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I am looking for a software that has some server-side mechanism to run a presentation, which is then delivered as a HTML website.

The idea is:

  • anyone can go to a specific URL, like an invitation link
  • the presenter goes to a similar URL and logs in as the presenter
  • everybody sees the same content

For comparison, I hacked this ugly prototype in ~1 hour with PHP. It's ~50 lines of HTML/JS for the viewer and ~30 lines of PHP for the presenter.

Animation of how it could be

I need something like this, but of course a little bit more mature, e.g. with a login for the presenter and the option to upload slides.

Bandwidth of the prototype:

  • 1 XMLHttpRequest every second (<350 bytes) per user, if slide didn't change
  • additionally the HTML content of the new slide when the slide changed. I roughly change slides every 30-60 seconds. So even if the new slide is 300kB, that's ~7 kB/s or 400 kB/min per user.

Requirements:

  • gratis
  • server side is Linux (Debian)
  • self-hosted
  • client side is HTML / CSS / JS or similar
  • it's not transferred as a video stream
  • Bandwidth is very low, compared to a video stream
  • screen update can be slow, e.g. 1 or 2 seconds difference between the PCs.

Maximum System requirements:

  • 1 CPU core
  • 2 GB RAM (actually I think 512 MB should suffice)
  • 1 GB disk usage (actually I think 200 MB is sufficient: Apache is ~50 MB, PHP probably < 50 MB and then we need just some PHP source)

Non-requirements:

  • audio support. This will be done separately, e.g. phone or Teamspeak.
  • recording functionality. This will be done on client side, e.g. using OBS

I am not looking for things like

  • Slideshare, since every participant would control the slides himself. I need only one person controlling the slides
  • Reveal.js. While basically the idea is great, and the technology fits, AFAIK, it has the same scheme like Slideshare: everyone visiting the site can control the slides himself.
  • Big Blue Button is way too heavy regarding system requirements.
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  • BigBlueButton can be self-hosted. I recently was the presenter using that with an audience of ~130 "attendees", worked great. As long as noone opens the cam and it's just the presentation, footprint should be pretty low. My session was recorded: 2h resulted in something around 1.3G (so ~10M/min), which is quite acceptable. // I have just used it, not installed it – so just a comment, not an answer. AFAIK there are "appliances" available as well as "docker images", or you can install it directly. Gratis, FOSS, use in browser. Should fit all your criteria.
    – Izzy ♦
    Jun 7, 2020 at 12:38
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    @Izzy: I hacked a prototype and uploaded an animated GIF.
    – Thomas Weller
    Jun 7, 2020 at 14:06
  • Ah, OK – so you are looking for something much smaller and simpler. Thanks for the update!
    – Izzy ♦
    Jun 7, 2020 at 16:03
  • @ThomasWeller: The multiplex plugin allows your audience to follow the slides of the presentation you are controlling on their own phone, tablet or laptop. When you change slides in your master presentations everyone will follow and see the same content on their own device: revealjs.com/multiplex
    – s.ouchene
    Aug 2, 2020 at 12:01

1 Answer 1

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Slides.com has all the features you asked for.

  • You can upload your own presentation or create one there.
  • You get a link and can control what your viewers see.
  • No audio or recording.
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  • Thanks for the suggestion. They don't seem to provide a free version for self-hosting.
    – Thomas Weller
    Jun 9, 2020 at 8:39
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    @ThomasWeller: Slides.com is the paid version of revealjs. His owner is the creator of revealjs itself.
    – s.ouchene
    Aug 1, 2020 at 13:14
  • @Navaro: ah, I used reveal.js before. That makes sense.
    – Thomas Weller
    Aug 17, 2020 at 17:31

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