Recommendations for a wall mounted tablet

So Iā€™m doing some more homework. Why do I need to root my device to use fully kiosk? Their docs seem to suggest root is not required and I can turn off screen dimming and such. Maybe Iā€™m missing something?

You donā€™t have to root. Itā€™s just a better experience when you do. You can turn off things like the auto update which forces the tablet to reboot which then leaves it at a lock screen

You can also disable the lock screen.

Others like to install their own android versions. I just do the above to make the experience better.

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Alright, hopefully one last question (getting close to pulling the trigger) any where to find a good list of which Fire Tablets are rootable have the ROMs you're recommending available? I'm not an Android guy at all. If we're talking about iOS jailbreaking I can talk like I know what I'm talking about, but when it comes to Android I don't know where to begin with picking it out. I'd like to get as big of a display as I'm able so the HD10 was ideal, but I don't think that's rootable? Am I wrong? What's the newest/biggest Fire tablet I can root? Anyone have a guide on how I might disable things like the lock screen as suggested? Sorry feel like a noob in this area.

If you're willing to spend a bit more money, I mounted a huge 18" Samsung Galaxy View in my wall a few years ago and it turned out great :slight_smile: (post is on the ST community): Huge Recessed Wall Mounted Tablet - Projects & Stories - SmartThings Community

I wouldn't recommend getting a Galaxy View anymore as it hasn't been updated past Android 5.1, but if you're willing to shell out $600 you could get a Galaxy View 2. To me the extra screen real estate is worth it. We use it mainly to view our cameras and access our recipes.

If budget is a concern, then get this tablet and you won't have to worry about rooting: https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-10-1-Tablet-Pro-32GB-Storage-3GB-RAM-Android-10-2GHz-Octa-Core-Processor-FHD-Display/435637419

Ouch, it's not so much a matter of budget so much as cost/benefit. A dashboard is not going to provide $600 worth of benefit to me. I'm looking for a dashboard in my living room to control some common devices.

Just wondering for the other one you recommended, it's pretty much the same price as the Fire Tablet (I can get a refurb for the same price), so what's the benefit of a no-name brand over Amazon? My fear with the one you recommended is now that I won't be able to easily find a mount and from what folks are saying here I do want to root it.

Another option might be a Chromebook. The touchscreen versions can fold the keyboard behind the screen. They run Android so you can install apps. A frame mounted on the wall where you could slide them in and out. A referb unit might be very inexpensive.

Also an interesting Android app.

If your only goal is to get Fully Kiosk Browser onto the Fire Tablet, it does not require new firmware on the Fire. You can side-load four customized .apk files onto the Fire that install Google Play Store and the required Google/Android APIs to run it. Once Fully is installed from Google Play, it will handle keeping the screen unlocked and on.

The gotcha right now is that Amazon just released a 2020 Fire-10 a few weeks ago. I have no idea what the status is of side-loading Google Play onto the 2020 model. Everything has been working fine running Fully 24/7 for me on the previous Fire-10 models, though.....

Thank you! So odds are if I buy a refub 10, it's going to be the 2019...

Actually, other option is I move my 2019 version from my kitchen, make that the dashboard, and replace the one in my Kitchen with a brand new 2020 model since I use that one as more of a real tablet (I like watching Netflix when I'm stuck doing the dishes)

XDA has a lot of threads on rooting, installing custom ROMs for Fire tablets of varying size and vintage. I donā€™t really use android either, but this has been my go-to for installing lineageOS on Fire 7 and 8 tablets a few times over the last couple years.

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So from everything I've read here and elsewhere, the biggest reason to root is to prevent auto-updates? All I want is Fully Kiosk to run 24/7

Yeah I think that's one benefit of rooting, disabling the lock screen is another, and I'm not sure if it's possible to install a custom rom without root access first?

But if the primary goal is to run fully kiosk browser, that can be done with the stock fire OS and no root required, you would just need to sideload the apk that the dev made for Fire OS. onto your device.

edit: I'm not sure if everyone finds it to be that useful, but I really like having the tablet screen turn on directly to the dashboard when someone enters the room, and turn off automatically when the room is empty again. With root access, and @gavincampbell's hubitat driver for fully kiosk, that's very easy to do.

Do you need root access for his driver? Sounded like it just used the fully kiosk rest api?

Nope, just a plus license for fully (I think?) to get that rest api.

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So which part of what you said requires rooting?

Oh, sorry if I wasnā€™t clear. Disabling the lock screen.

Fully kiosk on stock fireOS (without root) and @gavincampbellā€™s driver could still turn the screen on/off based on motion or other triggers from hubitat.

But without root the screen would turn on and youā€™d still need to swipe to get past the lock screen to see your dashboard.

Ah now I understand. I suppose it could just make it get super dim instead of off?

Yeah I think thatā€™s a common workaround, add a screensaver thatā€™s just a black screen and you prob wouldnā€™t even notice a difference most of the time.

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Rooting it makes it that much more of a better experience. Especially the locking as every time it applies an update you end up at the lock screen which always seems to be at the most inconvenient time. This was the biggest driver for me, but I did run it for a while without rooting just fine as well.

One of the things I do instead of turning off the screen though is have it display a slideshow of pictures from out drop box. Me and the wife just have to drop our favorite pics into a dropbox folder if itā€™s added to the slideshow.

To use the fully kiosk browser you will need the plus license. But itā€™s worth it. I added a bunch of new features in the latest update but the feature donā€™t work with sites that use https like sharptools but Iā€™m working on a work around to at least get some of them working. It works perfectly fine with built in dashboards.

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Cool. If I could root the hd10 I would but doesnā€™t seem like thatā€™s possible?

for the newest HD 10? Maybe not, it looks like the method described in the thread linked below works for the 2017 version of the tablet (aka suez):

edit:
Here's the thread for installing LineageOS on a rooted/unlocked HD10:

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