Is there a knoppix Web Kiosk?

[Fabianx]

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]

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

[Fabianx]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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. 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]

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

Thanks,

Bob