Looking for distribution for an "information screen" computer

[David Brown]

I'm looking for suggestions for a convenient distribution for use on a
small PC (x86 board) for an "information screen". On power-on, the
system should start up a browser showing a particular web address in
full-screen mode. Apart from ssh access for any necessary maintenance
(such as changing the browser address), that's all it should need to do.

The system I have at the moment has plenty of power (4 GB ram, big disk,
etc. - it was originally spec'ed for Windows), but I'd like something
small and fast.

I'm thinking that I could start firefox directly from a startx script -
no need for a window manager, much less a desktop environment. I could
probably make a start from a minimal Debian installation.

But I'm guessing that I'm not the first person to want to do this, and
there may be distributions that are more convenient already available.

Thanks for any suggestions.

David

[Aragorn]

On Monday 10 September 2012 12:57, David Brown conveyed the following to
comp.os.linux.misc...

> I'm looking for suggestions for a convenient distribution for use on a
> small PC (x86 board) for an "information screen". On power-on, the
> system should start up a browser showing a particular web address in
> full-screen mode. Apart from ssh access for any necessary maintenance
> (such as changing the browser address), that's all it should need to
> do.
>
> The system I have at the moment has plenty of power (4 GB ram, big
> disk, etc. - it was originally spec'ed for Windows), but I'd like
> something small and fast.
>
> I'm thinking that I could start firefox directly from a startx script
> -
> no need for a window manager, much less a desktop environment. I
> could probably make a start from a minimal Debian installation.

That, or either Arch or Slackware. Slack doesn't install anything that
you don't need or want, and still gives you lots of control. Arch is
similar in that approach, but a little different in terms of package
management and philosophy.

> But I'm guessing that I'm not the first person to want to do this, and
> there may be distributions that are more convenient already available.

I haven't heard of any distributions that actually do what you want to
do out-of-the-box, but this type of usage of the machine is not unique
and has been done before, yes.

--
= Aragorn =
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

[Joachim Gann]

On 10.09.2012 12:57, David Brown wrote:
> I'm looking for suggestions for a convenient distribution for use on a
> small PC (x86 board) for an "information screen".

you are planning a "kiosk" system. the search term should get you there
quickly.

regds
jg

[David Brown]

I thought of "kiosk" as being interactive - you allow users to access a
browser, but with severely limited access to other parts of the system.
This system is even simpler, as there are no users. But perhaps this
just counts as a "kiosk" where no one clicks on anything.

But thanks for the hint - I'll do some searching on "kiosk" later today
to see what turns up.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I'd be very inclined to get a Rasperry PI and hack it...since that comes
with a sort of debian, thats what you hack!

>
>


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

[Danno]

The first phrase that came to my mind was "digital signage"?


--
Slackware 13.1, 2.6.33.4-smp, Core i7 920
GeForce GT520, RLU #272755

[J G Miller]

On Thursday, September 13th, 2012, at 10:29:52h -0600, Danno declared:

> The first phrase that came to my mind was "digital signage"?

Which brings to mind this type of PC and Linux OS ...

<http://www.linutop.COM/index.en.html>