Versions containing a hyphen are marked as prereleases. The workflow refuses to overwrite an existing release.