Getting jitsi into retirement homes

Together with friends from Dingfabrik Koeln (Thanks for the idea, Marian!) I am currently developing an solution for retirement homes to allow simple access to jitsi video sessions.

We know that many old people currently cannot receive visitors due to Corona. So our idea is to give them access to a simple Linux-based notebook and allow them to easily create a jitsi video session. Based on a predefined list of servers (that is to be updated from remote) and a text file with names, that can be edited by a nurse with a text editor, we simply create a url that can be shared among relatives.

The application was made using Python and tkinter, all code was pretty much copied from SO and other sources, I just had to put it together. (Thank you giants, that I could „stand on your shoulders“)

Using a Linux laptop with installed Python (and additional python3-tk package), Chrome/Chromium and git we have the tool run on startup. On the first start a text file with names is created, that can be edited easily.

If you find it useful, see the code in my github: https://github.com/UweZiegenhagen/pyJitsiopen.

Future updates shall include:

  • Automated updates
  • Logging for error tracking
  • Using local server lists that are not overwritten during updates

Uwe

Uwe Ziegenhagen likes LaTeX and Python, sometimes even combined. Do you like my content and would like to thank me for it? Consider making a small donation to my local fablab, the Dingfabrik Köln. Details on how to donate can be found here Spenden für die Dingfabrik.

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