Customize Ubuntu for a library Internet kiosk

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I would like to customize ubuntu for a library, they only want to display a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button user can only click the link on the page. If library's staff enter admin user name and password they can change any settings in ubuntu.



Any suggestion or usefully link is much appreciated.







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  • Any preference to browser brand/version, or other apps?
    – david6
    Apr 24 '12 at 22:37










  • Has there been any update on this? Any way to add a back function?
    – user305503
    Jul 14 '14 at 18:41














up vote
31
down vote

favorite
15












I would like to customize ubuntu for a library, they only want to display a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button user can only click the link on the page. If library's staff enter admin user name and password they can change any settings in ubuntu.



Any suggestion or usefully link is much appreciated.







share|improve this question





















  • Any preference to browser brand/version, or other apps?
    – david6
    Apr 24 '12 at 22:37










  • Has there been any update on this? Any way to add a back function?
    – user305503
    Jul 14 '14 at 18:41












up vote
31
down vote

favorite
15









up vote
31
down vote

favorite
15






15





I would like to customize ubuntu for a library, they only want to display a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button user can only click the link on the page. If library's staff enter admin user name and password they can change any settings in ubuntu.



Any suggestion or usefully link is much appreciated.







share|improve this question













I would like to customize ubuntu for a library, they only want to display a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button user can only click the link on the page. If library's staff enter admin user name and password they can change any settings in ubuntu.



Any suggestion or usefully link is much appreciated.









share|improve this question












share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited May 1 '13 at 15:31









Seth♦

32.2k24109157




32.2k24109157









asked Apr 24 '12 at 13:10









puyo

156123




156123











  • Any preference to browser brand/version, or other apps?
    – david6
    Apr 24 '12 at 22:37










  • Has there been any update on this? Any way to add a back function?
    – user305503
    Jul 14 '14 at 18:41
















  • Any preference to browser brand/version, or other apps?
    – david6
    Apr 24 '12 at 22:37










  • Has there been any update on this? Any way to add a back function?
    – user305503
    Jul 14 '14 at 18:41















Any preference to browser brand/version, or other apps?
– david6
Apr 24 '12 at 22:37




Any preference to browser brand/version, or other apps?
– david6
Apr 24 '12 at 22:37












Has there been any update on this? Any way to add a back function?
– user305503
Jul 14 '14 at 18:41




Has there been any update on this? Any way to add a back function?
– user305503
Jul 14 '14 at 18:41










4 Answers
4






active

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up vote
21
down vote













I believe this great article explains what you want, with screenshots galore. You want to create a special session in the login manager that will start a browser like Google Chrome using the kiosk option. You can set it up so that normal users automatically log into this kiosk session, but introduce a short time delay to allow an admin user to log into the normal Ubuntu session to administer changes to the system.



The steps are fairly detailed and so I won't reproduce them in their entirety here. But since Ask Ubuntu discourages just linking (in case the linked site goes down), I will cut and paste here the key steps. You should go to the link for the full instructions.



The desktop file you need to create in /usr/share/xsessions/ should have:



[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Kiosk Mode
Comment=Chromium Kiosk Mode
Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
Type=Application


The script chromeKiosk.sh should be placed in the same directory with execute permissions and look like:



#!/bin/bash
xscreensaver -nosplash &
cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"bottom.*/"bottom": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f2),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"right.*/"right": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f1),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
while true; do chromium-browser %u --start-maximized; sleep 5s; done





share|improve this answer

















  • 1




    If i do this on 12.04 the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. I have a border. It is as if the browser thinks the screen is not 1024x768. Do you have any ideas?
    – Chris Woollard
    Apr 27 '12 at 13:53










  • @ChrisWoollard Did you try the last step "testing" in the article I linked to?
    – Chan-Ho Suh
    Apr 27 '12 at 20:18










  • @Chan-HoSuh Isee that the same problem persists with a custome pyGtK application. Any ideas on how to maximize custom apps?
    – Juzer Ali
    Sep 5 '12 at 15:25

















up vote
7
down vote













I found a way use Firefox instead because I wanted to avoid fullscreen mode:



A kiosk solution with Ubuntu+Firefox:



Install Ubuntu/Lubuntu/whatever



Make user admin
Make user kiosk
Set kiosk to autologin, no password
Fix permissions (so kiosk cannot ctrl-s and peep into /home/admin)



cd /home
sudo chmod 700 *


Check if printer and other hardware, you might need, works.



Install Firefox add-ons: “R-kiosk” and “Reset Kiosk” (search for “kiosk”), optionally: “Easy Whitelist”.
Create a file called ‘[profile]/user.js’ (profile is the name of your firefox profile directory, probably ‘.default’ ) and add these lines to it:



user_pref("rkiosk.navbar", true);
user_pref("browser.fullscreen.autohide",false);
user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 3);
user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction", 0);
user_pref("privacy.popups.policy", 1);


(The last 3 lines may require explanation: I had to use this for a particular web application designed for IE that relied on popup windows, so I wanted Firefox to open all popups the way IE does.)



Create a file called ‘[profile]/chrome/userChrome.css’ and add these lines to it:



#bookmarks-menu display: none !important;
#window-controls display: none !important;
#personal-bookmarks display: none !important;
#autohide-context display: none !important;
#urlbar display: none !important;
#searchbar display: none !important;


This will remove all unwanted icons/menus from the window. In case I forgot any, use the customize function to remove items from the toolbar or move them to e.g. the bookmark toolbar that will be hidden from view.



You may want to set firefox to never save history.
Set default homepage and restart Firefox.
Remember you can still close Firefox with alt-f4 and start it with “firefox -safe-mode” to disable kiosk mode.



Install Openbox (sudo apt-get install openbox obconf)
Use obconf to remove extra windows – it will only confuse the user.
Edit openbox menu (/etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml) to remove all unwanted menu items. That will probably leave you with only “exit” or nothing at all. If you leave in “exit” the kiosk user can log out and get to the login screen, but he can only log in again as kiosk unless he can guess the password for admin. If you remove it completely it is possible that you yourself won't be able to log out of kiosk (e.g. in order to log in as admin and do maintenance). On my ubuntu-installation both ctrl-alt-backspace and ctrl-alt-sysrq-k are disabled, so I can only reboot with ctrl-alt-sysrq-b. Alternatively you can log in remotely or use ctrl-alt-f1 and do your maintenance work from the command line.
Edit file ~/.config/openbox/autostart:



# run firefox:
while true; do firefox; sleep 5s; done &


What the user can do on this setup:



Close Firefox with alt-f4 (but it restarts after a few seconds).
Use alt-tab to switch between programs (but Firefox is the only program).
He can only follow links from the homepage, so he cannot abuse the internet.
Reboot machine (but password in bios)
ctrl-alt-f1 – but he doesn't know the password to login as admin.
If he can log out of openbox and get to lightdm, he can log in again as kiosk and choose another window manager and get full control, so you need to delete all other .desktop entries from /usr/share/xsessions/ except openbox.desktop. I don't know of any way you can tie a user to a particular wm. :-(



Advantages of using Openbox instead of just a browser on top of Xwindows:



Chromium/Firefox in kiosk mode is always maximized. When I don’t use a wm, it never fills out the whole screen.
I get the Exit menu option (optional).



What is it good for?



A fullscreen kiosk is good for browsing a particular website e.g. a school, a library, or a museum's website. However it is nice to be able to get back to the main/start page in case you get lost, so the website needs to be designed with a big home button and very easy navigation. And you cannot have any links leading users offsite since they cannot get back. Of course the browser will reset after a period of inactivity or if you close it with alt-f4, but most users won’t know that and will become very frustrated. That is why fullscreen mode usually isn't always that userfriendly and that’s why I wanted to keep some toolbar functionality and only Firefox could give me that, not Chrome. Alternatively give Openkiosk a try, it didn’t work for me because of the popup issue, but it might work for you.






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    up vote
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    Firefox Kiosk



    Chromium-browser kiosk configurations do not allow for web pages requiring ‘java’. Java (IcedTea) doesn't have a PPAPI plugin available, and so it's not usable in Chromium, since Chromium 34 in Trusty has switched to the Aura rendering framework and no longer allows NPAPI plugins.



    Firefox kiosk does! This configuration works on both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.



    First step is to create the ‘Kiosk’ user.



    Install Cinnamon (I had to get away from Unity desktop)



    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lestcape/cinnamon 
    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cinnamon


    Install mKiosk



    Install mKiosk Web Browser (Public Terminal) - (add-on for Firefox) from the Kiosk users profile.
    You will be prompted with a warning about Administrators use. Accept and move on.



    1. From the Basic tab:
      Select ‘Always start in full screen’ and leave everything else on this tab at defaults

    2. From the Network tab:
      Proxy Options – Leave Restricted user at ‘Disabled (Direct Connections only)

    3. From the Appearance tab:
      Show on Full Screen – Select View address bar in full screen, Show tabs, Show Bookmarks Toolbar. De-select Show Printer button and Show reset button (unless you want to of course).

    4. From the Security tab:
      On Clear to close session – Select to Delete cache files and Clean History
      On Restrictions (rollback only in safe mode!!) –
      Select ‘Use Passwd (F1, F2, F11/Ctrl+Shift+F and F12/Ctrl+Shift+W)!
      And provide the Administrator password.

    5. From the Iterativity tab:
      Leave at defaults.

    Notes: On step 4, when kiosk user hits any of those keys in parenthesis they will be prompted for the administrator password.



    F1 – Configure mKiosk
    F2 – Confgure Firefox preferences
    Ctrl+Shift+F and F11 – Exit Full Screen mode
    Ctrl+Shift+W and F12 – Exits Firefox



    After configuring mKiosk, you will be prompted for the admin password again. You may have to hit the back button a few times to get back to the Home Page and Full screen mode (or just hit F11). You will be notified that the admin password has changed.



    You can now configure a Bookmarks button for the toolbar, such as your ‘Home page’ (otherwise the back button is the only way to get back to your homepage and users will not do so).



    Install Oracle Java 7 in Ubuntu



    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java 
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
    sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-set-default


    Now you can add Firefox to the ‘Startup apps’ for kiosk user. You will have to exit the browser (F12)



    Create the Firefox Desktop



    Open a file (sudo nano /usr/share/xsessions/Firefox.desktop) and paste:



    [Desktop Entry] 
    Name=Firefox (No effects)
    Comment=This session only opens Firefox
    Exec=/usr/bin/firefox -height 768 -width 1024
    Icon=
    Type=Application


    Log out, select the Firefox (no effects) login for Kiosk user and login.



    Autologon ‘kiosk user’



    You will have to log out and back in as ‘administrator’ to manage the ‘autologon’ for ‘kiosk user’.



    1. Logon as ‘administrator’ to the gnome desktop


    2. Applications>System Tools>Administration>User Accounts


    3. Unlock the kiosk user and set autologon to yes


    Managing updates for Ubuntu



    1. Hit the F12 button. You will be prompted for the mKiosk admin password. Firefox will exit and you will be back to the logon screen.


    2. Login as the ‘administrator’. Go to the Update Manager, Scan for updates and Install.


    3. Reboot. Done.






    share|improve this answer






























      up vote
      1
      down vote













      I've set up the same. I'm providing you an easy script. Run this script and you will able to use a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button, user can only click the link on the page.



      wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

      sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

      sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable -y

      echo '[Desktop Entry]
      Encoding=UTF-8
      Name=Kiosk Mode
      Comment=Chrome Kiosk Mode
      Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
      Type=Application' >/usr/share/xsessions/kiosk.desktop

      echo '#!/bin/bash
      xset s off
      xset s noblank
      nm-applet &
      sleep 5s
      while true; do
      google-chrome --window-size=1920,1080 --kiosk --window-position=0,0 http://google.com;
      sleep 5s;
      done' >/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh

      sudo chmod +x /usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh


      Copy this all content in an .sh file and run it. After the completion of the script you need to login in Kiosk Mode as shown in the image.



      Kiosk Mode






      share|improve this answer























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        4 Answers
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        up vote
        21
        down vote













        I believe this great article explains what you want, with screenshots galore. You want to create a special session in the login manager that will start a browser like Google Chrome using the kiosk option. You can set it up so that normal users automatically log into this kiosk session, but introduce a short time delay to allow an admin user to log into the normal Ubuntu session to administer changes to the system.



        The steps are fairly detailed and so I won't reproduce them in their entirety here. But since Ask Ubuntu discourages just linking (in case the linked site goes down), I will cut and paste here the key steps. You should go to the link for the full instructions.



        The desktop file you need to create in /usr/share/xsessions/ should have:



        [Desktop Entry]
        Encoding=UTF-8
        Name=Kiosk Mode
        Comment=Chromium Kiosk Mode
        Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
        Type=Application


        The script chromeKiosk.sh should be placed in the same directory with execute permissions and look like:



        #!/bin/bash
        xscreensaver -nosplash &
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"bottom.*/"bottom": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f2),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"right.*/"right": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f1),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        while true; do chromium-browser %u --start-maximized; sleep 5s; done





        share|improve this answer

















        • 1




          If i do this on 12.04 the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. I have a border. It is as if the browser thinks the screen is not 1024x768. Do you have any ideas?
          – Chris Woollard
          Apr 27 '12 at 13:53










        • @ChrisWoollard Did you try the last step "testing" in the article I linked to?
          – Chan-Ho Suh
          Apr 27 '12 at 20:18










        • @Chan-HoSuh Isee that the same problem persists with a custome pyGtK application. Any ideas on how to maximize custom apps?
          – Juzer Ali
          Sep 5 '12 at 15:25














        up vote
        21
        down vote













        I believe this great article explains what you want, with screenshots galore. You want to create a special session in the login manager that will start a browser like Google Chrome using the kiosk option. You can set it up so that normal users automatically log into this kiosk session, but introduce a short time delay to allow an admin user to log into the normal Ubuntu session to administer changes to the system.



        The steps are fairly detailed and so I won't reproduce them in their entirety here. But since Ask Ubuntu discourages just linking (in case the linked site goes down), I will cut and paste here the key steps. You should go to the link for the full instructions.



        The desktop file you need to create in /usr/share/xsessions/ should have:



        [Desktop Entry]
        Encoding=UTF-8
        Name=Kiosk Mode
        Comment=Chromium Kiosk Mode
        Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
        Type=Application


        The script chromeKiosk.sh should be placed in the same directory with execute permissions and look like:



        #!/bin/bash
        xscreensaver -nosplash &
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"bottom.*/"bottom": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f2),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"right.*/"right": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f1),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        while true; do chromium-browser %u --start-maximized; sleep 5s; done





        share|improve this answer

















        • 1




          If i do this on 12.04 the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. I have a border. It is as if the browser thinks the screen is not 1024x768. Do you have any ideas?
          – Chris Woollard
          Apr 27 '12 at 13:53










        • @ChrisWoollard Did you try the last step "testing" in the article I linked to?
          – Chan-Ho Suh
          Apr 27 '12 at 20:18










        • @Chan-HoSuh Isee that the same problem persists with a custome pyGtK application. Any ideas on how to maximize custom apps?
          – Juzer Ali
          Sep 5 '12 at 15:25












        up vote
        21
        down vote










        up vote
        21
        down vote









        I believe this great article explains what you want, with screenshots galore. You want to create a special session in the login manager that will start a browser like Google Chrome using the kiosk option. You can set it up so that normal users automatically log into this kiosk session, but introduce a short time delay to allow an admin user to log into the normal Ubuntu session to administer changes to the system.



        The steps are fairly detailed and so I won't reproduce them in their entirety here. But since Ask Ubuntu discourages just linking (in case the linked site goes down), I will cut and paste here the key steps. You should go to the link for the full instructions.



        The desktop file you need to create in /usr/share/xsessions/ should have:



        [Desktop Entry]
        Encoding=UTF-8
        Name=Kiosk Mode
        Comment=Chromium Kiosk Mode
        Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
        Type=Application


        The script chromeKiosk.sh should be placed in the same directory with execute permissions and look like:



        #!/bin/bash
        xscreensaver -nosplash &
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"bottom.*/"bottom": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f2),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"right.*/"right": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f1),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        while true; do chromium-browser %u --start-maximized; sleep 5s; done





        share|improve this answer













        I believe this great article explains what you want, with screenshots galore. You want to create a special session in the login manager that will start a browser like Google Chrome using the kiosk option. You can set it up so that normal users automatically log into this kiosk session, but introduce a short time delay to allow an admin user to log into the normal Ubuntu session to administer changes to the system.



        The steps are fairly detailed and so I won't reproduce them in their entirety here. But since Ask Ubuntu discourages just linking (in case the linked site goes down), I will cut and paste here the key steps. You should go to the link for the full instructions.



        The desktop file you need to create in /usr/share/xsessions/ should have:



        [Desktop Entry]
        Encoding=UTF-8
        Name=Kiosk Mode
        Comment=Chromium Kiosk Mode
        Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
        Type=Application


        The script chromeKiosk.sh should be placed in the same directory with execute permissions and look like:



        #!/bin/bash
        xscreensaver -nosplash &
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"bottom.*/"bottom": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f2),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        cat ~/.config/chromium/Local State | perl -pe "s/"right.*/"right": $(xrandr | grep * | cut -d' ' -f4 | cut -d'x' -f1),/" > ~/.config/chromium/Local State
        while true; do chromium-browser %u --start-maximized; sleep 5s; done






        share|improve this answer













        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer











        answered Apr 24 '12 at 13:36









        Chan-Ho Suh

        6,71923069




        6,71923069







        • 1




          If i do this on 12.04 the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. I have a border. It is as if the browser thinks the screen is not 1024x768. Do you have any ideas?
          – Chris Woollard
          Apr 27 '12 at 13:53










        • @ChrisWoollard Did you try the last step "testing" in the article I linked to?
          – Chan-Ho Suh
          Apr 27 '12 at 20:18










        • @Chan-HoSuh Isee that the same problem persists with a custome pyGtK application. Any ideas on how to maximize custom apps?
          – Juzer Ali
          Sep 5 '12 at 15:25












        • 1




          If i do this on 12.04 the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. I have a border. It is as if the browser thinks the screen is not 1024x768. Do you have any ideas?
          – Chris Woollard
          Apr 27 '12 at 13:53










        • @ChrisWoollard Did you try the last step "testing" in the article I linked to?
          – Chan-Ho Suh
          Apr 27 '12 at 20:18










        • @Chan-HoSuh Isee that the same problem persists with a custome pyGtK application. Any ideas on how to maximize custom apps?
          – Juzer Ali
          Sep 5 '12 at 15:25







        1




        1




        If i do this on 12.04 the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. I have a border. It is as if the browser thinks the screen is not 1024x768. Do you have any ideas?
        – Chris Woollard
        Apr 27 '12 at 13:53




        If i do this on 12.04 the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. I have a border. It is as if the browser thinks the screen is not 1024x768. Do you have any ideas?
        – Chris Woollard
        Apr 27 '12 at 13:53












        @ChrisWoollard Did you try the last step "testing" in the article I linked to?
        – Chan-Ho Suh
        Apr 27 '12 at 20:18




        @ChrisWoollard Did you try the last step "testing" in the article I linked to?
        – Chan-Ho Suh
        Apr 27 '12 at 20:18












        @Chan-HoSuh Isee that the same problem persists with a custome pyGtK application. Any ideas on how to maximize custom apps?
        – Juzer Ali
        Sep 5 '12 at 15:25




        @Chan-HoSuh Isee that the same problem persists with a custome pyGtK application. Any ideas on how to maximize custom apps?
        – Juzer Ali
        Sep 5 '12 at 15:25












        up vote
        7
        down vote













        I found a way use Firefox instead because I wanted to avoid fullscreen mode:



        A kiosk solution with Ubuntu+Firefox:



        Install Ubuntu/Lubuntu/whatever



        Make user admin
        Make user kiosk
        Set kiosk to autologin, no password
        Fix permissions (so kiosk cannot ctrl-s and peep into /home/admin)



        cd /home
        sudo chmod 700 *


        Check if printer and other hardware, you might need, works.



        Install Firefox add-ons: “R-kiosk” and “Reset Kiosk” (search for “kiosk”), optionally: “Easy Whitelist”.
        Create a file called ‘[profile]/user.js’ (profile is the name of your firefox profile directory, probably ‘.default’ ) and add these lines to it:



        user_pref("rkiosk.navbar", true);
        user_pref("browser.fullscreen.autohide",false);
        user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 3);
        user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction", 0);
        user_pref("privacy.popups.policy", 1);


        (The last 3 lines may require explanation: I had to use this for a particular web application designed for IE that relied on popup windows, so I wanted Firefox to open all popups the way IE does.)



        Create a file called ‘[profile]/chrome/userChrome.css’ and add these lines to it:



        #bookmarks-menu display: none !important;
        #window-controls display: none !important;
        #personal-bookmarks display: none !important;
        #autohide-context display: none !important;
        #urlbar display: none !important;
        #searchbar display: none !important;


        This will remove all unwanted icons/menus from the window. In case I forgot any, use the customize function to remove items from the toolbar or move them to e.g. the bookmark toolbar that will be hidden from view.



        You may want to set firefox to never save history.
        Set default homepage and restart Firefox.
        Remember you can still close Firefox with alt-f4 and start it with “firefox -safe-mode” to disable kiosk mode.



        Install Openbox (sudo apt-get install openbox obconf)
        Use obconf to remove extra windows – it will only confuse the user.
        Edit openbox menu (/etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml) to remove all unwanted menu items. That will probably leave you with only “exit” or nothing at all. If you leave in “exit” the kiosk user can log out and get to the login screen, but he can only log in again as kiosk unless he can guess the password for admin. If you remove it completely it is possible that you yourself won't be able to log out of kiosk (e.g. in order to log in as admin and do maintenance). On my ubuntu-installation both ctrl-alt-backspace and ctrl-alt-sysrq-k are disabled, so I can only reboot with ctrl-alt-sysrq-b. Alternatively you can log in remotely or use ctrl-alt-f1 and do your maintenance work from the command line.
        Edit file ~/.config/openbox/autostart:



        # run firefox:
        while true; do firefox; sleep 5s; done &


        What the user can do on this setup:



        Close Firefox with alt-f4 (but it restarts after a few seconds).
        Use alt-tab to switch between programs (but Firefox is the only program).
        He can only follow links from the homepage, so he cannot abuse the internet.
        Reboot machine (but password in bios)
        ctrl-alt-f1 – but he doesn't know the password to login as admin.
        If he can log out of openbox and get to lightdm, he can log in again as kiosk and choose another window manager and get full control, so you need to delete all other .desktop entries from /usr/share/xsessions/ except openbox.desktop. I don't know of any way you can tie a user to a particular wm. :-(



        Advantages of using Openbox instead of just a browser on top of Xwindows:



        Chromium/Firefox in kiosk mode is always maximized. When I don’t use a wm, it never fills out the whole screen.
        I get the Exit menu option (optional).



        What is it good for?



        A fullscreen kiosk is good for browsing a particular website e.g. a school, a library, or a museum's website. However it is nice to be able to get back to the main/start page in case you get lost, so the website needs to be designed with a big home button and very easy navigation. And you cannot have any links leading users offsite since they cannot get back. Of course the browser will reset after a period of inactivity or if you close it with alt-f4, but most users won’t know that and will become very frustrated. That is why fullscreen mode usually isn't always that userfriendly and that’s why I wanted to keep some toolbar functionality and only Firefox could give me that, not Chrome. Alternatively give Openkiosk a try, it didn’t work for me because of the popup issue, but it might work for you.






        share|improve this answer



























          up vote
          7
          down vote













          I found a way use Firefox instead because I wanted to avoid fullscreen mode:



          A kiosk solution with Ubuntu+Firefox:



          Install Ubuntu/Lubuntu/whatever



          Make user admin
          Make user kiosk
          Set kiosk to autologin, no password
          Fix permissions (so kiosk cannot ctrl-s and peep into /home/admin)



          cd /home
          sudo chmod 700 *


          Check if printer and other hardware, you might need, works.



          Install Firefox add-ons: “R-kiosk” and “Reset Kiosk” (search for “kiosk”), optionally: “Easy Whitelist”.
          Create a file called ‘[profile]/user.js’ (profile is the name of your firefox profile directory, probably ‘.default’ ) and add these lines to it:



          user_pref("rkiosk.navbar", true);
          user_pref("browser.fullscreen.autohide",false);
          user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 3);
          user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction", 0);
          user_pref("privacy.popups.policy", 1);


          (The last 3 lines may require explanation: I had to use this for a particular web application designed for IE that relied on popup windows, so I wanted Firefox to open all popups the way IE does.)



          Create a file called ‘[profile]/chrome/userChrome.css’ and add these lines to it:



          #bookmarks-menu display: none !important;
          #window-controls display: none !important;
          #personal-bookmarks display: none !important;
          #autohide-context display: none !important;
          #urlbar display: none !important;
          #searchbar display: none !important;


          This will remove all unwanted icons/menus from the window. In case I forgot any, use the customize function to remove items from the toolbar or move them to e.g. the bookmark toolbar that will be hidden from view.



          You may want to set firefox to never save history.
          Set default homepage and restart Firefox.
          Remember you can still close Firefox with alt-f4 and start it with “firefox -safe-mode” to disable kiosk mode.



          Install Openbox (sudo apt-get install openbox obconf)
          Use obconf to remove extra windows – it will only confuse the user.
          Edit openbox menu (/etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml) to remove all unwanted menu items. That will probably leave you with only “exit” or nothing at all. If you leave in “exit” the kiosk user can log out and get to the login screen, but he can only log in again as kiosk unless he can guess the password for admin. If you remove it completely it is possible that you yourself won't be able to log out of kiosk (e.g. in order to log in as admin and do maintenance). On my ubuntu-installation both ctrl-alt-backspace and ctrl-alt-sysrq-k are disabled, so I can only reboot with ctrl-alt-sysrq-b. Alternatively you can log in remotely or use ctrl-alt-f1 and do your maintenance work from the command line.
          Edit file ~/.config/openbox/autostart:



          # run firefox:
          while true; do firefox; sleep 5s; done &


          What the user can do on this setup:



          Close Firefox with alt-f4 (but it restarts after a few seconds).
          Use alt-tab to switch between programs (but Firefox is the only program).
          He can only follow links from the homepage, so he cannot abuse the internet.
          Reboot machine (but password in bios)
          ctrl-alt-f1 – but he doesn't know the password to login as admin.
          If he can log out of openbox and get to lightdm, he can log in again as kiosk and choose another window manager and get full control, so you need to delete all other .desktop entries from /usr/share/xsessions/ except openbox.desktop. I don't know of any way you can tie a user to a particular wm. :-(



          Advantages of using Openbox instead of just a browser on top of Xwindows:



          Chromium/Firefox in kiosk mode is always maximized. When I don’t use a wm, it never fills out the whole screen.
          I get the Exit menu option (optional).



          What is it good for?



          A fullscreen kiosk is good for browsing a particular website e.g. a school, a library, or a museum's website. However it is nice to be able to get back to the main/start page in case you get lost, so the website needs to be designed with a big home button and very easy navigation. And you cannot have any links leading users offsite since they cannot get back. Of course the browser will reset after a period of inactivity or if you close it with alt-f4, but most users won’t know that and will become very frustrated. That is why fullscreen mode usually isn't always that userfriendly and that’s why I wanted to keep some toolbar functionality and only Firefox could give me that, not Chrome. Alternatively give Openkiosk a try, it didn’t work for me because of the popup issue, but it might work for you.






          share|improve this answer

























            up vote
            7
            down vote










            up vote
            7
            down vote









            I found a way use Firefox instead because I wanted to avoid fullscreen mode:



            A kiosk solution with Ubuntu+Firefox:



            Install Ubuntu/Lubuntu/whatever



            Make user admin
            Make user kiosk
            Set kiosk to autologin, no password
            Fix permissions (so kiosk cannot ctrl-s and peep into /home/admin)



            cd /home
            sudo chmod 700 *


            Check if printer and other hardware, you might need, works.



            Install Firefox add-ons: “R-kiosk” and “Reset Kiosk” (search for “kiosk”), optionally: “Easy Whitelist”.
            Create a file called ‘[profile]/user.js’ (profile is the name of your firefox profile directory, probably ‘.default’ ) and add these lines to it:



            user_pref("rkiosk.navbar", true);
            user_pref("browser.fullscreen.autohide",false);
            user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 3);
            user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction", 0);
            user_pref("privacy.popups.policy", 1);


            (The last 3 lines may require explanation: I had to use this for a particular web application designed for IE that relied on popup windows, so I wanted Firefox to open all popups the way IE does.)



            Create a file called ‘[profile]/chrome/userChrome.css’ and add these lines to it:



            #bookmarks-menu display: none !important;
            #window-controls display: none !important;
            #personal-bookmarks display: none !important;
            #autohide-context display: none !important;
            #urlbar display: none !important;
            #searchbar display: none !important;


            This will remove all unwanted icons/menus from the window. In case I forgot any, use the customize function to remove items from the toolbar or move them to e.g. the bookmark toolbar that will be hidden from view.



            You may want to set firefox to never save history.
            Set default homepage and restart Firefox.
            Remember you can still close Firefox with alt-f4 and start it with “firefox -safe-mode” to disable kiosk mode.



            Install Openbox (sudo apt-get install openbox obconf)
            Use obconf to remove extra windows – it will only confuse the user.
            Edit openbox menu (/etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml) to remove all unwanted menu items. That will probably leave you with only “exit” or nothing at all. If you leave in “exit” the kiosk user can log out and get to the login screen, but he can only log in again as kiosk unless he can guess the password for admin. If you remove it completely it is possible that you yourself won't be able to log out of kiosk (e.g. in order to log in as admin and do maintenance). On my ubuntu-installation both ctrl-alt-backspace and ctrl-alt-sysrq-k are disabled, so I can only reboot with ctrl-alt-sysrq-b. Alternatively you can log in remotely or use ctrl-alt-f1 and do your maintenance work from the command line.
            Edit file ~/.config/openbox/autostart:



            # run firefox:
            while true; do firefox; sleep 5s; done &


            What the user can do on this setup:



            Close Firefox with alt-f4 (but it restarts after a few seconds).
            Use alt-tab to switch between programs (but Firefox is the only program).
            He can only follow links from the homepage, so he cannot abuse the internet.
            Reboot machine (but password in bios)
            ctrl-alt-f1 – but he doesn't know the password to login as admin.
            If he can log out of openbox and get to lightdm, he can log in again as kiosk and choose another window manager and get full control, so you need to delete all other .desktop entries from /usr/share/xsessions/ except openbox.desktop. I don't know of any way you can tie a user to a particular wm. :-(



            Advantages of using Openbox instead of just a browser on top of Xwindows:



            Chromium/Firefox in kiosk mode is always maximized. When I don’t use a wm, it never fills out the whole screen.
            I get the Exit menu option (optional).



            What is it good for?



            A fullscreen kiosk is good for browsing a particular website e.g. a school, a library, or a museum's website. However it is nice to be able to get back to the main/start page in case you get lost, so the website needs to be designed with a big home button and very easy navigation. And you cannot have any links leading users offsite since they cannot get back. Of course the browser will reset after a period of inactivity or if you close it with alt-f4, but most users won’t know that and will become very frustrated. That is why fullscreen mode usually isn't always that userfriendly and that’s why I wanted to keep some toolbar functionality and only Firefox could give me that, not Chrome. Alternatively give Openkiosk a try, it didn’t work for me because of the popup issue, but it might work for you.






            share|improve this answer















            I found a way use Firefox instead because I wanted to avoid fullscreen mode:



            A kiosk solution with Ubuntu+Firefox:



            Install Ubuntu/Lubuntu/whatever



            Make user admin
            Make user kiosk
            Set kiosk to autologin, no password
            Fix permissions (so kiosk cannot ctrl-s and peep into /home/admin)



            cd /home
            sudo chmod 700 *


            Check if printer and other hardware, you might need, works.



            Install Firefox add-ons: “R-kiosk” and “Reset Kiosk” (search for “kiosk”), optionally: “Easy Whitelist”.
            Create a file called ‘[profile]/user.js’ (profile is the name of your firefox profile directory, probably ‘.default’ ) and add these lines to it:



            user_pref("rkiosk.navbar", true);
            user_pref("browser.fullscreen.autohide",false);
            user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 3);
            user_pref("browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction", 0);
            user_pref("privacy.popups.policy", 1);


            (The last 3 lines may require explanation: I had to use this for a particular web application designed for IE that relied on popup windows, so I wanted Firefox to open all popups the way IE does.)



            Create a file called ‘[profile]/chrome/userChrome.css’ and add these lines to it:



            #bookmarks-menu display: none !important;
            #window-controls display: none !important;
            #personal-bookmarks display: none !important;
            #autohide-context display: none !important;
            #urlbar display: none !important;
            #searchbar display: none !important;


            This will remove all unwanted icons/menus from the window. In case I forgot any, use the customize function to remove items from the toolbar or move them to e.g. the bookmark toolbar that will be hidden from view.



            You may want to set firefox to never save history.
            Set default homepage and restart Firefox.
            Remember you can still close Firefox with alt-f4 and start it with “firefox -safe-mode” to disable kiosk mode.



            Install Openbox (sudo apt-get install openbox obconf)
            Use obconf to remove extra windows – it will only confuse the user.
            Edit openbox menu (/etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml) to remove all unwanted menu items. That will probably leave you with only “exit” or nothing at all. If you leave in “exit” the kiosk user can log out and get to the login screen, but he can only log in again as kiosk unless he can guess the password for admin. If you remove it completely it is possible that you yourself won't be able to log out of kiosk (e.g. in order to log in as admin and do maintenance). On my ubuntu-installation both ctrl-alt-backspace and ctrl-alt-sysrq-k are disabled, so I can only reboot with ctrl-alt-sysrq-b. Alternatively you can log in remotely or use ctrl-alt-f1 and do your maintenance work from the command line.
            Edit file ~/.config/openbox/autostart:



            # run firefox:
            while true; do firefox; sleep 5s; done &


            What the user can do on this setup:



            Close Firefox with alt-f4 (but it restarts after a few seconds).
            Use alt-tab to switch between programs (but Firefox is the only program).
            He can only follow links from the homepage, so he cannot abuse the internet.
            Reboot machine (but password in bios)
            ctrl-alt-f1 – but he doesn't know the password to login as admin.
            If he can log out of openbox and get to lightdm, he can log in again as kiosk and choose another window manager and get full control, so you need to delete all other .desktop entries from /usr/share/xsessions/ except openbox.desktop. I don't know of any way you can tie a user to a particular wm. :-(



            Advantages of using Openbox instead of just a browser on top of Xwindows:



            Chromium/Firefox in kiosk mode is always maximized. When I don’t use a wm, it never fills out the whole screen.
            I get the Exit menu option (optional).



            What is it good for?



            A fullscreen kiosk is good for browsing a particular website e.g. a school, a library, or a museum's website. However it is nice to be able to get back to the main/start page in case you get lost, so the website needs to be designed with a big home button and very easy navigation. And you cannot have any links leading users offsite since they cannot get back. Of course the browser will reset after a period of inactivity or if you close it with alt-f4, but most users won’t know that and will become very frustrated. That is why fullscreen mode usually isn't always that userfriendly and that’s why I wanted to keep some toolbar functionality and only Firefox could give me that, not Chrome. Alternatively give Openkiosk a try, it didn’t work for me because of the popup issue, but it might work for you.







            share|improve this answer















            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited Sep 18 '13 at 14:53


























            answered Sep 17 '13 at 20:27









            BIL

            7112




            7112




















                up vote
                3
                down vote













                Firefox Kiosk



                Chromium-browser kiosk configurations do not allow for web pages requiring ‘java’. Java (IcedTea) doesn't have a PPAPI plugin available, and so it's not usable in Chromium, since Chromium 34 in Trusty has switched to the Aura rendering framework and no longer allows NPAPI plugins.



                Firefox kiosk does! This configuration works on both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.



                First step is to create the ‘Kiosk’ user.



                Install Cinnamon (I had to get away from Unity desktop)



                sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lestcape/cinnamon 
                sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cinnamon


                Install mKiosk



                Install mKiosk Web Browser (Public Terminal) - (add-on for Firefox) from the Kiosk users profile.
                You will be prompted with a warning about Administrators use. Accept and move on.



                1. From the Basic tab:
                  Select ‘Always start in full screen’ and leave everything else on this tab at defaults

                2. From the Network tab:
                  Proxy Options – Leave Restricted user at ‘Disabled (Direct Connections only)

                3. From the Appearance tab:
                  Show on Full Screen – Select View address bar in full screen, Show tabs, Show Bookmarks Toolbar. De-select Show Printer button and Show reset button (unless you want to of course).

                4. From the Security tab:
                  On Clear to close session – Select to Delete cache files and Clean History
                  On Restrictions (rollback only in safe mode!!) –
                  Select ‘Use Passwd (F1, F2, F11/Ctrl+Shift+F and F12/Ctrl+Shift+W)!
                  And provide the Administrator password.

                5. From the Iterativity tab:
                  Leave at defaults.

                Notes: On step 4, when kiosk user hits any of those keys in parenthesis they will be prompted for the administrator password.



                F1 – Configure mKiosk
                F2 – Confgure Firefox preferences
                Ctrl+Shift+F and F11 – Exit Full Screen mode
                Ctrl+Shift+W and F12 – Exits Firefox



                After configuring mKiosk, you will be prompted for the admin password again. You may have to hit the back button a few times to get back to the Home Page and Full screen mode (or just hit F11). You will be notified that the admin password has changed.



                You can now configure a Bookmarks button for the toolbar, such as your ‘Home page’ (otherwise the back button is the only way to get back to your homepage and users will not do so).



                Install Oracle Java 7 in Ubuntu



                sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java 
                sudo apt-get update
                sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
                sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-set-default


                Now you can add Firefox to the ‘Startup apps’ for kiosk user. You will have to exit the browser (F12)



                Create the Firefox Desktop



                Open a file (sudo nano /usr/share/xsessions/Firefox.desktop) and paste:



                [Desktop Entry] 
                Name=Firefox (No effects)
                Comment=This session only opens Firefox
                Exec=/usr/bin/firefox -height 768 -width 1024
                Icon=
                Type=Application


                Log out, select the Firefox (no effects) login for Kiosk user and login.



                Autologon ‘kiosk user’



                You will have to log out and back in as ‘administrator’ to manage the ‘autologon’ for ‘kiosk user’.



                1. Logon as ‘administrator’ to the gnome desktop


                2. Applications>System Tools>Administration>User Accounts


                3. Unlock the kiosk user and set autologon to yes


                Managing updates for Ubuntu



                1. Hit the F12 button. You will be prompted for the mKiosk admin password. Firefox will exit and you will be back to the logon screen.


                2. Login as the ‘administrator’. Go to the Update Manager, Scan for updates and Install.


                3. Reboot. Done.






                share|improve this answer



























                  up vote
                  3
                  down vote













                  Firefox Kiosk



                  Chromium-browser kiosk configurations do not allow for web pages requiring ‘java’. Java (IcedTea) doesn't have a PPAPI plugin available, and so it's not usable in Chromium, since Chromium 34 in Trusty has switched to the Aura rendering framework and no longer allows NPAPI plugins.



                  Firefox kiosk does! This configuration works on both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.



                  First step is to create the ‘Kiosk’ user.



                  Install Cinnamon (I had to get away from Unity desktop)



                  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lestcape/cinnamon 
                  sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cinnamon


                  Install mKiosk



                  Install mKiosk Web Browser (Public Terminal) - (add-on for Firefox) from the Kiosk users profile.
                  You will be prompted with a warning about Administrators use. Accept and move on.



                  1. From the Basic tab:
                    Select ‘Always start in full screen’ and leave everything else on this tab at defaults

                  2. From the Network tab:
                    Proxy Options – Leave Restricted user at ‘Disabled (Direct Connections only)

                  3. From the Appearance tab:
                    Show on Full Screen – Select View address bar in full screen, Show tabs, Show Bookmarks Toolbar. De-select Show Printer button and Show reset button (unless you want to of course).

                  4. From the Security tab:
                    On Clear to close session – Select to Delete cache files and Clean History
                    On Restrictions (rollback only in safe mode!!) –
                    Select ‘Use Passwd (F1, F2, F11/Ctrl+Shift+F and F12/Ctrl+Shift+W)!
                    And provide the Administrator password.

                  5. From the Iterativity tab:
                    Leave at defaults.

                  Notes: On step 4, when kiosk user hits any of those keys in parenthesis they will be prompted for the administrator password.



                  F1 – Configure mKiosk
                  F2 – Confgure Firefox preferences
                  Ctrl+Shift+F and F11 – Exit Full Screen mode
                  Ctrl+Shift+W and F12 – Exits Firefox



                  After configuring mKiosk, you will be prompted for the admin password again. You may have to hit the back button a few times to get back to the Home Page and Full screen mode (or just hit F11). You will be notified that the admin password has changed.



                  You can now configure a Bookmarks button for the toolbar, such as your ‘Home page’ (otherwise the back button is the only way to get back to your homepage and users will not do so).



                  Install Oracle Java 7 in Ubuntu



                  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java 
                  sudo apt-get update
                  sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
                  sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-set-default


                  Now you can add Firefox to the ‘Startup apps’ for kiosk user. You will have to exit the browser (F12)



                  Create the Firefox Desktop



                  Open a file (sudo nano /usr/share/xsessions/Firefox.desktop) and paste:



                  [Desktop Entry] 
                  Name=Firefox (No effects)
                  Comment=This session only opens Firefox
                  Exec=/usr/bin/firefox -height 768 -width 1024
                  Icon=
                  Type=Application


                  Log out, select the Firefox (no effects) login for Kiosk user and login.



                  Autologon ‘kiosk user’



                  You will have to log out and back in as ‘administrator’ to manage the ‘autologon’ for ‘kiosk user’.



                  1. Logon as ‘administrator’ to the gnome desktop


                  2. Applications>System Tools>Administration>User Accounts


                  3. Unlock the kiosk user and set autologon to yes


                  Managing updates for Ubuntu



                  1. Hit the F12 button. You will be prompted for the mKiosk admin password. Firefox will exit and you will be back to the logon screen.


                  2. Login as the ‘administrator’. Go to the Update Manager, Scan for updates and Install.


                  3. Reboot. Done.






                  share|improve this answer

























                    up vote
                    3
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    3
                    down vote









                    Firefox Kiosk



                    Chromium-browser kiosk configurations do not allow for web pages requiring ‘java’. Java (IcedTea) doesn't have a PPAPI plugin available, and so it's not usable in Chromium, since Chromium 34 in Trusty has switched to the Aura rendering framework and no longer allows NPAPI plugins.



                    Firefox kiosk does! This configuration works on both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.



                    First step is to create the ‘Kiosk’ user.



                    Install Cinnamon (I had to get away from Unity desktop)



                    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lestcape/cinnamon 
                    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cinnamon


                    Install mKiosk



                    Install mKiosk Web Browser (Public Terminal) - (add-on for Firefox) from the Kiosk users profile.
                    You will be prompted with a warning about Administrators use. Accept and move on.



                    1. From the Basic tab:
                      Select ‘Always start in full screen’ and leave everything else on this tab at defaults

                    2. From the Network tab:
                      Proxy Options – Leave Restricted user at ‘Disabled (Direct Connections only)

                    3. From the Appearance tab:
                      Show on Full Screen – Select View address bar in full screen, Show tabs, Show Bookmarks Toolbar. De-select Show Printer button and Show reset button (unless you want to of course).

                    4. From the Security tab:
                      On Clear to close session – Select to Delete cache files and Clean History
                      On Restrictions (rollback only in safe mode!!) –
                      Select ‘Use Passwd (F1, F2, F11/Ctrl+Shift+F and F12/Ctrl+Shift+W)!
                      And provide the Administrator password.

                    5. From the Iterativity tab:
                      Leave at defaults.

                    Notes: On step 4, when kiosk user hits any of those keys in parenthesis they will be prompted for the administrator password.



                    F1 – Configure mKiosk
                    F2 – Confgure Firefox preferences
                    Ctrl+Shift+F and F11 – Exit Full Screen mode
                    Ctrl+Shift+W and F12 – Exits Firefox



                    After configuring mKiosk, you will be prompted for the admin password again. You may have to hit the back button a few times to get back to the Home Page and Full screen mode (or just hit F11). You will be notified that the admin password has changed.



                    You can now configure a Bookmarks button for the toolbar, such as your ‘Home page’ (otherwise the back button is the only way to get back to your homepage and users will not do so).



                    Install Oracle Java 7 in Ubuntu



                    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java 
                    sudo apt-get update
                    sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
                    sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-set-default


                    Now you can add Firefox to the ‘Startup apps’ for kiosk user. You will have to exit the browser (F12)



                    Create the Firefox Desktop



                    Open a file (sudo nano /usr/share/xsessions/Firefox.desktop) and paste:



                    [Desktop Entry] 
                    Name=Firefox (No effects)
                    Comment=This session only opens Firefox
                    Exec=/usr/bin/firefox -height 768 -width 1024
                    Icon=
                    Type=Application


                    Log out, select the Firefox (no effects) login for Kiosk user and login.



                    Autologon ‘kiosk user’



                    You will have to log out and back in as ‘administrator’ to manage the ‘autologon’ for ‘kiosk user’.



                    1. Logon as ‘administrator’ to the gnome desktop


                    2. Applications>System Tools>Administration>User Accounts


                    3. Unlock the kiosk user and set autologon to yes


                    Managing updates for Ubuntu



                    1. Hit the F12 button. You will be prompted for the mKiosk admin password. Firefox will exit and you will be back to the logon screen.


                    2. Login as the ‘administrator’. Go to the Update Manager, Scan for updates and Install.


                    3. Reboot. Done.






                    share|improve this answer















                    Firefox Kiosk



                    Chromium-browser kiosk configurations do not allow for web pages requiring ‘java’. Java (IcedTea) doesn't have a PPAPI plugin available, and so it's not usable in Chromium, since Chromium 34 in Trusty has switched to the Aura rendering framework and no longer allows NPAPI plugins.



                    Firefox kiosk does! This configuration works on both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.



                    First step is to create the ‘Kiosk’ user.



                    Install Cinnamon (I had to get away from Unity desktop)



                    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lestcape/cinnamon 
                    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cinnamon


                    Install mKiosk



                    Install mKiosk Web Browser (Public Terminal) - (add-on for Firefox) from the Kiosk users profile.
                    You will be prompted with a warning about Administrators use. Accept and move on.



                    1. From the Basic tab:
                      Select ‘Always start in full screen’ and leave everything else on this tab at defaults

                    2. From the Network tab:
                      Proxy Options – Leave Restricted user at ‘Disabled (Direct Connections only)

                    3. From the Appearance tab:
                      Show on Full Screen – Select View address bar in full screen, Show tabs, Show Bookmarks Toolbar. De-select Show Printer button and Show reset button (unless you want to of course).

                    4. From the Security tab:
                      On Clear to close session – Select to Delete cache files and Clean History
                      On Restrictions (rollback only in safe mode!!) –
                      Select ‘Use Passwd (F1, F2, F11/Ctrl+Shift+F and F12/Ctrl+Shift+W)!
                      And provide the Administrator password.

                    5. From the Iterativity tab:
                      Leave at defaults.

                    Notes: On step 4, when kiosk user hits any of those keys in parenthesis they will be prompted for the administrator password.



                    F1 – Configure mKiosk
                    F2 – Confgure Firefox preferences
                    Ctrl+Shift+F and F11 – Exit Full Screen mode
                    Ctrl+Shift+W and F12 – Exits Firefox



                    After configuring mKiosk, you will be prompted for the admin password again. You may have to hit the back button a few times to get back to the Home Page and Full screen mode (or just hit F11). You will be notified that the admin password has changed.



                    You can now configure a Bookmarks button for the toolbar, such as your ‘Home page’ (otherwise the back button is the only way to get back to your homepage and users will not do so).



                    Install Oracle Java 7 in Ubuntu



                    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java 
                    sudo apt-get update
                    sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
                    sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-set-default


                    Now you can add Firefox to the ‘Startup apps’ for kiosk user. You will have to exit the browser (F12)



                    Create the Firefox Desktop



                    Open a file (sudo nano /usr/share/xsessions/Firefox.desktop) and paste:



                    [Desktop Entry] 
                    Name=Firefox (No effects)
                    Comment=This session only opens Firefox
                    Exec=/usr/bin/firefox -height 768 -width 1024
                    Icon=
                    Type=Application


                    Log out, select the Firefox (no effects) login for Kiosk user and login.



                    Autologon ‘kiosk user’



                    You will have to log out and back in as ‘administrator’ to manage the ‘autologon’ for ‘kiosk user’.



                    1. Logon as ‘administrator’ to the gnome desktop


                    2. Applications>System Tools>Administration>User Accounts


                    3. Unlock the kiosk user and set autologon to yes


                    Managing updates for Ubuntu



                    1. Hit the F12 button. You will be prompted for the mKiosk admin password. Firefox will exit and you will be back to the logon screen.


                    2. Login as the ‘administrator’. Go to the Update Manager, Scan for updates and Install.


                    3. Reboot. Done.







                    share|improve this answer















                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited Sep 11 '14 at 19:07









                    user.dz

                    33.4k1186165




                    33.4k1186165











                    answered Sep 11 '14 at 17:25









                    Bill_Friedkin

                    311




                    311




















                        up vote
                        1
                        down vote













                        I've set up the same. I'm providing you an easy script. Run this script and you will able to use a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button, user can only click the link on the page.



                        wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

                        sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

                        sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable -y

                        echo '[Desktop Entry]
                        Encoding=UTF-8
                        Name=Kiosk Mode
                        Comment=Chrome Kiosk Mode
                        Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
                        Type=Application' >/usr/share/xsessions/kiosk.desktop

                        echo '#!/bin/bash
                        xset s off
                        xset s noblank
                        nm-applet &
                        sleep 5s
                        while true; do
                        google-chrome --window-size=1920,1080 --kiosk --window-position=0,0 http://google.com;
                        sleep 5s;
                        done' >/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh

                        sudo chmod +x /usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh


                        Copy this all content in an .sh file and run it. After the completion of the script you need to login in Kiosk Mode as shown in the image.



                        Kiosk Mode






                        share|improve this answer



























                          up vote
                          1
                          down vote













                          I've set up the same. I'm providing you an easy script. Run this script and you will able to use a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button, user can only click the link on the page.



                          wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

                          sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

                          sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable -y

                          echo '[Desktop Entry]
                          Encoding=UTF-8
                          Name=Kiosk Mode
                          Comment=Chrome Kiosk Mode
                          Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
                          Type=Application' >/usr/share/xsessions/kiosk.desktop

                          echo '#!/bin/bash
                          xset s off
                          xset s noblank
                          nm-applet &
                          sleep 5s
                          while true; do
                          google-chrome --window-size=1920,1080 --kiosk --window-position=0,0 http://google.com;
                          sleep 5s;
                          done' >/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh

                          sudo chmod +x /usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh


                          Copy this all content in an .sh file and run it. After the completion of the script you need to login in Kiosk Mode as shown in the image.



                          Kiosk Mode






                          share|improve this answer

























                            up vote
                            1
                            down vote










                            up vote
                            1
                            down vote









                            I've set up the same. I'm providing you an easy script. Run this script and you will able to use a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button, user can only click the link on the page.



                            wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

                            sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

                            sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable -y

                            echo '[Desktop Entry]
                            Encoding=UTF-8
                            Name=Kiosk Mode
                            Comment=Chrome Kiosk Mode
                            Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
                            Type=Application' >/usr/share/xsessions/kiosk.desktop

                            echo '#!/bin/bash
                            xset s off
                            xset s noblank
                            nm-applet &
                            sleep 5s
                            while true; do
                            google-chrome --window-size=1920,1080 --kiosk --window-position=0,0 http://google.com;
                            sleep 5s;
                            done' >/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh

                            sudo chmod +x /usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh


                            Copy this all content in an .sh file and run it. After the completion of the script you need to login in Kiosk Mode as shown in the image.



                            Kiosk Mode






                            share|improve this answer















                            I've set up the same. I'm providing you an easy script. Run this script and you will able to use a web browser with their site in full screen. No address bar, no button, user can only click the link on the page.



                            wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

                            sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

                            sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable -y

                            echo '[Desktop Entry]
                            Encoding=UTF-8
                            Name=Kiosk Mode
                            Comment=Chrome Kiosk Mode
                            Exec=/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh
                            Type=Application' >/usr/share/xsessions/kiosk.desktop

                            echo '#!/bin/bash
                            xset s off
                            xset s noblank
                            nm-applet &
                            sleep 5s
                            while true; do
                            google-chrome --window-size=1920,1080 --kiosk --window-position=0,0 http://google.com;
                            sleep 5s;
                            done' >/usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh

                            sudo chmod +x /usr/share/xsessions/chromeKiosk.sh


                            Copy this all content in an .sh file and run it. After the completion of the script you need to login in Kiosk Mode as shown in the image.



                            Kiosk Mode







                            share|improve this answer















                            share|improve this answer



                            share|improve this answer








                            edited Apr 13 at 8:43









                            karel

                            49.4k11105126




                            49.4k11105126











                            answered Apr 13 at 8:39









                            Kartik Agarwal

                            355210




                            355210






















                                 

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