Information screen for Mom's room

[remmitb]

Want to have an information screen for my 89-year-old mother's apartment that can display the day's schedule in large print...and perhaps also be used to skype. How would I do this?

 

[Jacob McIntosh]

How big of a screen do you want, and should it be a touch screen? Also, how tech savvy are you?

 

[remmitb]

I'm thinking 20-24", probably wall-mounted to replace the whiteboard we've put up now. Preference would be a touch screen. I'm fairly tech savy (assemble my own desktop PC's)...but remain on Win7. Mom is in another state, so need something that is on 24-7, that I can easily and remotely enter new display information on...like caregiver coming at 10:30...Doctor appointment at 2:00, a picture, etc and perhaps can be used for her to skype.

 

[Jacob McIntosh]

I'm looking into the Raspberry Pi option, as that would probably be the cheapest and simplest (on her end), but i'm still not sure is everything would be compatible. Give me a little bit and i'll see if it would work.

 

[Jacob McIntosh]

So far, it seems like the Pi would work, but the monitor would set you back a few hundred bucks, and still wouldn't be guaranteed to work and is smaller than 20". So the Pi is off the table, but I'll keep looking.

 

[Jacob McIntosh]

I should ask, how much are you willing to spend on this project?

 

[Jacob McIntosh]

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond, but I think I found a solution: The Zotac ZBOX PI320. It's an all-new super micro PC from Zotac, so pricing hasn't been released yet, but it comes pre loaded with Windows 8.1, and can support a touch screen monitor. You would have to get a webcam with a microphone, such as this one from Logitech, and a touchscreen monitor. I found this one for $200. The monitor also had build in speakers, so thats a plus. The Zotac can be mounted to the back of the monitor, so everything could be all tucked away behind the screen. As for the schedule, I would recommend using something like Google Docs, and just keep the document open and logged in, set to public on the web, so that your mom can see any changes you make in real-time.