Bork!Bork!Bork! Just picture it. You’re at a Swiss train station, looking for information on your connecting line. You peer up at the platform sign hoping to find out how long you’ll be waiting and whether you’re standing in the right place. But instead of helpful info, you see “* Installation log files are stored in /tmp.” Gee, thanks a lot!
Spotted by the eagle-eyed brother of a Register reader, an IT support person based in Northern Ireland, the signage on platform 1 at Sargans appears to be a little too clever for its own good, but has – alas – fallen over when trying to boot what appears to be a variant of Linux.
Swiss train platform information screen showing Linux boot error
It’s always good to see Linux being more than capable of having a day just as bad as Windows when it comes to digital signage.
There are some helpful hints about what went wrong, and there’s always an opportunity to run a text installation if a user really wants. There is, however, no option to fall back to the much-missed split-flap signs of old – sometimes called “Solari” boards after the Italian manufacturer Solari di Udine – or the manually updated planks that were a fixture of this writer’s schooldays.
The Register asked the purveyors of wonderfully nerdy displays, UK Departure Boards, for their thoughts. After all, if it’s possible to bring British train, heritage rail, bus, and tram information to a domestic display, then how hard can it be to make the same happen on a Swiss station platform?
A spokesperson for the outfit told us the company had no plans to expand to other countries, although observed: “Looks like the Linux OS crashed, or became corrupted, so it can’t boot correctly.”
We took a look at the UK Departure Boards hardware in 2024 and concluded that the boards, while not cheap, were perfect for anyone with even the smallest interest in transport. Recent updates include support for freight and non-stop services on the software side and built-in speakers on the hardware side.
Our reader’s brother was heading to Innsbruck, and we hope he was able to select the correct train without assistance from the platform board. That said, there are worse places in the world to be than Sargans. There’s a castle to look at, decent hiking to be had, and some spectacular scenery. Sure, the station might be eclipsed by the UK’s East Croydon in many ways. But, then again, the station also isn’t in East Croydon… ®
