Is there a knoppix Web Kiosk? [Archive] - Download Knoppix Live CD or DVD, Get Documentation and Help

Hunkah

04-28-2004, 07:24 AM

He already has a router (D-Link DI-614)

I myself am a windows admin (of sorts) and can manipulate windows like it was my own child. Linux is the hard part of this task. I am afraid that if I set up a Linux box, that it could give access to the rest of the network. You see I know that Linux is powerful, and it was born to live on the network (and internet). I have seen my own knoppix box attach to the internet and self detect all the NICs and router and IP information automatically (impressive!).

Now that I know this, I am nervous about allowing a Linux version on the network because of how easy it (could) be to browse the LAN and possibly distroy anything on the rest of the network. Because of the fact that linux is so network amazing, how do I know that the Linux box is safe from the internet cracker jacks! Is linux an open door for them, especially if I don't know how to tinker with it to keep it closed?

Remember I am still new to Linux and there was some things that were said that I can learn (I just don't know how to do them yet!) Te one thing I didn't understand is the "empty X server".

OErjan

04-28-2004, 09:28 AM

to be honest, if you think anything can keep those really wanting to harm out you are deluded.
the only way to reasonable safety is knowlege. there is always routes around ALL security.
trouble is limiting holes... i would use a plain Debian and instal as little as possible (less risk of bugs, holes...) then i would alow the user to only read the bare minimum from /etc (as others)
then NO KDE, NO gnome... just blackbox and mozilla installed. why? both KDE and Gnome (and some other WM's) have so many "builtins" that they themselves are security risks.
The solution in MY eyes is configuring IPtables to allow acess to only the default gateway by blocking all other adresses on your network.
If you then alow the user to only use mozilla and needed files, user would be even more crippled.
if you wanted you could probably make a alias for logout, a script that empties the /home/user dir from all files then copy them back from a "mirror" somewhare on disk, and chown/chmod them to sensible values before actuall logout.

if i was paranoid i would even remove/break other binaries. why apt-get is not needed to browse. nor is xterm, aterm, ping, wget, make, dpkg... cut everything not needed away.
it might take a few days/weeks depending on your knowledge but it should be possible.

zurk

04-29-2004, 07:13 PM

we do this commercially...email me directly zurk AT arbornet DOT org i interested.

monkymind

04-30-2004, 01:26 AM

Does anyone know of an internet kiosk version of knoppix that is able to be used on a business network (not allowed to browse the network) and only be able to access one or two sites? .

Checkout KioskTool - Needs Kde 3.2, you may have to remaster Knoppix to use it. (Or try it with Kanotix)
http://extragear.kde.org/apps/kiosktool.php
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=12028&PHPSESSID=ee0aab2853488dad80204c047f209c83

Cheers
rob

arkaine23

04-30-2004, 01:31 AM

Couldn't you remove resolv.conf, and then edit /etc/hosts to be able top resolve the sites you want to their IP's....? Install a kiosk mode plugin to mozilla or firefox and set it to launch automatically when KDE starts. Then maybe some editing so that the user is not able to su or sudo.... and also disable KDE hotkeys.

That would be a good start at least, right?

Hunkah

04-30-2004, 06:20 AM

Thank-you everyone, this should give me enough to go on for a bit, If I get stuck... I will start to cry like a little kid lost in a mall.

poobaa

04-30-2004, 03:29 PM

Ok, I have tried to get the KioskAdmin tool to compile under Knoppix 3.3 with no luck I get a QT error during the ./configure.

I think I'm like the other poster in that I would live to re-master a locked down version of Knoppix, with a single website coming up after boot. I was hoping to use the admin tool, and then copy all the config files it creates to a re-master, but no luck so far..

Reading the KDE Kiosk mode doc is not much help...

Anyone else have ideas or suggestions for producing a version of Knoppix that after boot only loads a web browser with a chosen website, and stops a user from breaking out of the browser?

monkymind

04-30-2004, 06:23 PM

Ok, I have tried to get the KioskAdmin tool to compile under Knoppix 3.3 with no luck I get a QT error during the ./configure.
From kiosktool page at kde-apps.org :-
kiosktool updated
Version: 0.2
System Tool
Depend on: KDE 3.2.x
Posted by: zogje
-----------------------------
It compiled on my kanotix HD install using <u>Kde ver 3.2.2-1</u> without problems.........

Good luck and let us know how you go with your project.
rob

poobaa

04-30-2004, 07:42 PM

I'll give it a shot over the weekend, and see what turns up. If i can use the KioskAdmin tool on one, and move the files to the other it will be perfect.

poobaa

05-03-2004, 02:34 PM

Well the tool compiled on kanotix, but later gives an XML error while trying to run it. I'll have a go on the Kiosktool group, and see if I can find out why.

Thanks for the tips, and help.

Hunkah

05-03-2004, 07:44 PM

Keep us posted :wink:

poobaa

05-06-2004, 02:39 PM

Well I seem to have hit a wall. My lack of a deep understanding of linux, and KDE, has put this on hold for me. My time line is also rushing to an end.

Maybe a group of us can work out how to do this...

With a HD install of Knoppix, the KDE Kiosk tool will install, and run with no problems, but here is where I get stuck. I need to take/find the configuration files made by the tool, and apply them to a test user. Then get a web broswer to start for that user with a defined home page.

If I can get this to work with the HD installing, maybe I can move the changed files into a remaster, using the knoppix user. But like I said before I need to find out what to do with the Kiosk tool.

So if anyone else has some tips, or insight, please pass it on.

From all my research on the net it seems like this setup is really wanted, but no one has made a disto to fit the bill. Something where a number of questions are asked, and bang, an .iso file pops out ready to go.

poobaa

05-17-2004, 06:23 PM

Wow, after searching high and low, I was able to find a working solution, and it’s perfect. All the hard work was done by a member of the Morphix (http://www.morphix.org/modules/news/) forms “Gandalfar”. This user put together a cut down version of Morphix, which only runs Firefox (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=71814&package_id=83217&release_id=219127). I added the Autohide plugin (http://www.krickelkrackel.de/autohide.htm), changed the Firefox startup to full screen, and added the needed startup page for the kiosk.

Now, I have a CD that will boot, and only run Firefox, in full screen mode. The two tiny issues I have found so far:

1.With full screen mode you need a wheel mouse
2.It’s not really “secure”; a user can break out of WM2, and get a command prompt. For where I am using it, this is not an issue.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone else.

PYCCAK

07-05-2004, 01:28 PM

brad

07-05-2004, 04:37 PM

I have recently just finished remastering my own knoppix that only
runs firefox .8. I haven't had a chance yet to look at vs. .9.1.

I still have some final touchs to it, but i'll hopefully be posting it for
download later this week.

It starts X then loads firefox, so no window managers.

I decided to call it sluppix (after the university where I work).
I also decided that the homepage will be set to http://sluppix
then it would be easy for someone to set virtual host and dns names that
will resolve sluppix to your own domain. If anyone else has a better
suggestion, let me know.
Finally, I removed several applications, the biggest was probably KDE.
But still the footprint is around 450MB. Sorry. that's the best I can do.
Also, i disabled the ctrl-alt-backspace funtion and any alt-F1-F7 keys.
so the display cannot be killed.

I'll post back to this forum when I get things uploaded to my ftp.
I will be posting two versions. One will be a web browser with no buttons,
the other will have a limited set of buttons.
Please download after 6:00pm.

Brad B.

Ghandalfar

07-05-2004, 09:27 PM

morphix firefox livecd is 96MB and can be probably made even smaller

brad

07-05-2004, 10:42 PM

I tried that. But while editing the .mod file i got a message:
2649 block of size 65535. Preamble:
#!/bin/sh
#V1.0 Format
insmod cloop.o file=$0 && mount -r -t iso9660 /dev/cloop $1
exit $?

Block 0 length 0 => 65535
Uncomp: input corrupt 0

So I gave up on Morphix and went to Knoppix.
Whoever made the Morphix Firefox should have made it easier to set the
homepage. I can't boot my kiosk stations to that homepage!!!

BB

Ghandalfar

07-05-2004, 11:10 PM

hm, you are right :)

anway, if you edit it with cloop 1.02 you'll have more sucess :)

PYCCAK

07-06-2004, 08:06 AM

is firefox a browser ? my pc should satart automatically and take the proxy adress from dhcp server. the proxy settings are named as http://www.fh-luh.de/proxy.pac
after the internet is functioning it should load only the browser and the internet site http://www.at.fh-flensburg.de/elfhluh/

its all i need . on this site the students can absolve their tests. they need only the browser to work . can you say me what a system do i need ?

Ghandalfar

07-06-2004, 10:15 AM

remastering my firefox minimod would be probably the easiest way. You'd also want to disable Ctrl+Alt+Fn

PYCCAK

07-08-2004, 07:47 AM

how can i remaster morphix fire fox? i live in germany . i need to change the keyboardlayout to german language , change the startpage and configure the proxyserver. how can i do this and how can i make then a bootable cd?

Ghandalfar

07-09-2004, 12:21 AM

basicly you have to modify starting grub menu.lst and change the firefox directory in /etc/skel/

if you mail me the information I can prepare you a special version in about a week

Ambrose

07-09-2004, 01:48 AM

One other thing to do would be to edit /etc/inittab so that if the user does manage to kill X and get into the console mode, they will have to login.

Be sure to set a password, too! ;-)

- Ambrose

oitsubob

07-27-2004, 03:05 AM

I'm looking to do something very similar to this and could use some direction.

Basically, I want to change the following:

1) Change start-up "wallpaper" and color of progress bar,
2) Boot FireFox into fullscreen mode,
3) Change default home page,
4) Change toolbars to add the printer icon and remove address/search bars,
5) Disable Firefox window resize while in full screen mode and/or take steps to prevent user from clicking on desktop to open new Firefox window.
5) Disable Ctrl+Alt+Fn keys, and
6) Edit inittab to force user to login if they are able to crash X.

I'd like to try to do this myself if at all possible but don't really know where to start. Would someone be willing to guide me through the process? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

oitsubob

07-27-2004, 06:22 AM

...

ripcrd

08-19-2004, 10:49 PM

Gandalfar, It would be nice if you had teh homepage set in a homepage.txt file in the root of the CD. Then it becomes easily customizable by others. Don't know how much extra work it would be for you, but you could make a locked down firefox-kiosk.iso that includes all the security changes people have recommended here to make it unbreakable.

disable the Alt-Fn1-7, disable the menus, make full screen, disable resize, make entire filesystem owned by root:root, maybe make a bookmarks.txt file that could include a list of premade bookmarks, proxy.txt that gets scanned at boot where proxy info could be placed, maybe a few other minor items I forgot. THe idea with the text files is not requiring a full cloop decomppress, edit and recompress for people just wanting to customize a few settings.

Have those text files scanned at boot and the info linked to the standard files in the firefox directory.

Ghandalfar

08-19-2004, 10:58 PM

everything is doable and I'll try to make such version soon.

I only don't know how to do:
disable the menus, make full screen

so if you tell me how to do that I'll do it :)

oitsubob

08-20-2004, 05:34 PM

Poobaa mentions back on page 2 that he was able to start Firefox in fullscreen mode. Check out the following link he mentions in the post:

http://www.krickelkrackel.de/autohide/autohide.htm

The info page has settings that show how.

Thanks,

Bob

Ghandalfar

08-21-2004, 02:52 AM

to poobaa or anyone else that knows this:

how do you start firefox in fullscreen mode?

oitsubob

08-23-2004, 04:30 PM

Ghandalfar,

The link Poobaa provided also has an info page that reflects the following settings that can be used after the Autohide app is installed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After install make your settings:

Firefox: Tools=>Extensions=>Autohide=>Right-Click=>Options

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Start Browser in full screen mode:

Use "-fullscreen" as command line option for specific site:
-URL "http://www.google.com" -fullscreen

Or shutdown while in full screen mode

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disable "floating" menu:

user_pref("autohidefull.disfloat", true)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adjust menu delay (ms):

user_pref("autohidefull.delay", value)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope that helps,

Bob

Ghandalfar

08-24-2004, 09:39 AM

thanks, these will make things so much easier

poobaa

08-24-2004, 06:44 PM

You figured it out already, but ya the plug-in and -fullscreen was used. I noticed that when I did this, I did lose the scroll bar, but maybe different versions fix that, or it is intended.

The ideas above would make this a really easy to work with idea, bookmarks.txt, homepage.txt, proxy.txt would have saved me some pain.

When I used this it was for a music festival, and the monitors that were given to me were different then the ones I had tested on, brining up a resolution menu, with a default, and time out would be nice, maybe resolutions.txt could be made?

Last but not least, I was never able to find, and replace the boot image, I created one, tried it in lots of different places, but nothing seemed to stick. So maybe bootimage.txt with a location of the boot image could be used.

Just my 2c

Thanks for the hard work Ghandalfar

Ghandalfar

08-24-2004, 09:06 PM

oh you have to edit base/boot.img miniroot.gz I think

nrasmus

08-30-2004, 10:42 PM

This is a really exciting project (for me). Whilst I have little experience with morphix, a light kiosk, bootable from CD would be a wonderful tool for our public library. Today, we basically try to restrict people to this functionality on fully equiped PC's for our online catalog.

To those working on it, I'd like to add one request--a configurable way to setup network printers.

I'll be excitedly watching the progress of this project.

Ghandalfar

08-30-2004, 11:43 PM

automatic detection of cups printers isn't ok?

nrasmus

08-31-2004, 04:50 PM

It probably is--but I'd like to be able to fine tune the list, since we have a number of printers that are detected by default, and I'd like to "guide" the public to the more logical printers on the subnet (i.e., NOT the one on a different floor).

If this presents a significant challenge, then please disregard the request in leiu of the others (which are more important to me too), but I thought I'd through it into the mix.

Thanks!

duch

09-03-2004, 09:36 AM

Hi all,

i've just tested morphix firefox, and i got to admit, it's a great distro.

i'd just like to add something to the wishlist : flash plugin would be great.

by the way, are you alone working on this distro Ghandalfar? If yes contact me if you accept some help, i'm really interested in this project.

gregory at icilalune dot com

Ghandalfar

09-03-2004, 11:13 AM

it's being autobuilt using ibuild so modularity is there ..

find me in #morphix at freenode and we can have a little chat about it. I'd be happy to have someone to help me.

I have to do some school work until tuesday, after that I'll have time to do all those things written before.

Fabianx

09-04-2004, 09:38 PM

Hi,

I've added preliminary kiosk mode support to Knoppix 3.6.

Try booting with:

"knoppix desktop=kiosk url=http://www.mywebsite.com"

cu

Fabian

Rixel

09-05-2004, 09:33 PM

Great addition, Fabian

Any switches with it, or what file would be modified to have the location bar included?

Thanks!

Fabianx

09-05-2004, 09:43 PM

Great addition, Fabian

Any switches with it, or what file would be modified to have the location bar included?

Thanks!

/etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession does the kiosk setup.

Btw. thanks goes to Kyle Ranking and the "Knoppix Hacks" book. I have got some ideas and the "do it now" from it.

Kyle does also outline how to build a kiosk so the idea is basically from him, but I got permission to use it in Knoppix.

cu

Fabian

Steve F

09-05-2004, 09:57 PM

Kick me for being stupid or ..

Fabianx,

When you say you added it to KNOPPIX 3.6 I don't quite understand. I have been working with V3.6-2004-08-16-en. That release is still on the mirrors and it doesn't have those switches (how could it, I downloaded my copy last month).

Where can I download KNOPPIX 3.6 with your kiosk support and what is it called?

Thanks, Steve

Fabianx

09-05-2004, 10:13 PM

Kick me for being stupid or ..
When you say you added it to KNOPPIX 3.6 I don't quite understand. I have been working with V3.6-2004-08-16-en. That release is still on the mirrors and it doesn't have those switches (how could it, I downloaded my copy last month).

It has kiosk support.

Have you tried to boot with it. What did happen?

And I mean it has worked for Rixel or didn't it?

cu

Fabian

Steve F

09-05-2004, 10:23 PM

Oh!

No, I looked in the knoppix-cheatcodes.txt on my V3.6 CD and didn't find any mention so I assumed you had just added these codes within the last few days.

One of the things I like about this business is my ego never gets a chance to become larger than my humility.

Thank you Fabianx for your polite reply,

Steve

Steve F

09-06-2004, 12:24 AM

Okay, I like it so far. I was still able to break out by viewing source, edit, open a file or website. I'll look at prefs.js stuff in mozilla and adjust my remaster.

I wasn't able to use url=http://some.website.com . When I look in the $HOME/kiosk.html file created from 45xsession script I can see it is written but the line, window.open("","", ... doesn't have my url as the first parameter; just empty string. This is my first time looking at scripts like this but the code seemed consistent with other desktop modes in the same script. I specified the parameter in my lilo, on the HD boot command line and also from booting the original 3.6 CD. I can always get kiosk mode but never the url I specified. I am not quoting the string or anything, just: desktop=kiosk url=http://the.websiteIwant.com . No trailing slash (The period between com and No is the end of my sentence, not part of the argument).

Steve

Fabianx

09-06-2004, 01:06 AM

Okay, I like it so far. I was still able to break out by viewing source, edit, open a file or website. I'll look at prefs.js stuff in mozilla and adjust my remaster.

I wasn't able to use url=http://some.website.com . When I look in the $HOME/kiosk.html file created from 45xsession script I can see it is written but the line, window.open("","", ... doesn't have my url as the first parameter; just empty string.
Steve

Yes, what is even worse and that was the initial part for not publishing it and just having it as a small "secret":

With the printer button, you can execute all commands. And its there, even if I have said: NoPrinterButton.

If you find the right configuration, please tell me, so that I can add it to official knoppix and we might have that as a feature by Steve F. and Fabianx in 3.8 :-).

url=www.google.de, so without the http:// should work.

cu

Fabian

Steve F

09-06-2004, 01:57 AM

Fabianx

09-06-2004, 02:07 AM

Nope, tried without the http:// and no good.

I went ahead and took advantage of being able to access and edit files through view source. I added the url without the http into thewindow.open function in $HOME/kiosk.html file. Quiting the editor restarts mozilla. It came back with '/home/knoppix/www.mywebsite.com not found' or simular.

I changed to http://www.mywebsite.com . Quite editor, restart mozilla, and voila!, my page. The problem seems to be related to the line url=$(getbootparam url) not returning anything.

Steve

Yes, lol

somehow those two functions got lost:

stringinstring(){
case "$2" in *$1*) return 0;; esac
return 1
}

# Reread boot command line; echo last parameter's argument or return false.

getbootparam(){
stringinstring " $1=" "$CMDLINE" || return 1
result="${CMDLINE##*$1=}"
result="${result%%[ ]*}"
echo "$result"
return 0
}

Add the above start_kiosk or take the file from:

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/nx/addon/45xsession.neu

Should not differ besides that.

cu

Fabian

Steve F

09-06-2004, 06:20 AM

That worked great!

I am looking at autohide.xpi and other parameters in mozilla to secure it up. I'll keep track and post my results.

In this last test I got to my web site okay. A drop down form select didn't 'drop down'. I guess this might be due to mozilla or some koisk mode setting. I'll get it sorted out. I was wondering though if kiosk mode would work with kde and konqueror? I was looking at kde kiosk administrator but only got partial results.

Fabianx

09-06-2004, 06:24 AM

That worked great!
[...] I was wondering though if kiosk mode would work with kde and konqueror? I was looking at kde kiosk administrator but only got partial results.

KDE has _very_ mighty overall Kiosk mode. Since KDE 3.3 there is also a nice tool called kiosktool to administrate your kiosk.

cu

Fabian

Steve F

09-06-2004, 02:41 PM

I'm guessing the cheatcode desktop=kiosk can't easily be made to startup kde and konqueror. If I want konqueror I'll have to set up a kiosk user and change an init thingie to run under that user by default? I have some research ahead to learn more about the different window managers and which browsers can be used. For today I plan to work mozilla.

Steve F

09-06-2004, 10:13 PM

I installed autohide.xpi on my dev system mozilla so I could see what changed. I intended to script add it to my remaster manually. I left one step out so I didn't get a good test on the remaster. Looking at my dev system mozilla (where I had a proper install), I started to get unusual behavior. I was no longer able to run mozilla preferences so I couldn't verify that autohide was running properly. I also got inconsistent behavior with the menus where sometimes they were hidden and I was unable to control the configuration. I have removed mozilla and reinstalled 1.7.2. The reinstall of mozilla seems to be behaving correctly. I'm going to drop autohide as a possibility.

I found a project at mozdev.org for a complete kiosk configurator. The project web page is kiosk.mozdev.org . I'll post an update when I know more.

Steve

Steve F

09-08-2004, 01:37 AM

Okay, silly me!

I didn't make progress with kiosk.mozdev.org but I learned some interesting things.

I think the problem I caused with autohide is that I copied a modified chrome.rdf to my /remaster/usr/lib/mozilla/chrome directory. What I didn't realize at the time is that the chrome.rdf file in that directory links to /var/lib/mozilla/chrome/chrome.rdf . I was not chrooted so I ended up changing my dev system mozilla instead of the remaster. That explains why I didn't get the correct behavior on my remaster test and screwed up my dev mozilla.

I'll rewrite my script to copy to /remaster/var/lib/mozilla/chrome . Mozilla also requires running rebuild-databases.sh which I think I will have to do as chroot so all the correct files are updated.

Steve

Steve F

09-09-2004, 06:03 PM

Fabianx,

I am getting good behavior from autohide.xpi. I did find that I can't specify both the URL and the option -fullscreen when starting mozilla. Only one or the other and you get the expected behavior. If you specify both you get neither. I choose to specify -fullscreen and use user_pref("..homepage","www.myhomepage.com") and some other settings. I am starting over on a better computer and will write the steps I am using to get the results I'm looking for.

I just found that there is a way to run kde from the chroot on the remaster. If I do that I can add the autohide.xpi using the browser. My question is: do my procedures for getting a good kiosk mode have to be script driven against the remaster directory, or when you setup a distribution, (i.e. knoppix V3.8) are you able to execute the source environment in place and add features as the user? Or, does kiosk mode have to completely configure itself from 45xsession at run time?

Thanks, Steve

oitsubob

09-09-2004, 11:07 PM

Ghandalfar,
Not to rush you, but I'm curious if you've been able to make any progress with your efforts?

Thanks,

Bob

Warpath

10-10-2004, 07:35 AM

Hello all. I have been reading all the messages about this project. I to am curious if there is any progress made. I am looking for a LIVE CD web browser to run small internet kiosks. I'm really interested in an easy way to edit the default homepage and default bookmarks. What I'm looking to do is set systems up in bars. The default hompage will be the establishments website, with news and updates, and the bookmarks will be for online casino gaming. So java and flash plugins would be needed also. Right now I currently use the Morphix Firefox-1. But it lacks... If anyone has a beta iso created already for download, that would be great. I'd love to test it out.

Ghandalfar

10-10-2004, 12:10 PM

Actually I have it ready for a few days now. Let me upload it somewhere.

Ghandalfar

10-10-2004, 02:24 PM

http://www.ljudmila.org/~gandalf/firefox3.iso

Changelog:

* flash plugin [done ]
* Change start-up bootsplash and color of progress bar [done]
* Boot FireFox into fullscreen mode [done]
* maybe make a bookmarks.txt file that could include a list of premade bookmarks, (or settings.txt config file) [done]
* proxy.txt that gets scanned at boot where proxy info could be placed, maybe a few other minor items I forgot (or settings.txt config file) [done]
* network configuration -- dhcp or fixed ip [done] (needs to add files to cd)

There is also wiki: http://wiki.livecd.net/livecd/FireFox to which you can add items for the todo list.

Warpath

10-10-2004, 04:34 PM

Ghandalfar

10-10-2004, 04:59 PM

WOW, this is awesome!. I love it. Very clean and simple. Great job!
I only have a few questions. How do I remaster the CD with preset bookmarks, proxy, oh and change the default home page?...When i explore the iso image, I do not see the bookmarks.txt, proxy.txt, setting.txt files. Do I create these myself? if so, how? and where do I put these files.

If you take a close look at cd you will see firefox/prefs.js that is used instead of the one that is inside home directory on cd - just to show the concept.

There you can put following files:

- prefs.js
- bookmarks.html

you can also put whole .mozilla folder there. So you have firefox/mozilla that gets copied into .mozilla folder. Please notice that with never releases of firefox the .firefox folder is gone and .mozilla/firefox/default.sth/ is used. (just in case you start looking over your files and wonder why no .firefox copying).

Also I noticed that you can still get around the full screen mode on the browser. By clicking out of full screen mode (upper right hand corner) the user can still access the browser configurations. Anyway of making the browser permanently stay in full screen? and maybe just include a printer icon in full screen mode?

I'll have to dig into XUL to do this. One of these days .. :)

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of such changes since most users won't close the browser anyway while others will because they'll feel more at home using it. I'd certanly be very nervus using full screen only browsing.

Also is there away to add a java VM plugin or other java plugin, so that someone can play yahoo games, or use java based chat rooms?

Well, flash and adobe acrobat are already in. Java can also find a way in and soon will.

I once did a job at a univerity. In there library they had live cd internet kiosks terminals. The browser was netscape and had java & flash abblilities. I remember booting one up and seeing a verbose type of screen, so I think it was some form of knoppix or other. I just wish I knew where I could get that same live cd they were using. It also did something cool which you might consider...when you close out all the browsers and just see the desktop...5 secs later a new browser automatically opens to the default homepage, always keeping a browser window open for the next user.

Good idea. I'll include it into next release.

Oh, and how and where do I edit the file for a network printer? and could this printer just be a printer that is connected to a PC on the same network, or does it need to be a network printer pluged directly into the network?

This version doesn't have printer support. Since I didn't feel that anyone really used it. Previous version automaticly detected CUPS printers on network and added them to firefox. If you know exactly what printer you have and how is connected special version can be made for your needs.

I know I am asking a lot, and I am obviously not a programer...I'm just a Live CD fan. I love this kiosk concept and think it has potential for being an easy way to setup low cost internet kiosk terminals anywhere. You have done an awesome job so far....keep up the good work!

Thanks. :oops:

Warpath

10-10-2004, 07:55 PM

Ghandalfar

10-10-2004, 10:06 PM

hello. I was thinking to...If you have a new browser respawn after a set number of seconds from the time that all browser windows are closed....you would not need the taskbar with the web browser launch icon at the bottom. Since there will constently be a new browser window opening automatically. Not sure if you were thinking the samething.

Taskbar at the bottom is useful if you want to add any extra stuff like 'network-conf', 'pppconf', 'thunderbird' etc. to give additional dimension to livecd.

I was also curious...is there a way to change the desktop wallpaper? say to a customized one that I design.

You need to extract firefox1.mod and change the morphix/background.png file. If there is need it can be moved to outer-layer.

I'm also having trouble creating a new iso image after I have made my alterations. Im using Roxio, and the iso gets created, but when I go to burn the image to cd....it wont bootup?Basically all Im doing is taking the extracted files from your iso image and then creating a new iso of my own...any ideas?
Thanks

You need to add boot image to iso image. There is base/boot.img file that you need to attach somehow to image to get it booting. Consult your documentation how you do that since I've never seen Roxio SW.

Ghandalfar

10-10-2004, 10:07 PM

oh, if anyone wants to watch flash movie of how firefox3.iso looks like:

here is a link: http://www.ljudmila.org/~gandalf/ff3.swf

Warpath

10-11-2004, 03:03 AM

hmm, I'm using windowsXP...seems that there is not windows program that allows you to open and edit a MOD file. Atleast I couldnt find one online...still having trouble with recreating the iso. base/boot file to make the cd bootable. But it adds 2 boot files to the front of the cd. When the cd boots up, all I get is a black screen and GRUB....man, meybe a how-to .txt file added in would be helpful. instrustions on how to change the most common things. Unless you know of a good how-to section online?

Ghandalfar

10-12-2004, 10:09 PM

you need linux since it's clooped .iso image

I'm sure there are instructions inside knoppix.net docs how to do it or someone else can help you. I'd rather not flow into windows software waters right now.

I know that when you use Nero you can select bootable cd/el torito cd and you can specify path to boot.img and that one is supposed to work.

jayb

10-22-2004, 08:53 AM

Hi Ghandalfar

I really like your CD, well done!!

Do you know how I can stop the monitor from going into power save?

Thanks

clmoxley

10-25-2004, 04:24 PM

Ghandalfar

10-25-2004, 05:32 PM

Having printer support and xpdf would make this image perfect for me. I'd rather not bother you with the task of making my perfect kiosk CD. Is this as simple as putting the Cups and xpdf packages in /deb?

version2 had built-in cups autodetection support and acroread I think

version3 doesn't since I didn't see enough interest.

If you want you can drop me a mail with more precise specs (homepage, and such) and I'll create an iso for you.

I'd warn against just dropping things into deb/ since patches for xprint and cups are a bit more complex than this. Sadly.

thomasruch

10-26-2004, 10:01 PM

@Ghandalfar:

Thank you for your great work!

But standard Acrobat and printer Support would be great! May you publish a generic iso-file?

Additional Question: How can i change the keyboard layout in swiss german?

Warpath

11-01-2004, 06:19 AM

Adding GAIM to the task bar would be cool. Or some other chat client program. Also, anyway of to get rid of the Firefox prompts asking if you want to store your password? and possibly disable all other prompts...just kinda annoying. I think to make it idiot proof for the user, less distractions and messages...the better.

Ghandalfar

11-01-2004, 09:19 PM

thomasruch: generic iso file?

Warpath: sure. Yet it will be different cd.

forrest

11-02-2004, 07:00 AM

:) HI there Ghandalfar..

This bootable browser is exactly what our school needed!

Awsome work !!!!

Do you know how to get rid of the "full screen / optons" button?
...so I can stop the little critters from "playing"

Ghandalfar

11-02-2004, 09:53 AM

Already working on this.

Screenshot of interface of next version:
http://sigma.livecd.net/~gandalf/sub17.png

I'll be making also version with GAIM and Thunderbird included (those will have panel on the bottom).

I welcome comments about this new GUI.

Harry Kuhman

11-02-2004, 08:21 PM

This is a great implimentation. Here are a few observations on what I saw when I tested it:

First of all, I have had to use cheat codes on recent versions on Knoppix to even boot. If I boot Knoppix without "knoppix noscsi acpi=off", I just hang with a blank screen. This CD does not need cheat codes (to boot, but see below). This leads me to question, is this actually Knoppix? If so is it based on a recent Knoppix or an older one? And if it is based on a recent Knoppix, does anyone have any idea why it boots on my HP laptop but normal Knoppix does not, and if the change can and should be carried back to normal Knoppix?

Second, as I documented in a couple of threads in the Networking forum, Knoppix used to access the Internet just fine on my laptop, but the very same working CD stopped accessing the Internet. This seemed to happen right after I installed a Windows "security update". A few others have seen this too. I have a work around for Knoppix that involves resetting the NIC and rerunning netcardconfig. I take it there is no way I could do that with this version (which also has the networking problem on boot), since this is intended to be a kiosk type operation, but if I'm wrong about that please let me know.

Ghandalfar

11-02-2004, 11:44 PM

It's not knoppix. It's morphix.

I'm also working on Knoppix version for exactly the same reason - better hardware support.

Ghandalfar

11-04-2004, 09:40 AM

most of the things on todo were done so I'll be posting a new version tommorow

Ghandalfar

11-04-2004, 07:01 PM

You can find new version in my blog (http://blogs.livecd.net/gandalfar/index.php?blog=5&title=and_thus_i_present_you_stallion_livecd&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)

UnderScore

11-05-2004, 03:36 AM

Harry Kuhman

11-05-2004, 04:47 AM

About Stallion: I verified the CDR's MD5 and I have burned the CD in Windows using Nero and it fails to boot on 3 PCs that boot Knoppix flawlessly. I thougth that perhaps maybe it was by CDR drive, so I burned it on a different PC with cdrecord in Linux on different CDR media and it too fail to boot on my 3 PCs.
For what it's worth:

The good news: It boots for me.

The bad news: The old version booted for me too. But neither version will access the Internet. (I've had a problem getting on the network since installing an XP "security update".) I can't do a reset and netcard config to try restarting the network, and this version will apparently not let me use the Linux start up cheat codes that normally lets me get on to the network.

Also, it fails to recognize my USB Microsoft optical mouse, although the touch pad built into the notebook still works (Knoppix works find for the mouse).

Harry Kuhman

11-05-2004, 09:25 AM

Further update:
I just tried to boot the Stallion CD on my desktop system. It's an Athlon system on an Abit mb. It boots Knoppix fine, as well as plenty of other bootable CDs including PHLAK and the previous version of this CD, the release with the Firefox name on it. But Stallion will not boot - the BIOS looks at the CD and skips right past it, booting the hard drive (Windows) instead. Yes, the boot order checks the CD first, I just tried the others I mentioned and all still boot.

So there is something strange about this release.

mukesh

11-05-2004, 12:23 PM

Does anyone know of an internet kiosk version of knoppix that is able to be used on a business network (not allowed to browse the network) and only be able to access one or two sites? I am trying to find one for a friend that needs it for his customers. It will allow them to browse his internet page and see his products that aren't in the show room.

If so...
Which one
How do I secure it from being an open door to the local lan
How do I keep it from accessing the rest of the (windows) computers
Make an install on the HDD so it will respond faster

Thanks.

hi i am new to this knoppix customization
plz tell me where to start

UnderScore

11-05-2004, 05:03 PM

I have now tried it at another PC at work and it booted up. Harry Kuhman is correct, there is something odd about this CD.
On the upside: It booted up. On the downside: I am unable to surf the web with stallion. Since my workplace requires a proxy and also requires proxy authentication and I am unable to configure firefox (which I realize is a feature of stallion & not a bug or complaint).

Ghandalfar

11-06-2004, 12:35 AM

I'm sorry to hear that CD didn't work for you.

Even more interesting is fact that boot scripts and kernel and everything is completly the same as in firefox3 release.

I'll give more time into Knoppix version.

Harry Kuhman

11-06-2004, 01:12 AM

.....Even more interesting is fact that boot scripts and kernel and everything is completly the same as in firefox3 release.....
Something's different, as the Firefox3 release does boot and run well on the desktop, but the Stallion release does not (even though it does boot on my notebook!) And I've burnt a second copy of Stallion on CDRW just to be sure, same results. The MD5 sum matches what you posted. Burned both Firefox3 and Stallion with Nero on the same CD burner, and burned at 4x.

Ghandalfar

11-06-2004, 11:15 PM

Warpath

11-08-2004, 02:40 AM

For those of you trying to remaster these ISO's and then burn the files back to cdr. I personally use Roxio EZ CD Creator. I first start by creating a bootable cd. I set the Emulation to 2.88 floppy. I use the boot.img file that is located in the base folder. If you do not use an emulation and have it set to "no emulation" the cd will not boot.

For the Stalion and Vanilla editions. I am trying to find out how to change the firefox preffrences. I do not see the pref file in any folders. I would like to change the homepage and bookmarks....how would I do this in these newer versions. Thanks in advance.

Rixel

11-10-2004, 09:18 PM

which version of knoppix would you recommend me to use as a base for stallion-knoppix version.

The latest and greatest .. or is there better support with any of older versions? I ask because I haven't been in Knoppix world for quite a while since I'm working with Morphix for almost a year ..

For this application, I think it might be better to use 3.2 or older.....I think 3.2 was the last version that you could boot off of a 1.4 floppy.

Rixel

Ghandalfar

11-10-2004, 11:59 PM

Rixel

11-12-2004, 08:24 PM

why is floppy booting more important then better hw support?

Warpath: I'm afraid they're both a bit unchangable without extracting mainmods .. Sorry about that. Will fix that with next release. :oops:

My thought is that for an Internet kiosk using just one application, the latest hardware would probably not be used. I doubt that an Nvidia FX5600 ultra or dual Opterons will be in that machine.

More likely, the target machine would probably be an older pentium that may be donated to a library or school.

Just a thought.

Rixel

Oh, and it is easier to modify boot options with a floppy disk.

Warpath

11-13-2004, 03:13 AM

I agree with Rixel. My idea for the kiosk is to locate some retired 300mhz comps with all onboard components. Then remove the motherboards and put them into smaller cases. With just a cd-rom,case, and motherboard...you can pretty much fit it all into a miniATX case. Keep the comp just as simple as the kiosk live cd...no bells and whisles.

..Any chance of adding GAIM to the next version? would be cool to sit at the coffee shop and instant message some buds.

dccollie

11-13-2004, 03:37 AM

I've read through some of the posts here and tested out the firefox3.iso. I've taken a slightly different approach in creating a kiosk environment. You can download the scripts I wrote to facilitate creating a kiosk using firefox at boothbox.sourceforge.net. There's also a torrent available of the iso image I created after I remastered knoppix. I'll be updating the iso image in the next couple of days with some of the changes I've rolled into the latest livecd I've created. For now the image I've provided should provide a good base for people who want a fullscreen web kiosk.

Ghandalfar

11-13-2004, 12:18 PM

I didn't quite understand how is it different from stallion livecd. Downloading torrent now ...

Ghandalfar

11-13-2004, 01:57 PM

nice. Which WM are you using?

dccollie

11-13-2004, 02:35 PM

I'm using metacity to handle any windows that aren't opened fullscreen. I've also created a custom userChrome.css, edited the browser.js, and the browser.xul in order to lockdown the interface. I've been trying this out on two machines in the student life centre at my university and so far everyone has been happy with it.

davea0511

11-17-2004, 05:46 PM

I was thrilled when I found this thread! Great work! I'm excited to give it a spin.

Robustness and silence are two major qualities you want when designing a kiosk, and the best way to do that is to make it totally solid state: a fanless system using a IDE/CF adapter fitted with a CF card. Can the LiveCD be burned to a CF card? How big would the CF card need to be?

davea0511

11-17-2004, 09:16 PM

You can find new version in my blog (http://blogs.livecd.net/gandalfar/index.php?blog=5&title=and_thus_i_present_you_stallion_livecd&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)
About Stallion: I verified the CDR's MD5 and I have burned the CD in Windows using Nero and it fails to boot on 3 PCs that boot Knoppix flawlessly. I thougth that perhaps maybe it was by CDR drive, so I burned it on a different PC with cdrecord in Linux on different CDR media and it too fail to boot on my 3 PCs.

I also have tried it on 3 different systems (An Intel XP laptop, AMD XP desktop, Epia mini-ITX), trying both the Stallion and Firecast ISO's, using 1.44 2.88 and HD Emulations (yeah, that's 18 attempts). They recognize the boot disk as a boot disk with the correct emulation, but it doesn't boot. It just hangs. I've made other ISO's that work just fine, so its gotta be the image. Perhaps it's something with the drivers that come with morphix?

Harry Kuhman

11-17-2004, 10:20 PM

I also have tried it on 3 different systems (An Intel XP laptop, AMD XP desktop, Epia mini-ITX), trying both the Stallion and Firecast ISO's, using 1.44 2.88 and HD Emulations (yeah, that's 18 attempts). They recognize the boot disk as a boot disk with the correct emulation, but it doesn't boot. It just hangs. I've made other ISO's that work just fine, so its gotta be the image. Perhaps it's something with the drivers that come with morphix?
Yup, something very strange. Something very basic in the boot image, my desktop boots the previous version fine, this version it just looks at and then goes on to boot the hard drive instead, treats the CD as if it is not bootable (but it looks bootable under iso buster once I look at it in Windows).

rbarnich

11-18-2004, 03:38 AM

I initially couldn't get the stalion download to boot properly, but I noticed that the download had prematurely ended and the file size was only 50MB. It burned ok, but would only partially boot. I re-downloaded and it has worked fine on several systems. I did have to enter cheat codes for screen=1024x768 and xmodule=vesa.

Harry Kuhman

11-18-2004, 04:21 AM

rbarnich

11-18-2004, 09:16 PM

I initially couldn't get the stalion download to boot properly, but I noticed that the download had prematurely ended and the file size was only 50MB....
Mine was full size; md5 sum also check fine. Boots OK on my notebook, does not boot on my desktop.

I've been unable to get any of the CD's I burned last night to boot on any of the machines I've tried at work today. STRANGE. I'll have to retry them at home , tonight.

davea0511

11-20-2004, 04:08 AM

Okay - I got it to work. I figured out what I was doing wrong - Warpath gave instructions how to burn the ISO if you are remastering it, and those were the instructions I was following. I wasn't remastering it though, and so I was making a bootable image of a bootable image - which will cause your computer to hang.

The procedure needs to be different if you're starting with an image that is already bootable - which is what Gandalfar was giving us. Just burn the ISO as you normally would a Data CD (not a "Bootable CD") and it will work. It worked for me.

Now... how to get it on an IDE CF card for a truly solid state system. Anyone? Also, I need to add a touch screen driver.

Harry Kuhman

11-20-2004, 04:26 AM

.... Just burn the ISO as you normally would a Data CD (not a "Bootable CD") and it will work. It worked for me.....
Well, this is a very misleading statement. When I just burn a data CD (under Nero) I just drag the files I want to the application and burn the CD. If you do this with an ISO ile ou'll just get a CD with a single file on it - the iso. Knoppix iso's (and other ISO's) should be burnt, when working with Nero (other systems will have similar options) with the "Burn Image..." option under the file menu, as documented in the faq.

mataz

11-22-2004, 03:09 PM

You can find new version in my blog (http://blogs.livecd.net/gandalfar/index.php?blog=5&title=and_thus_i_present_you_stallion_livecd&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) :P
Very well done Ghandalfar!
I run an internet cafe in italy.
For a year I used Knoppix, whith no hard disk, as my linux kiosk system.
Unfortunatly Knoppix has many haking applications like Ethereal, and has dangerous settings, for example the default knoppix user can do "su".

The "Stallion" live cd is a great improvement, but it neads some modifications to be 'the perfect linux system for an internet kiosk' :
1) No root access,
2) A button for saving internet files to floppy disks.
3) Printing to shared printers neaded .
4) Passwords inside web forms should never be remebered.
5) Other languages for firefox's buttons and dialog boxs.
6) Gaim
7) No killall, reboot and shutdown ability, nor ctrl-ald-del.

Anyway, thank you so much!

brad

11-22-2004, 06:19 PM

I'm glad to see these projects available. I'd like to offer ...
What I use to test the ISO's before burning them to disk is
VMWare. With VMWare you can tell it to use an ISO instead of the CD
and then when you load the VM it will boot striaght from the ISO like
it would from a CD. This lets you save on CDs!

I would like to see an easy way to specify the home page.
One possibility, if you specify the url as say http://sluppix
then you can set the DNS to point to that machine. You could create
a virtual host with a page that has a java redirect to the site
you want. This way anyone who uses the disk can all have the
same homepage set, but the redirect will point them to the
correct page. I Hope that makes sense. I got it to work.

BB

Ghandalfar

11-22-2004, 07:59 PM

mataz: would disabling Ctrl+Alt+Fn solve all your security concerns?

brad

11-22-2004, 09:34 PM

Disabling Ctrl-Alt-Fn. Would be a very good idea.

I built a kiosk station from Suse Linux. Here are a few steps I took:
Disable Ctrl-Alt-FN. (I left one open, just in case)
Set Grub boot menu to load in 0 seconds.
I disabled Ctrl-Alt-Del. You could disable Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. I left
mine on just in case the GUI got locked. But since these distro's boot off
the CD then you don't really care about the FileSystem so disabling
Ctrl-Alt-BkSp would be ok. Then they would just need to reboot the
kiosk. I also locked down firefox as tight as I can. No right clicks,
no printing, they can't change anything except the address in the address
bar. Even then we don't let them browse off campus.
I set this up about 6 months ago and I was searching high/low for a bootable,
cd kiosk. Since I didn't find one I decided to build my own. The down side is that
I lost one of the partitions once when the power went out. If it was a cd I wouldn't have had that problem. But, (one more thing i'm doing) I tarred up the
home directory when I was finished. so on each reboot I delete the homedir and
recreate it. This just keeps things clean.
BB

davea0511

11-23-2004, 11:56 AM

This is probably a morphix question... but what is the default resolution set at, and can it be changed? On my laptop the whole thing appears in a small window in the middle of my screen, I'm guessing it's a 800x600 window.

Thanks,
Dave

ps - LCD screens don't do non-default resolutions very well.

mataz

11-23-2004, 08:31 PM

mataz: would disabling Ctrl+Alt+Fn solve all your security concerns?Disabling Ctrl+Alt+Fn helps to prevent unwanted program execution.
Still, not giving root rights
is the only way to make things safe. In such case no script or program will alter the system. You may say that's not true; OK, I have seen c programs that will get root access on 2.24 kernel but anyway there are kernel updates for such security lags.
If the users rights are limited to usage (and nothing else), and kernel updates and a firewall are present, YOU MADE THE KIOSK VERY SAFE. :P
The UNIX multiuser systems were made to prevent users to mess up with administrators configurations in universitys and reserch-labs. Today IT-experts seam to forget how simple it is to stop junk from getting in the system.
That's it. I am happy to help you if I can.
P.s.:(wanna know why winXP home is as unsafe as win9x/me?: they can't make a user without the installing, disinstalling and reconfiguring rights, they browse, they click, they INSTALL :twisted: ).

davea0511

12-01-2004, 12:01 AM

I would like to add the Linux driver for a touchscreen (this one: http://www.enablemart.com/productdetail.aspx?store=10&pid=329&dept=21) to gandalfar's app. I've used linux for years, but am very new to programming in it (other than shell scripts).

Can someone tell me how would I go about adding a touchscreen driver like this? Thanks in advance!

-Dave

Ghandalfar

12-01-2004, 12:52 AM

where can one get the driver?

rbarnich

12-01-2004, 02:51 PM

where can one get the driver?
XFree86 has a driver for the "ELO" touch screen serial controller built in.
If the touch screen has another controller card or chip, usually the company website will have them. I've used ELO and Hampshire(TSHARC) controllers under linux. Be advised that calibration programs are written for Windows, but the resulting file can be used with the Linux drivers.
Hope this helps,
rbarnich

davea0511

12-01-2004, 09:36 PM

I'm certian the Elo drivers won't work. I like the add-on touchscreen better because an add-on touchscreen solution is much cheaper, and it's much easier (and cheaper) to replace in the event of vandalism. (you can also put a heavy duty piece of acrylic between it an the screen for added protection).

Here's the drivers for the add-on touchscreen: http://www.magictouch.com/support_proe_x.html

-Dave

pinoylinux

12-22-2004, 01:20 AM

of all the firefox kiosk iso.
which of the iso releases can can support 100% full screen without address bar, buttons, google searchbar.
it will display only the contents of the default page.

this is perfect for kiosk that will allow only specific website.
anyone?

oitsubob

12-22-2004, 04:38 AM

That's exactly what I'm looking for too. Ghandalfar's Firefox livecd will work, but we'd need to go in and edit the firefox xml files and comment out those features. Not being all that proficient in Linux and busy on other projects, I haven't taken the time to dive in and see if I can figure it out. I'm off until the beginning of the year and hope to have some time next week to play. I've also been looking at doing something similar with Windows XP Embedded or BartPE since windows is a lot more familiar, but getting it to work under Linux would seem like more of an accomplishment. If I get something to work, I'll be sure to share, but if someone else beats me to it, I wouldn't mind either :) I'd still need a way to customize the boot splash screens, desktop wallpaper and homepage. Ghandalfar was working on something like this a while back, a highly configurable kiosk, but he's a busy guy and is involved with more important things.

Bob

Ghandalfar

12-23-2004, 12:08 AM

pinoylinux: what's wrong with stallion?

oitsubob: there are heavy plans to release new version before new year, or hopefuly in the first half of january..

davea0511

12-23-2004, 05:29 AM

Gandalfar-

Like Pinolinux and Oitsubob, I'm also looking for an Info-Kiosk geared more toward providing the user with a kiosk that doesn't even look like a webpage. Something that boots up to no menubar, no statusbar, no addressbar - where the whole screen is filled 100% with customized HTML or Flash content from the start.

Also, I had a novel idea about how to customize the homepage: Always point it to "d:\index.html". Then someone can just add another drive ($35 example: an IDE-to-CF adapter with a CF card) containing a website or an autoforwarding webpage. Also, with this method internet access wouldn't be required, but usable if internet access is available.

Please note that many interactive kiosks are in remote locations that don't even have internet access so the website has to be located on the computer itself. In fact, that's one of my big problems: my kiosks go into new construction model homes - many don't even have a phone line. Of course, an added benefit is that local webpages are also much faster and it's best to store Flash video and other large files locally.

Lastly, (since I'm spilling my guts) I have a fear that your next version of Stallion could be a step backwards if it requires customization for each person to use as they need. In fact, it's the plug-n-play ability that makes the Stallion LiveCD great as an internet-cafe (and it will be absolutely perfect when you disable Ctrl+Alt+Fn). Similarly, I believe that a distinctly seperate Info-kiosk LiveCD like what I described above would be perfect for Info-kiosk applications (as opposed to internet-cafe applications). Nothing to "configure" then... just put the InfoKiosk LiveCD in drive 'C:\', and then put your website or autoforward webpage in drive 'D:\', and be done with it.

So, JMHO - I vote to keep the internet-cafe (Stallion) and the Info-Kiosk (which I described above) as two seperate LiveCD apps... but that's just because complicated things hurt my brain. Ow. Why me laugh?;)

PS - do you have a paypal account where we can donate to this cause?

oitsubob

12-23-2004, 06:55 AM

I tend to agree with Dave on the fact that two distinct liveCD's are needed. They each have their own purposes which do differ from one another. The info-kiosk we envision isn't for "web surfing" but rather to provide information on a product, whatever that may be.

For us non-guru's, digging in and figuring this out on our own seems to be a struggle. I'd really like to learn, but honestly, Linux is still a little intimidating and this level of customization seems pretty advanced for this Windows user. I really liked some of the early ideas behind the firefox livecd where some of the settings were stored outside the mainmod and available to edit without having to decompress/recompress. Some of these settings might include the default start page location (which could point to a local file or a URL), boot-splash image/progress bar color and wallpaper images that we could just replace with our own of the same name.

Whether that's doable is another story all together.

Ghandalfar,
I plan to try to go into the stallion.mod file and see if the stallion xml is similar to firefox in that you can comment out what you don't need. That part, at least, seemed pretty straight forward. I actually made it work for my Windows box :)

As for the boot-splash, progress bar color and wallpaper image, could you point me to where that can be found? I know you have plans to release something in the next few weeks, which I eagerly look forward to, but unfortunately my boss is expecting me to come up with something before the end of the year. He wants to be able to include it in our list of accomplishments for our annual performance review. You and I have talked occasionally offline, so you know this is something I've been sitting on for a while. Now, unfortuantely, my procrastination is finally coming back to bite me -- so it's crunch time!

The only other change I could envision to put this to rest would be to disable ctrl+alt+fn keys. While you can't seem to do much, it does hang up the machine.

Hope you all have a Happy Holiday season!

Bob

Ghandalfar

12-23-2004, 09:51 AM

oitsubob: well, you said you could wait. Anyway contact me by mail and I'm sure I can help you if you provide me with nice list of things that you'd like.

davea0511: really great insight. I'll make sure there will be at least two versions.

Any suggestions how to make sure distributing flash is allowed?

pinoylinux

12-23-2004, 08:44 PM

i agree both with dave and oitsubob,

a new separate ISO for pure 100% buttonless,addressbar less, and ctrl+alt+fn less
more power to gandalfar!

davea0511

12-23-2004, 11:10 PM

Any suggestions how to make sure distributing flash is allowed?

I didn't get that. You mean Flash Memory, or Macromedia Flash? I wish they hadn't given two different and powerful technologies the exact same name.

Regarding Flash Memory, these IDE-to-CF adapters will attach a CF card to an IDE slot, and fool the BIOS into thinking it's a hard drive. The adapters are cheap ($15 for this one: http://www.wisp-router.com/product_info.php?cPath=38&products_id=103 ). Flash memory is cheap too ( http://www.pricewatch.com/ shows a 64 Mb for only $13).

The URL that points to a homepage on the CF card should look like this: " file://localhost/D:/index.html ". Then all we have to do is make sure that the BIOS assigns 'D:\' as the drive letter to the CF card.

Another way is to put the LiveCD on a CF card instead of CD-ROM, and put the index.html on the same card under a directory called 'website'. That way the URL would be: " file://localhost/C:/website/index.html ". That would also save someone the cost of a CD drive, not to mention they get the benefit of no more CD drive noise and unreliability - and silent kiosks are the sign of true quality.

For reference, here's a guy who put the Knoppix LiveCD on a bootable CF card: http://staff.washington.edu/gray/KnoppixCFguide.html . He shows how to do it, and relates all the benefits for doing so (one being easy customization of the kernel which is one of the challenges that we're facing here).

Ghandalfar

12-24-2004, 08:20 AM

sorry, I meant Macromedia flash

customizing kernel isn't a big challange :)

oitsubob

12-24-2004, 08:29 AM

LOL -- speak for yourself :) Just out of curiousity, is it possible to decompress, edit and recompress the main module from Windows? If so, do you know of any tutorials explaining how to do so?

Thanks,

Bob

Ghandalfar

12-24-2004, 09:14 AM

it should be possible with cygwin

Dominic Liversidge

12-28-2004, 02:34 PM

web kiosk but differnt i love the idea that this is locked down to 1 program (something which i am looking for) but its not firefox how easy would it be to remove firefox and make another linux program boot up instead.

oitsubob

12-29-2004, 01:04 AM

Dominic,
Check out the following tutorial on the Morphix.org website:

http://www.morphix.org/modules/sections/index.php?op=viewarticle&artid=13

Bob

flickerfly

01-04-2005, 05:49 PM

So, JMHO - I vote to keep the internet-cafe (Stallion) and the Info-Kiosk (which I described above) as two seperate LiveCD apps... but that's just because complicated things hurt my brain.

I agree and am glad to see that this idea is being implemented. I'm really interested in the idea of the Info-Kiosk (in our library) atm, but am thinking about distributing the Internet-cafe style as email stations around campus on old computers in the near future for students to check campus email.

The idea of using flash HDs is great and I am seriously considering that for future implementations. For now, I'll stick to the CD. I've messed with firefox-1, knoppix 3.7 kiosk commands, firefox3, and stallion just finished burning.

Is the new version anywhere near release? Sounded like some good changes on the verge of release.

Oh yeah, printing is a must for me on the Info-Kiosk. I would think the same of most kiosks.

flickerfly

01-04-2005, 07:46 PM

skrat

01-06-2005, 07:28 PM

flickerfly

01-07-2005, 04:49 PM

Thanks skrat!

Does anyone have any experience with hhttp://kiosk.mozdev.org/ aka The Kiosk Project

sloughary

01-07-2005, 05:46 PM

Just loaded stallion2.iso

Seems that the y and z keys are swapped. Any fix for this?

Thanks

owen0129

01-07-2005, 08:26 PM

Not only are y and z reversed, but I am having a hard time finding machines that will boot the CD. Seems to work ok on my laptop, but I've tried 6 completely different machines, and they all act like the CD isn't bootable.

Hrmmm...... :?

skrat

01-07-2005, 08:54 PM

sloughary: ups... i accidentaly left slovenian keybord settings. I will fix this and replace iso. Sory for the inconvinience.

owen0129: that is probabbly problem on your site (medium or iso download).
First check MD5sum: fbd93c4fa56a66ca338d58a4dcd7aa60
And than try to burn it on another medium.

owen0129

01-07-2005, 09:17 PM

skrat: I'll re-download the image once the ISO is online with the english keyboard. Many thanks.

Won't the MD5 change when you update the ISO tho?

Thanks.

owen0129

01-07-2005, 09:22 PM

skrat: I checked the MD5 you gave me against the image I downloaded, and it matches exactly.

I'm using reputable CDR media, but I'll try another brand/type to be safe. Other recent images I've burned boot up without issues though (Knoppix 3.7, Morphix 0.5pre4 w/ LightGUI, etc). I'll let you know what I find. In the meantime, look forward to the updated ISO with the english keyboard. Thanks.

davea0511

01-07-2005, 09:27 PM

LiveCD.net team prepared new build of Stallion Kiosk Live CD.

You can download iso from http://sigma.livecd.net/~skrat/stallion2.iso

Changelog:
- disabled Ctrl+Alt+Fn
- Downloads are completely disabled
- XPI install, Firefox updates and Firefox plugin finder service are disabled
- some minor changes in Firefox behavior (Password Manager is disabled by default, Saving Form Information is disabled by default...)
- Adobe Acrobat Reader plugin
- Macromedia Flash plugin
- Firefox 1.0
Awsome! Before I try it, can you tell me if you know whether they included the Linux driver for the touch screen add-on I previously requested in this thread? (Linux driver his here: http://www.enablemart.com/productdetail.aspx?store=10&pid=329&dept=21)

If not, how does a linux newbie like myself add this driver?

skrat

01-07-2005, 10:13 PM

davea0511: ther are no big changes on kernel level so I am afraid that it will not work now it it didn't work on previous version of Stallion. I will do some more research on that issue but slight problem is that I don't have any touchscreen device to test it :roll:

However, I already prepared fixed version of Stallion with keyboard problem solved. It will take few hours to upload it to the server due to my slow uplink. You will be noticed, when it will be ready.

Ghandalfar

01-08-2005, 12:59 AM

I fixed ibuild to be able to use Morphix 0.5-pre4 so I hope skrat will release next version with that Morphix base.

UnderScore

01-08-2005, 07:26 AM

Awsome! Before I try it, can you tell me if you know whether they included the Linux driver for the touch screen add-on I previously requested in this thread? (Linux driver his here: http://www.enablemart.com/productdetail.aspx?store=10&pid=329&dept=21)
If not, how does a linux newbie like myself add this driver?

davea0511: ther are no big changes on kernel level so I am afraid that it will not work now it it didn't work on previous version of Stallion. I will do some more research on that issue but slight problem is that I don't have any touchscreen device to test it :roll:
According to the manufacturer of Magic Touch, http://www.magictouch.com/addon.html, Linux is supported. This page http://www.magictouch.com/install_addon_monitor.html is the manufacturer's install guide for the touch screen. At the bottom of that page it tells you to Controller & Driver Installation (http://www.magictouch.com/install_controller.html) to continue with the setup. On that page there is a link to download the drivers http://www.magictouch.com/login.html. On that page I choose either USB-X Controller (http://www.magictouch.com/support_usb_x.html) or ProE-X Controller (http://www.magictouch.com/support_usb_x.html), and they both link to a ZIP file with a Linux driver. According to the readme.txt file, This driver is compatible with RedHat Linux 9.0 under XFree86 v4.2.X. Unless I am reading it wrong, it does not have anything to do with the kernel but instead is a binary driver for XFree86. The problem with a binary driver is that it may only work for 4.2.x and not 4.3.x that Debian & Knoppix & probably Morphix uses.

The website that you mentioned has a 30 day money back guarantee, so if was daring & had the money, I would buy the touch screen, download RH9.0 and try it out & make sure it works. Then either use morphix, knoppix or debian & see if I could get it to work with that.
Please let us know if you intend to move forward with this as I would love to know if it works.
I hope this helps.
James

davea0511

01-08-2005, 06:41 PM

skrat and Underscore:

Thanks for the info...

Since XFREE86 v4.3 has been around for quite some time in all distros I figured the XFREE86 v4.2 compatible driver driver that they're still providing would work, so I already bought the touchscreen and have it right here on-hand ready to test.

My problem is this: I don't know enough about linux to even know how to install the driver (like where do I even put it, and what files do I need to edit to get Morphix/knoppix to load it - or is there alot more involved - I know, my newbie-ism is painfully glaring, I apologize).

If you can provide directions for a newbie like me on how to install their driver (or at least point me in the right direction) I'll do what I can night and day to try to make it work, because I'm already in hot water for being overdue on this project.

Much thanks!
-Dave

UnderScore

01-08-2005, 07:47 PM

If you can provide directions for a newbie like me on how to install their driver (or at least point me in the right direction)
You have a private message.
:D

Serpent

01-09-2005, 04:43 PM

The Stallion release Rules!

All i need to know now is how to setup:
1. Homepage
2. Proxy IP
3. Background Image
4. BrowserBar image

skrat

01-10-2005, 03:20 PM

Hi all!

After slight problems with matchbox and iBuild I finally prepared bug-fixed version of Stallion. I just replaced old stallion2.iso while the only change is keyboard setting from Slovenian back to English.

New iso is now compressed what was also my fault with previous release and is much smaller now. I appologize to all of you who spend way too much time/bandwidth to download previous uncompressed iso.

New MD5SUM: 166d15bd292417e1ce78e1b97b45c946

Serpent

01-10-2005, 04:29 PM

Where can i DL the new release?

http://sigma.livecd.net/~skrat/stallion2.iso doesnt work....

UnderScore

01-10-2005, 04:33 PM

Where can i DL the new release?
http://sigma.livecd.net/~skrat/stallion2.iso doesnt work....
It doesn't work? Hmmmm ... my download finished 16 minutes before your post & I verified the md5sum.

Serpent

01-10-2005, 07:59 PM

Yupp, works for me to now. Maybe the server has a dl limit....

Anyways the ISO works fine, though i thought this version would be the one where ctrl+alt+fn was diasbled.....

But as they say, he who waits.........

Regards Janne

skrat

01-11-2005, 01:04 AM

Serpent: thanks for bug report. It was disabled in previous version, after bug fixes (keyboard) dissabling of ctrl+alt+fn felt out. I found the bug and will be fixed in next release.

digDug

01-11-2005, 04:22 AM

a kiosk that doesn't even look like a webpage. Something that boots up to no menubar, no statusbar, no addressbar - where the whole screen is filled 100% with customized HTML or Flash content from the start.
If you need to dominate the entire screen - this is a very nice plugin. I haven't seen it posted anywhere, my apologies if it is old.
http://www.mozdevgroup.com/clients/bm
This is incredibly easy to install but you'll need to try it out with Mozilla. You just click and it installs itself. When the kiosk plugin is in effect, none of the typical keyboard commands work - F11, CTRL+R, ALT+HOME, CTRL+N, CTRL+P, etc. If you run Mozilla without a window manager and set the plugin to fullscreen - you won't see any toolbars, title bars, buttons, window controls, or status bars. Scroll bars will appear if your content is bigger than the screen. That's it. For Internet Cafe's you can show/hide each of the buttons. Default password is admin..
Admin mode
xinit -e mozilla -kiosk admin
Kiosk mode
xinit -e mozilla -kiosk

Ctrl+Alt+Backspace works, but my end users only have an ELO touch screen to work with. I wish they supported FireFox as well. Still it is definitely worth a spin. I have only tested this with Knoppix. I'm not sure if the plugin works for Windows. Windows is this neat app that lets me run Winamp and make Flash movies, that's about it.

Ghandalfar

01-11-2005, 11:36 AM

Requires Mozilla 1.7 or greater. Firefox currently not supported. :/

It will be interesting to give it a spin. Thanks for the link.

sloughary

01-13-2005, 08:59 PM

I took a copy of stallion2.iso and installed mozilla as well as the kiosk mod listed above. If anyone is interested, let me know. It allows the browser to be completely locked down or you may choose which items to add.

If someone has a place I can upload it, I will

Shawn

Steve F

01-17-2005, 02:15 AM

I spent the day with the Firefox live CD (vff4.iso). It sure is a lot easier than trying to get a KNOPPIX distro down to less than 200MB.

I added Autohide (www.krickelkrackel.de) to the mozilla-firefox directories and added some of my prefs in /etc/mozilla-firefox/prefs/firefox.js for proxy and startup page settings. I didn't get everything worked out but I'll try again tomorrow. I am not getting the total absolute full screen and I am not getting my server's index.html page.

I am setting up this configuration to use as an online secure exam client. The intention is to have my students boot their PC (laptop) from CD. The browser runs as single app with proxy from my testing server. The students will not be able to cheat by accessing other internet resources, local resources, or chat with their classmates during an exam.

I think I see in the matchbox startup for firefox where instead of cycling the browser on exit (after 10 seconds) I can cause a shutdown and retrieval (eject) of the CD.

Thanks for this solid work and any pointers will be appreciated.

MoonShadow

01-17-2005, 12:15 PM

Fantastic, This is what I was looking for,

I'd been toying with the Idea of a web browser Kiosk machine for some time but Only got round to doing anything about it on friday after noon. By the time I left work Friday I'd found Stallion, burned the CD and convinced people this was a viable concept...

Great work

Just so you know, I was looking for a setup that would boot from a write protected media (so it cant be hackted) that runs a 'Standard' web browser (with address bar) but wont allow acces to anything else (console etc) So far all I need to do is to remove the boot menu, have the Keyboard as UK English and remove any access to other consoles (the ctrl alt fn ) Other than that any browser pugins (The likes of Macomedia / Acrobat etc) would be helpful.

I'm glad I found a Linux/FireFox solution, Too many people round here think WinDowz is the only desktop OS....

Thanks, you've saved me months of work :)

Serpent: thanks for bug report. It was disabled in previous version, after bug fixes (keyboard) dissabling of ctrl+alt+fn felt out. I found the bug and will be fixed in next release.

Let us know when its out..

mataz

01-17-2005, 01:44 PM

8)
Wy not making a kiosk knoppix remaster in the following way:
-Removing some rights to the default knoppix user, like the su / sudo command
-Removing hacking tools.
-Removing hard disk tools. (partitioning and writing)
-adding flash plugin.
-adding gaim chat client.
-adding cupsd at startup (plus the printer for the kiosk)
-adding streaming video/audio clients with browser plugin.
-very nice 3d gl game support (like HL, UT ecc.)

MoonShadow

01-17-2005, 06:22 PM

There has been mention of this before but I'm not sure it was resolved,

I downloded & burned Stallion2.iso which worked great in a p4 2.4 a p3 733 an 800 laptop (a Samsung that a few years old) Vmware and Qemu.

As this is 99% perfict for what We want I attempted to demonstrate it / pass it on to various people.

Since then we've tried it on another 7 or so machines most of which dont boot claiming there to be no bootable os on the CD.
These vary in age from p 450 to 3Ghz (all intell processor) and all on a CD I tested first and have just booted from now..

Most of these machines have been booted off Linux CD's recently as we use Novells Zen works to install the workstations
(it uses Linux to Image the hard disk)

So basicly I cant think of a common factor as to why some work and others dont.
If anyone has any thoughts let me know and I'll get some one to give it a try...

Steve F

01-17-2005, 07:19 PM

I altered the Firefox prefs on vff4.iso. Now every time it starts up I get a popup, "Old Extensions, Any old extensions that you have installed have been disabled." Anybody have an idea what this is referring to?

Also, I haven't been able to get my firefox prefs to work. I put them in the firefox.js under /etc and I can see them in about:config but browser.startup.homepage won't take. I get a blank page on start up and when I hit the home button it goes to some firefox site instead of the site I specified. I tried putting a home/morph in the /copy directory with complete user settings for firefox but got weirdness because the file premissions on my dev system don't match the LiveCD when it runs. Basically, I don't have a user called morph anywhere, and I can't find any configuration or symlink directories related to this user, yet it seems this user and its home directory configuration files are coming from somewhere. That, and the files I put in the /copy directory with group=users and chmod 777 end up on load as chmod 555. Firefox complains that the default user is already in use and I have to create another browser account. Then it complains that it can't write into the directory (555 duh) when I try to create one.

Anyway, I've spent the last few hours in morphix documentation trying to determine how and when the /home directory gets populated. I got nothing. What am I missing here? What is the proper way to alter the firefox profile?

Thanks,

pwest3

01-21-2005, 04:53 PM

The downloads for stallion and firefox cd's aren't working for me. Is there anyplace else to get them from???

http://sigma.livecd.net/~skrat/stallion2.iso

and

http://sigma.livecd.net/~gandalf/vff4.iso

don't seem to go anywhere.

Steve F

01-21-2005, 05:16 PM

I have good copies of both. Do you have somewhere I can upload them to you?

pwest3

01-21-2005, 07:27 PM

Thanks that will help alot.

ftp://pwest.homelinux.com/pub/upload/

Steve F

01-21-2005, 08:51 PM

Well, I tried with MS ftp command line client but that doesn't have passive mode. I tried with IE which does have passive but only got partial download then error. I tried with NcFTP which has passive mode but passive mode is denied by your server or my firewall. Next I am going to try NcFTP from my DMZ.

It looks like stallion completly transfered. The size should be 159,365,120 bytes. I had to name it stallion2.iso.2nd because it was the second attempt and I couldn't overwrite or delete the first attempt. vff4.iso is transfering now. It is named vff4.iso.4th and the size should be 156,219,392 bytes.

skrat

01-21-2005, 10:16 PM

Few people already mentioned that problem, but we can't recognize the problem here. Can you maybe try wget instead Web Browser and maybe report what happens then?

pwest3

01-21-2005, 10:45 PM

Steve F,

Got the stallion. Sorry about the connection. Cable modem is I a bit flaky today. It was -31C this morning here.

skrat,

Yea seems to be working fine with wget or curl. Browsers just give up.

Thanks!

flickerfly

01-24-2005, 03:43 PM

Is there a simple way to get one of these CDs to change the default homepage without remastering. That seems a lot of work for little return.

flickerfly

01-24-2005, 05:16 PM

Is there a simple way to get one of these CDs to change the default homepage without remastering. That seems a lot of work for little return.

Since stallion2 is a Morphix CD and my choice, I moved this line of thought to here (http://www.morphix.org/component/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,78/func,view/id,10/catid,4/).

Steve F

01-24-2005, 08:27 PM

Thanks, I tried to reply to your post on Morphix.org but my account is buggered and I can't reach the administrator.

I tried putting a prefs file in /copy. The problem is that at the time the copy is executed during boot, the home directories haven't been created by Firefox. You will get the prefs.js file where it is supposed to be but when Firefox starts up it sees a profile with the wrong directory premissions and believes it is already in use. It asks you to create a new profile but then refuses to save it because the .mozilla directory created during the /copy part is owned by root. I also tried putting a script in the /exec directory to set the premissions for user morph (which is the user it will run as), but it seems that the /exec process runs before the morph user is created or something else is wrong. I'm close to solving it but I won't get a chance to try changes until tomorrow.

flickerfly

01-24-2005, 10:00 PM

Steve F, Thanks for sharing. I was hoping not to have to find that all out on my own as I expected as much. Have you tried just mkdir /home/morph? Any way I can help troubleshoot something to save you a step?

Ghandalfar

01-25-2005, 12:19 AM

another user told me on IRC that this trick with /copy worked for him.

Steve F

01-25-2005, 05:04 AM

I guess it depends which distribution it is applied to.

On Firefox LiveCD (vff4.iso) I believe the .mozilla directory under /home/morph doesn't exist until Firefox is started up. Since Firefox can't find it, Firefox creates it as if this is the first time it has ever been run for this user (morph). If I use /copy the directories are created for [f3dbc060.default] but the only thing in it is the prefs.js. It gets created by default as read only owner root group root. Firefox can't do anything with it and won't use it, instead offering the user manager screen and advising me to create a user for myself. If I try, it fails I think because Firefox can't write to the .mozilla directory. I have had partial success putting a script in /exec that changes the .mozilla directory group to users and chmod -R 777 but then Firefox started creating a different profile directory for default and ignored mine. Next I am going to try taking the whole .mozilla directory while LiveCD is booted and copy it to my build source /copy directory. That way my rebuilt iso should have a real copy of the morph user profile for Firefox. I may get to try that tomorrow.

Before all this I tried adding my configuration to firefox.js and forget the user prefs. I could never get it to respect my home directory setting even though I could see it when I used about:config. Also, I am using autohide.xpi to get the full screen mode. That takes some sorting out and may be interfering with my test run succeding.

G, Thank you for you fine work on this distribution. I am further along than when I was trying to get a KNOPPIX distro small enough to fit on a 200mb CD and still function correctly, let alone get a browser configured. Please feel free to point out any misunderstandings I have on the sequence of execution or expected behavior.

Steve F

01-25-2005, 05:19 AM

Another behavior I need is when the browser is terminated, the CD is umount, ejected, and shutdown is called. The umount and eject work fine. I already set up sudo so morph is allowed to run shutdown. The problem is once the CD is ejected, the shutdown program is no longer available (or any other bin or sbin). Any thoughts on how I can run a command from the ram disk? Maybe I can copy the shutdown program to morph home directory and execute it from there? I looked on Morphix docs for information on what directories are sym linked to the CD and which are in ram disk but haven't found that kind of info, only examples that don't address these kinds of topics. I (ctrl-alt-Fn) switched to another console but I didn't see that any directories are sym linked. Don't know what I did wrong there. I'm not a newbe to Linux, in fact my first computers 25 years ago were all unix (up to System 5 rel 3). I have a gap over the last 15 years of no unix and this last year started catching up.

Ghandalfar

01-25-2005, 12:57 PM

Hmm, how do you do your umount and eject? I'd like to include that back into next version.

Otherwise, why not run shutdown -h 1 i, unmount and eject and system will shutdown after one minute. Since binary will be read into memory (it will just wait 1minute) you won't have that problem anymore.

flickerfly

01-25-2005, 05:39 PM

I hear rumors of a stallion3 with better ability to handle these sorts of modifications is in process. Is there a time frame?

Steve F

01-25-2005, 11:08 PM

To get the CD to eject on Firefox LiveCD (vff4.iso)

I installed from debian the packages (apt-get while chroot'ed) sudo and eject.
I altered /usr/bin/firefox.sh

#!/bin/bash

#while [ 1 ]
#do
/usr/bin/firefox -fullscreen $1
# sleep 10
sudo /bin/umount -l /cdrom
sudo /usr/bin/eject /dev/cdrom
sudo /sbin/shutdown now
#done

Obviously this is the script that can't shutdown because after the CD is ejected the shutdown program is no longer available. Since I want to use this distro as a secure exam platform, each student after exiting firefox will probably not want to wait one minute for the computer to shutdown. As an alternative I might just instruct them that after the CD ejects they can turn the power off or better would be if they could hit ctrl-alt-del to reboot into their native OS. By the way, they will take these exams on their own computer and we are trying to set it up where they cannot access their HD, internet, or chat with their classmates during an exam.

Ghandalfar

01-26-2005, 12:06 AM

Steve F: I think 1min for cd to eject and for X11 to properly shutdown is not too much. I'll do some more experiments.

Giving deadlines is a bit ungreatful. We (livecd.net team) will try to have something ready by February.

Steve F

01-26-2005, 01:15 AM

I hope the deadline thing was in response to another person's question; take as long as it takes and thank you for including me both in guidance and accepting my contributions.

I can't use shutdown. The init process has initctl piped on a different filesystem than the one running the computer. I get the typical error 'init: timeout opening/writing control channel /dev/initctl'. I found out that reboot -f responds. Now in firefox.sh I copy /sbin/halt to /home/morph/reboot, umount, eject, reboot -f and 15 seconds later I'm back in windows. This is pretty slick!

I have read some articles that suggest killing X11 can disrupt the video h/w. That's news to me as I haven't experienced any problems rebooting back into windows. I hope they meant killing X and trying to restart back into X without rebooting is a no-no.

Now to fix the firefox config overrides and I'll be pretty much done. I plan to try using firefox command line option -CreateProfile "myprofilename", copy my prefs.js to "myprofilename", start the browser session with -p "myprofilename". I still have to straighten out the autohide global installation. I can't do it chroot'ed because firefox will fail when it can't find an X session to run under even though it never goes GUI on global extension installation. I had a partial success installing firefox on my workstation, adding the global extension and then copying the /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox and /var/lib/mozilla-firefox directories from my workstation to the morph_hd source directory. I'll tell the results of all this tomorrow afternoon USA central time.

flickerfly

01-26-2005, 02:43 PM

Giving deadlines is a bit ungreatful. We (livecd.net team) will try to have something ready by February.

I don't mean to give you a deadline and I apologize for that being conveyed. It is only that I am under a deadline and can't seem to get this working as expected so was wondering if something was planned. I don't mean to rush you.

I'll probably work it out another way and revisit this next time around. I appreciate your work on it and am greatful for the progress you have made.

Ghandalfar

01-26-2005, 03:06 PM

I meant to give myself a deadline :-)

flickerfly

01-26-2005, 04:00 PM

I meant to give myself a deadline :-)

oh, you stretch my english with an uncommon usage of that word. Thanks! :-)

Steve F

01-28-2005, 11:59 PM

I am Sooooo satisified to actually have the custom disk I need.

I remastered Morphix Firefox LiveCD, vff4.iso . My requirements are that it boots quietly, runs a browser in full screen from my web server only, and reboots on exit.

Getting the browser to take my custom prefs was a bit tricky. I chroot, apt-get remove mozilla-firefox. Then I downloaded Firefox 1.0 from www.getfirefox.com . The tricky part was that I had to install the firefox...gz to my dev workstation. I put it in the /usr/lib directory. I did a firefox -install-global-extension on autohide.xpi . I copied the complete /usr/lib/firefox directory to my morph_hd source /usr/lib .

In order to get my prefs to take effect I had to wait until just before Firefox started up. Then create the user profile without actually starting the browser. Once that is done it is straight forward to append to the prefs.js file without messing anything up.

Here is the firefox.sh script I ended up with.

#!/bin/bash

/usr/lib/firefox/firefox -createprofile morphuser

FDIR=`ls -d /home/morph/.mozilla/firefox/*.morphuser`

cat >> $FDIR/prefs.js << EOFP

user_pref("browser.download.lastDir", "/home/morph");
user_pref("browser.preferences.lastpanel", 0);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://my.website.edu/");
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "rv:1.7.5");
user_pref("extensions.autohide.bars.PersonalToolbar", true);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.bars.PersonalToolbar.always", false);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.bars.nav-bar.always", false);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.bars.tabbar.always", false);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.bars.toolbar-menubar", true);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.bars.toolbar-menubar.always", false);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.closedFull", true);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.context", false);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.openNewFullscreen", false);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.statfloat", false);
user_pref("extensions.autohide.status-bar", false);
user_pref("extensions.disabledObsolete", true);
user_pref("extensions.lastAppVersion", "1.0");
user_pref("intl.charsetmenu.browser.cache", "UTF-8, ISO-8859-1");
user_pref("network.cookie.prefsMigrated", true);
user_pref("network.proxy.ftp", "my.website.edu");
user_pref("network.proxy.ftp_port", 80);
user_pref("network.proxy.gopher", "my.website.edu");
user_pref("network.proxy.gopher_port", 80);
user_pref("network.proxy.http", "my.website.edu");
user_pref("network.proxy.http_port", 80);
user_pref("network.proxy.share_proxy_settings", true);
user_pref("network.proxy.ssl", "my.website.edu");
user_pref("network.proxy.ssl_port", 80);
user_pref("network.proxy.type", 1);
user_pref("xpinstall.whitelist.add", "");

EOFP

/usr/lib/firefox/firefox -fullscreen $1

sudo cp /sbin/halt /home/morph/reboot
sudo /bin/umount -l /cdrom
sudo /usr/bin/eject /dev/cdrom
sudo /home/morph/reboot -f

#end of firefox.sh

Because the Firefox LiveCD doesn't have a morph user profile for firefox until firefox is started the first time, it is impossible to append to the prefs.js file because it doesn't exist at any point before that. The way I did it lets me completly and reliably control the browser behavior. Note: I tried to use the "-p morphuser" command line option to firefox on the second execution so that the browser would be forced to use the profile I just created, but it seems that the -p option now causes the firefox script to attempt to run a ".pure" version of firefox. It looks like a developer feature for testing has been left in the distribution. I found that I didn't need to specify it as there is only one profile and firefox is happy to use it without complaint.

p.s. morphix.org dev guys, should I cross post this to the morphix forum? Feel free to describe it in any firefox on LiveCD docs, etc..

Ghandalfar

01-29-2005, 12:18 AM

you always have /etc/skel/...

oitsubob

01-29-2005, 12:52 AM

Steve, good work man! Is the .iso available for others to check out? Your skills are way beyond mine, but I'd like to see the finished product. Maybe that will help me along.

Ghandalfar, what do you mean by "you always have /etc/skel/..."? May be a dumb question, but you never know until you ask.

Thanks,

Bob

Ghandalfar

01-29-2005, 02:01 AM

>> Because the Firefox LiveCD doesn't have a morph user profile for firefox until firefox is started the first time, it is impossible to append to the prefs.js file because it doesn't exist at any point before that.

You can alwasy append it to /etc/skel .. it's the same as /home/user/morph , it just exists all the time (and gets copied to morph user at some point)

Steve F

01-29-2005, 02:26 AM

Ah, but the important part is that it gets copied 'at some point'. If you try to copy the prefs.js or append to it in /home/morph/.mozilla/firefox you will actually end up creating all the directories from .mozilla down and they will have root owner and group. When Firefox starts up and tries to access the morph profile it will act like the profile is already in use and you won't be able to do anything. You can't use the existing modified profile and you can't create a new one because firefox running under user morph does not have permission to write to those directories. You can put a script in /exec to change the owner and group but now you are talking about placing the whole user profile there. It added about 15 to 20 seconds to the boot time to copy the whole profile to /home/morph/.mozilla and you will also have to make the profile on your workstation first. That means creating a user morph, logging in as morph, start firefox to get a profile created, then copy it to the distro /copy directory. You will have to run a script to change the owner and group, etc. The easiest reliable solution is to have firefox create an initial profile, modify it however you want, then run firefox.

I tried putting the profile in the /home/morph directory of the source but it wasn't there after the CD booted. I guess the overlay filesystem doesn't include the /home directory. I was reading about cowloop being able to overlay the whole file system and allow read access to everything and store writes on the ramdisk but I don't think it is released on LiveCD yet. I could be wrong and also I don't know much about it.

Steve F

01-29-2005, 03:05 AM

The iso I made has my secure testing server URL embedded in the prefs. It also reboots the computer after using Firefox one time. This isn't a general purpose type iso and it wouldn't run outside of my university intranet.

The part of my post that is of paticular interest is adding to /usr/bin/firefox.sh the call to firefox with -createprofile, changing the prefs.js file, then calling firefox to run as a browser. The first two can be put outside the loop block in the firefox.sh script (as written by Ghandalfar).

Adding the autohide.xpi extension was done manually. If you want a LiveCD with your own extensions, you will have to do more than talk the talk. Get into the Firefox and Mozilla installation and operation docs. Also, the Morphix all.pdf doc explains all you need to know to undo an iso, change it, iso'fize it and burn it to a CD. I started 6 months ago without a clue. It was weird and tough at first. I kept hovering around the docs afraid to actually try anything. My first attempts were horrible. Eventually I started to get the hang of it. You can do these things too. Just take your first step.

The reboot on terminate is pretty basic chroot on the source, apt-get sudo and eject, and add the lines as in my previous post but I can't imagine why anyone would want that in their distribution.

Ghandalfar, if there is a lot of interest in userprefs, maybe adding to your distribution where the users prefs are put into a file called ffuprefs.js in the /copy directory with the path /copy/home/morph/ffuprefs.js . Add to firefox.sh a check for this file and if it exists have firefox create the profile, modify the prefs.js with the contents of ffuprefs.js and then go into the loop block. I think files in the /copy directory end up as root owner and group but have other as read only so it should work. On the other hand, anyone who can take apart the distro can make the changes directly and either way they would have to take the distro apart to add user prefs.

I just realized that the ffuprefs.js thing might be a good idea after all. Undoing the iso to add a file to the /copy directory is easier than also having to undo the mainmod to edit the firefox.sh file. It would save having to re-compress the mainmod which is more time consuming than building the iso for burning.

MoonShadow

02-01-2005, 05:37 PM

Ah, but the important part is that it gets copied 'at some point'.

AFAIK The point of /etc/skel is that it is the basic file system that is created as /home/<user>/
so if the /home/morph does not exist but is created at boot time it should be created from this.

Also if the /copy dir is coppied to the root file system before the ~morph dir is created (which I'm guessin is the case from your comments) then files in /copy/etc/skel should get coppied to /etc/skel and then to /home/morph when the users home dir is created.

Steve F

02-02-2005, 12:36 AM

Ah, I get your point. The correct way to populate a /home/user directory from the CD /copy directory is to put it is /etc/skel. It will be copied as part of the boot process and before the application is run.

MoonShadow

02-02-2005, 11:27 AM

I've only just started looking at creating LIVE CD's but thats what I would expect to happen.

By the way, Whats the best way to edit the ISO to get files in to the /copy dir??

Steve F

02-02-2005, 02:06 PM

Regarding the /copy directory, on vff4.iso if I put any file there, the boot process creates an X lock file to delay X from starting until the copy (and I guess /exec) are completed. Even with a very small file this added about 10-15 seconds to the boot time. The idea of putting many megs of firefox profile first in /copy to be copied to /etc/skel, which will then be copied a second time to /home is less desirable (provided of course there is better way). With the firefox profile, since is doesn't exist until the first time firefox is run, trying to modify or replace the prefs.js will cause firefox to misbehave when it starts. You would have to copy a complete profile to get it to work correctly.

On editing ISO's, there are some very good interactive scripts like iBuild and TROM. I prefer working with the details first so I can understand what is going on 'under the hood'. The document All.pdf on the morphix.org or wiki site is where I learned the commands and their options for uncompressing an ISO, uncompressing the mainmod, making changes, then compressing everything back up to a single ISO I can use with Roxio to write the CD. I tried using canned build scripts for KNOPPIX, but like the linux distributions, sometimes there are version dependencies and the scripts haven't been updated to work with the latest ISO. Trying to fix somebody else's scripts without a solid understanding of the basics of remastering or the specifics of that distribution can be very, very frustrating. I have had the most success by building up my own scripts from the basic commands and adding the specific customizations I want on a specific ISO version. When a new ISO is released, I copy my scripts to a new work directory for the new version and run/debug the scripts until they work correctly for that version. Anyway, that's what works for me.

MoonShadow

02-02-2005, 06:43 PM

Ok so far I've got Stallion booting with "Stallion/Firefox" going to my option of start page and rebooting the machine if you close it

The
/copy/usr/bin/firefox.sh looks like this:

#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/firefox www.mysite.com
#xterm
sudo /sbin/shutdown -nrf now

the xterm is there for debugging when I need it.

shutdown -r for a reeboot
Myabe I dont need these though:
-n (dont do init)
-f (dont fsck )

I need to get the keyboard in UK format and remove the spare terminals [ctrl alt fn] though.
I tried edditing /etc/X11/XF86config XkbLayout "gb" but so far still US,

As far understanding
what is going on 'under the hood'. I agree, I'd rather know hats going.

One final thought re you cd eject.
Have you tried putting "eject" in as the last option in the init dirs?
This should then be the last thing it tries to run before shutdown.

Any help on the tty/kbd issue would me much appriciated..(Ghandalfar??)

Ghandalfar

02-02-2005, 07:32 PM

why don't you simply extract the mainmod?

Steve F

02-03-2005, 05:54 AM

I couldn't get shutdown to work. The error I got indicated that shutdown couldn't communicate to the init command pipe. I have an idea that when init starts up it sets up its command pipe but then the file system is switched and the pipe is no longer connected to the 'active' file system. When you use the -n option you are bypassing all the init kill scripts. Halt with a link to reboot is working great. Since I already modified the firefox.sh script I feel pretty good putting all my mods there. I haven't had to change any other part of the distribution except adding a few packages and changing out mozilla-firefox for firefox. I did that so I could use an extension that would only install on firefox version 1.0 .

MoonShadow

02-03-2005, 11:04 AM

why don't you simply extract the mainmod?

Mainly cos by changing things via the copy dir is easy to configure from any iso editor.
No need to extract and recompress files (which requires linux)

Although I have Linux machines and could extract&compress the mod files it is still quicker to tweak files in the copy dir.

I'm also trying to get this so that others can customise things (like the keyboard layout) with little or no knowlage.
Just WinIso & a text editor.
I use vmware and boot from the ISO file directly so it takes seconds to update files in the copy dir.

Also I still need to know which files to change :(

davea0511

02-03-2005, 04:48 PM

Gandalfar-

I always get a non-system disk error whenever I try to boot Stallion1.iso, Stallion2.iso, or VFF4.iso on my new Abit VF7 motherboard (other computers boot them fine though). Firefox3.iso and Firefox-1.iso (your old versions) boot just fine on this motherboard so it's not the motherboard (and I've tried a bunch of other LiveCDs too with no problem). I've made dozens of coasters, tried the lowest record speed (4X), different CD media, different CD recorders, and even swapped CD-ROMs but I still can't make the 3 newer iso's work (Stallion1.iso, Stallion2.iso, or VFF4.iso).

Others have also mentioned problems booting with the newer iso's when your first released Stallion1.iso.

Any idea what changed from Firefox3.iso to Stallion1.iso? It looks like you're using the same boot-loader for everything, yes? (I heard somewhere that going from syslinux to isolinux was causing similar problems with the DSL distro on some machines)

Thanks!
Dave

MoonShadow

02-04-2005, 10:39 AM

Firefox3.iso and Firefox-1.iso (your old versions) boot just fine ......
Others have also mentioned problems booting with the newer iso's when your first released Stallion1.iso.

I have access to a range of machines some of which boot with stallion2 some wont.

If I can get the older Firefox ISO's Ill let you know if they work.
I've had a quick look on LiveCD but there's only the latest cd's from the front page.

Serpent

02-04-2005, 02:24 PM

Stallion works great for me, i really appreciate the work you put down on this project!!!

I have 2 questions tho:
Is there some easy way to make a HDD install of Stallion?
Is there some way to disable the question wether i wanto enable a swap file if the memory is less then 64mb?

Regards
Janne (Who is looking forward to the next release of Stallion like a kid on Christmas eve) :o

MoonShadow

02-04-2005, 03:40 PM

[If I can get the older Firefox ISO's Ill let you know if they work.

Found it (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=71814)
Burned it
Worked on at least one of the machines that Stallion didnt so it looks like it is a change in the CD.

Ghandalfar, Was stallion1.iso created from Firefox-1.iso or was it from a diffrent base ISO?

empress101

02-14-2005, 06:37 PM

HI have question...from reading your post many seem familiar with the remaster kiosk stuff...i have written a few post about how to do this. Well after reading much of the sutff here and in book "Knoppix Hacks" I have managed to remaster a Knoppix cd for a kiosk ...i need to set up in lobby at work for the field workers to use. They use it to check post by company. The kiosk is to only give them access to a specifc site set up on one of our servers. And they are not to be able to use any of the linux programs or be able to visit other sites.

I made a kiosk cd that boots imediatley into kiosk mode and opens the browser right away. It has all the setting I need and such. Works perfect. :)

Problem though the cd only works on that specific machine i used to create the CD. I need to make the same cd but it need to work in any of the other pc's.

After thinking about it and writing about this in post it was suggested i must be copying some setting from the creating pc to the kiosk cd. So that when i try to boot it from other computer it is using machine settings from creator pc instead of scanning new pc and using settings for that specific pc.

It was suggested to remove the XF86Config-4 file from source then remaster.

I did that and I checked file not there in remaster. Then burned cd and tested on few machines I get the same error message.

Error: No suitable X-server found for your card

Now in the book "Knoppix Hacks" it tells you on page 64 hack#21 if you are going to be using the cd in different computer to only save your "Personal Configurations" and not to save the graphics, network, desktop, printer ect.... settings. So that when inserted in new computer it will search for the settings it needs instead of assuming.

Ok so i try this one....and this time cd does boot, but :( it does not boot into kiosk mode like before..It loads KDE and stuff. And brings up desktop...

Anyone have idea what is happening ...I thought i ask here cus this post all about remstering and making kiosk sound like many of you have had success and no problem with cd being used in other computers...which means some of you must know the right way to do it. :)

Please any help appreciated.

skrat

02-15-2005, 11:04 PM

I am pleased to announce that LiveCD team released special version of Stallion, called LiveInfo.

LiveInfo is fullscreen kiosk browser (no user navigation is provided from browser side), which main goal is to display information from html files, stored on the same CD-ROM, with or without user interaction. If user can interact with the computer and if only local files are provided for browsing, we can prevent user to escape out to the Internet. Even more - we can use also computer, which is actually not even connected to the Internet. However, there is always the possibility to allow people to browse also on the Web. However, user can be always limited to browse only among certain web pages without external links.

http://sigma.livecd.net/~skrat/LiveInfo-2.4.iso

Beside that lot's of effort was also put into user-friendly customization of some settings on our Live CD's. You can burn ISO image in multi session mode and add some of customization files into /usersettings/ directory on the CD. For more information, take a look into /usersettings/examples/ For example, you can change startup page, proxy, etc. with putting correct firefox prefs.js file directly into /usersettings/firefox/ directory or html files, which you want to display from LiveInfo into /usersettings/www/ (don't forget to change startup page in prefs.js or use index.html as first page you want to display).

That will also be very useful for Stallion users which want to change startup page, proxy settings, network settings etc. You can expect new verstion of Stallion to be released soon and will include all those features. Full features list for usersettings will be also published with new Stallion release.

skrat

02-16-2005, 10:40 AM

The iso of LiveInfo with the kernel 2.6 is now also available.

http://sigma.livecd.net/~skrat/LiveInfo-2.6.iso [ISO IS TEMPORARRY REMOVED -- edit 18.2. 01.10 GMT+ 1]

And MD5 sums for both files:

LiveInfo-2.4.iso 8987109d783f9050890c05ff5ceecc86
LiveInfo-2.6.iso e66ece9469c0fb2b7ca2bd099d8bb138

davea0511

02-17-2005, 07:55 PM

Awesome, Skrat! I can't wait to try it (and pray it will work on my Abit NF7 motherboard - or I might need to buy a different motherboard).

skrat

02-18-2005, 01:12 AM

Please, do not use LiveInfo with 2.6 kernel while it turned out, that is still buggy. The link to iso image was also removed.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

SteveHargadon

02-18-2005, 04:36 PM

I'm looking for someone who can help me create a custom Firefox LiveCD.

Thanks.

oitsubob

02-18-2005, 05:59 PM

Great Job Guys!
The only thing I was not able to get to work was the prefs.js file. Mine contained a single line, see below, and was placed in the usersettings\firefox directory. As a work around replaced the index.html file in usersettings\www with a new one that contained a meta refresh tag.

user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://mysite.mycompany.com");

Thanks,

Bob

skrat

02-18-2005, 06:55 PM

oitsubob: amm... maybe there is really missing a howto for customization and a little bit self-explainable README files... :/

1. If you want to change prefs.js, the idea was to take original prefs.js from /usersettings/examples/firefox/.mozilla/firefox/.../prefs.js

2. Unfortunatly I just figured out that a script has a bug, so my suggestion would be as follows:
- take .mozilla/ folder from /usersettings/examples/firefox/ (copy it from CD somwhere locally)
- edit prefs.js inside .mozilla/firefox/.../prefs.js
- put whole .mozilla/ folder back on CD into /usersettings/firefox/

That should work, I hope!

oitsubob

02-18-2005, 07:20 PM

I'll give it a shot! I guess I misunderstood the read-me file. I copied it over and deleted everything else but the home page option :)

Thanks,

Bob

Quarky

02-20-2005, 09:13 PM

I just built a new pc specificlly for Stallion 2 but the darn thing wont boot off my cd. I've had the same problems on other machines. Anyone know what I need to do inorder to get it to boot? change config files? boot loader? anything?

Ghandalfar

02-20-2005, 11:12 PM

does the 2.6 infopoint boot?

Quarky

02-21-2005, 02:17 AM

if you mean the LiveInfo cd, I dont know, I havent downloaded it. but if it helps, the firefox live cd(vff4.iso doesnt boot also. Knoppix and Morphix boots fine though.

davea0511

02-21-2005, 07:56 PM

does the 2.6 infopoint boot?

LiveInfo 2.6 did boot on my machine - the same machine that wouldn't boot Stallion1 nor Stallion2 nor vff4.iso.

This week's project for me is to customize LiveInfo for my own use (get it to boot automatically to index.html located on a flash drive).

empress101

02-22-2005, 08:51 PM

After while still no luck ...I have posted about problem hopeing someone has had same problem and can give give solutioni to problem.

After remastering Knoppix. Meaning I have created a KIOSK CD. The cd when inserted into cdrom and booted up boots immediatly into kiosk mode.

The problem is ..that the remastered kiosk cd only works on that machine I used to create the kiosk cd.

If I take the cd to other computers in office I get an error while it boots up. The error message is :

ERROR: No suitable X-server found for your card.

I used the knoppix hacks book and hints on this forum to create this kiosk.

Anyone else come across this problem? And solution?

Quarky

02-22-2005, 10:59 PM

Regarding the issue I had about booting up the Stallion2 cd on certain computers, I was able to fix it.

I used Nero to re-burn the cd using the boot cd option in Nero.

I pointed to the boot.img file from the stallion2 cd as the boot image.

then dragged all of the Stallion2 cd contents and burned it.

some of the options I selected was emulate 2.88MB floppy disk. The boot.img is larger then 1.44 so I dont think if emulating a 1.44 floppy would work.

oitsubob

02-23-2005, 02:23 AM

Skrat,
Just an FYI, it worked to copy the whole .mozilla directory over to usersettings\firefox. Thanks for the tip!

Bob

MoonShadow

02-23-2005, 04:27 PM

I used Nero to re-burn the cd using the boot cd option in Nero.

I pointed to the boot.img file from the stallion2 cd as the boot image.

First indications are that this works for me too...

MoonShadow

02-24-2005, 06:28 PM

I used Nero to re-burn the cd using the boot cd option in Nero.

I pointed to the boot.img file from the stallion2 cd as the boot image.

Yep it works on other machines as well. Looks like an issue with the mastering of the ISO. I guess it's trying to get a 2.88 mb file to emulate a 1.44 mb floppy. Some Bios es work it out others dont...

oitsubob

02-24-2005, 06:35 PM

I burned my LiveInfo disc with Nero 6 in multi-session mode. After burning the original ISO, I added my changes to the usersettings directory and closed it out. I haven't yet been able to create my own ISO image using the methods above so I essentially have to "start over" even if I need to make a simple change.

Bob

Ghandalfar

02-24-2005, 07:01 PM

How about just using multiple multisessions?

uuccu

02-25-2005, 04:19 PM

I have got the LiveInfo CD and customised the firefox settings in prefs.js to access our proxy and internet. Great!

But now I would like to be able to display the address bar for users to type the web address in directly, as opposed to haveing to do a search on google even if they know the web address. The navigation bar would also be nice. Anyone know which settings i nedd to set to display these in LiveInfo CD.

I have tried Stallion, which actually was ideal, but could not work out how to access the firefox files to set the web proxy settings?

Hope someone can help...

oitsubob

02-25-2005, 04:44 PM

Skrat mentioned in his post that announced the LiveInfo CD (page 20) that they will soon be releasing a new version of Stallion with the same customization options as LiveInfo.

Bob

uuccu

02-25-2005, 05:07 PM

Ahhh cool thanks that will save some hastle, another question then...

Is it possible to just copy the contents of the CD to a linux partition? will it boot? Is remastering only required if you want to make changes to the CD and end up with a CD? Im just wondering as Ill be using lower spec machines and would imagine having Stallione or LiveInfo CD running from HDD instead of CD would make it faster?

Any easy way to get the CD onto a hdd if remastering is required

Many thanks again

DarrylM

03-01-2005, 01:13 AM

Live Info 2.6 is exactly what I have been trying to do with my Ham-Fisted efforts, well done to all concerned.

I've spent a few days now (don't want to admit to how many, its embarassing) trying to get it booting from a 256MB USB stick. My Linux knowledge is poor but through trial and error I have got DSL and Knoppix booting from the stick nicely, but LiveInfo won't seem to recognise the USB stick, and keeps falling over "looking for CDROM"

I've used syslinux instead of GRUB - is that the problem?
Is the USB support built into the release - or do I have to add it in ?
If so ... how? Hopefully this does not involve rebuilding the kernel - which I've no idea about how to do and, quite frankly, scares me!

Any help from someone knowing more about this than me greatly appreciated.

c_pd

03-10-2005, 02:53 AM

Does anyone know how to set konqueror up to go back to the homepage when the screensaver comes on or when inactive?

c_pd

03-10-2005, 03:26 AM

empress101 did you get an answer? I think I saw that earlier in the post. I believe the answer was to remove /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 before you create the compressed fs

empress101

03-10-2005, 04:17 PM

Thank you for asking :) hehe ..yes i did it ! YAAAA!

I finally have it working in the end..

I will write a guide to how I did it. and will post on forum to help anyone else with similar problem and need.

You can follow some of it from the other post were much was worked out.
here http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16992

I basically needed a kiosk desk that booted immediatley into kiosk mode, bringing up the browser to a specific site on one of our servers. And everything else was to be locked out. This disc is to be able to boot into anyone of our machines.

I changed some stuff like edited some of the .jar files for browser(wanted different throbber and title icon) also had to disable the F11 key.

Plus wanted to shrink the size of the disk and a few other things.

I managed to do all that but when remastered and made my .iso image to burn. The cd only worked on that specific machine.

But after much trial and error, also the help off of here and out of book(Knoppix Hacks) figured it out and was finally able to make cd that booted to any machine.

Thank all much for all your help and hints that lead me to SUCCES! :)

I will write up as I said at top a how to for others and post it.

Quarky

03-11-2005, 11:11 PM

ok, i have my homepage of choice when booting up.
what Im trying to find out is how do I take off the setting where it overides the fonts on webpages displayed?

I need stallion to display whatever fonts the webpages calls for. I couldn't find the pref setting for it. I only know how to do it in windows under tools and fonts & color but tools is disabled and there must be a pref line for it.

thanks.

Ghandalfar

03-12-2005, 02:26 AM

just edit prefs.js ; see how windows version changes it and then do the same for your prefs.js

ComputerX

03-17-2005, 10:16 PM

Has anyone gotten one of these CDs working with wireless? Specifically I have Intel 2200 based cards.

Thanks,

Dan

davea0511

03-24-2005, 08:14 AM

I've got my 100% Flash application working with LiveInfo on my touchscreen and it's mostly (see problems below) looking good - not bad for a linux newbie, eh? Two huge problems left though, and unfortunately they are both show-stoppers for a touch-screen kiosk application:

1) My LCD goes into power-save mode every 10 minutes or so after inactivity. To make sure it wasn't my LCD montior I also plugged my CRT into it - but I had the same problem so it looks like its caused by LiveInfo (I also checked my BIOS setting to make sure). How do I turn off the power-save feature? With regard to touchscreens this problem is like having your keyboard vanish after it sits idle for a time.

2) Whenever I touch the touchscreen an annoying cursor is left where I touched it. How's the easiest way to get rid of it or make it invisible? Anyone? Bhueller? Preferably with a easy hack like putting an invisible cursor somewhere in the /copy/ directory?

That said, I want to compliment Skrat and Gandalfar and the rest of their team on an incredibe Morphix based LiveCD. This "translucency" feature of Morphix makes it very easy for newbies like myself to customize (I did it all on RedHat9). It looks easier than doing it with knoppix (I also have the "Knoppix Hacks" book), and it's small enough to fit on a cheap solid-state (silent) flash-IDE drive.

But these two show-stoppers must be resolved if this is to be used for touchscreens.

-dave0511

ps - my iso automatically installs the magictouch touchscreen driver which is by far the cheapest way to add touchscreen functionality to your hardware. let me know if you want a copy of the iso: davea0511 ~ at ~ yahoo.com

Ghandalfar

03-24-2005, 07:28 PM

send us your changes to info@livecd.net and we'll include it with next release

davea0511

03-28-2005, 06:12 PM

send us your changes to info@livecd.net and we'll include it with next release

Will do.

davea0511

03-29-2005, 05:07 AM

On my LiveInfo CD I noticed that if the Browser window got closed then a new one didn't replace it, and then you're stuck at the opening screen. Stallion, on the other hand, reopened the Browser if it got closed for any reason.

That's an essential feature (to have the browser re-appear if closed). Can you add it to LiveInfo?

kentaur2

03-29-2005, 07:14 PM

here's how I made the stallion2.iso bootable:

- extracted stallion2.iso to directory
- removed the boot.catalog and base/boot.cat files
- created the iso with
mkisofs -r -b base/boot.img -c base/boot.cat -o mybootcd.iso mydir

____________________________________________
and some other customizations made inbetween:
* got rid of tty1-6 lines in (mainmod) /etc/initab and
got rid rid of console linkfile in (mainmod) /morphix/rc.m/
to disable access to console
* changed firefox prefs.js under (mainmod) /etc/skel tree
to change homepage and
to disable form history
* changed (boot.img) /boot/grub/menu.lst file
to change the keyboard layout
* changed the bootup image in (boot.img) and
the background image in (mainmod) /morphix/

davea0511

03-31-2005, 09:05 PM

Apparently my problem with the screen going into sleep mode is related the the BIOS ACPI settings. According to this post: http://www.usbman.com/oldforum/forum7/messages/1704.html
Microsoft pressured some mainboard makers to not allow users to disable ACPI - and my mainboard falls into that category.

Just an FYI - incase you run into the same problem - there is no way to disable the monitor sleep mode on your mainboard if it doesn't have an ACPI-off mode. I'm going to try to wire up a 555 circuit with a ps2 cable (triggering pins 1 and 5) to get the computer to think it's constantly getting keyboard activity even though there isn't a keyboard (I'm using a touchscreen) in order to keep the monitor from going to sleep. Hope I don't break it.

MoonShadow

04-05-2005, 09:23 AM

puttwill

04-16-2005, 07:21 PM

We are making kiosks for our linux convention(penguicon.org) and liveinfo-2.4 is PERFECT for what we need, save one tiny problem. the screen turns off after several minutes. Can this EASLY be turned off, or more perferable, can a scrolling screen saver be put in place instead? i know it is the live cd and not the bios, i have checked. i think this is a huge over site in the information kiosk design. i tried the 2.6 version, but it did not work at all, as stated in a past post. Let me know soon, the con is next weekend. thanks.

Ghandalfar

04-18-2005, 02:23 PM

yes, disable DPMS

puttwill

04-18-2005, 03:10 PM

When we attempt to edit the cd, it will not let us save the boot img back to the iso. unless you have detailed instructions on how to edit it so it still works afterward.

kjohn

04-28-2005, 11:29 PM

does anyone have a link to the most recent versions of any of these projects? (Stallion, LiveCD, LiveInfo, etc.) I just tried Booth.. although it is very well done, further customization appears tricky.

kjohn

alex1970m

05-08-2005, 01:30 AM

Dear Ghandalfar and Skrat thank you for the great image,

Thank you kentaur2 for the hint´s

* changed firefox prefs.js under (mainmod) /etc/skel tree
to change homepage and
to disable form history
* changed (boot.img) /boot/grub/menu.lst file
to change the keyboard layout

I modify the image to german keyboard and change the startside for my kid´s
To learn some basics of morphix and linux take´s me 10 nights´s
Now its work fine.

Itry to disable dpms by a script (xset -dpms) in exec folder. hmm it dont work.
dont care....

But i like to use this image for the Kid´s
How can i add(install) some Sqiud proxi with White and Blacklist to avoid xxx sites.
May this is possible by deb and copy folder of morphix ?

Please Help

davea0511

05-19-2005, 07:01 PM

Apparently I was wrong in my previous post about the BIOS controlling sleep-mode. It turns out that sleep-mode is controlled by LiveInfo, not the BIOS, and by default sleep-mode is enabled :shock: . I know this because I currently have sleep-mode disabled while running Knoppix using the same hardware. This is what I put in my boot script to disable it:

setterm -blank 0
setterm -noblank
setterm -powersave off
xset s off
echo -n -e "\033[9;0]"

Since touchscreens are an input device, by definition they should never go to sleep (it's like having a keyboard go asleep), so I'd encourage adding these commands to the LiveInfo distribution.

davea0511

05-19-2005, 07:26 PM

It seems "translucency" has a problem in Stallion and LiveInfo, but it seems like it can be easily fixed.

(for newbies: LiveInfo is based on Morphix, which allows a cool feature called "translucency". This feature theoretically allows you to simply drop in some regular files in the /copy directory when you burn your CD, so that the files in that directory will automatically overlay any files that were created from the compressed file structure. It's a real easy way to customize a distribution).

I succesfully used translucency to add support for my touchscreen driver by overlaying the XF86 files with modified ones that I put in the /copy directory of my CD. Although it worked great when I used a really old video card, when I used a newer video card (I tried 3 different ones) my computer always froze up.

So there must be a clue there: cards that are too old to recognize the initial display modes will allow me to overlay XF86 settings, but newer cards that immediately display the startup splash screen can't overlay XF86 settings. Is it possible that this translucency problem could be avoided by not using the High-Res boot screen - or removing the XF86 files in the compressed image and including them in the /copy directory instead? ...just wondering out loud.