Linux Distro recommendation for public kiosk

[Chris McQuistion]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a pre-built, easy to deploy Linux OS designed for installation on some public computers to just give them a web browser and not much else?

Preferably, something that doesn't keep cookies and will just let people refresh the session would be good.

I've done some Googling but haven't been thrilled with what I've found so far.  Some of the "free" distributions actually don't do automatic updates unless you pay or have other limitations on the "free" version.

Anyone got a recommendation?

Chris

[Mark J. Bailey]

I’ve had some exposure to Porteus for a plug-n-go thumbdrive booted linux desktop with one of my clients. Seems to be well structured.

 

As such, I had noticed they also offer a Kiosk version you might check out:

 

https://porteus-kiosk.org/

 

Really don’t know much more it than that. But with what work I’ve done with the Desktop distro, I liked what I saw.

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[Chris McQuistion]

I tried Porteus first and realized that you don’t get updates unless you pay. It might be worth it but if there is a 100% free solution, I’d prefer that, of course.  

[Michael L]

How about 4M Linux?

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[Mark J. Bailey]

Yeah, I just went and looked at that. Interesting. I’ve never had a need for a kiosk, so hadn’t noticed this. The subscription says for automatic updates, but I wonder if there’s a way to remote connect and trigger updates manually? Seems it would be treading into a gray area to cut you off from updates entirely (unless of course you shell out).

 

Well, now you’ve got me curious. I may snag a copy of it and spin it up just to see what this auto-update subscription biz is all about. I don’t recall seeing anything like that with the Desktop version. But again, I was only involved on the perimeter of the project my client was testing it out for (homeless shelter use).

[Chris McQuistion]

It looks like Porteus has actually disabled the ability to update the OS manually.

No package manager exists on it and I'm not slackware-knowledgeable enough to figure out how to hack package management back into it.

The worst part is that they want 40 Euros per year, per system, for updates.  That seems high to me.  If it was a one-time cost or low annual fee, I'd probably just shell it out, but that seems ridiculous to me.

[Mark J. Bailey]

Wow. I will check with my client tomorrow and see if he’s run into this same obstacle on the Porteus Desktop version. He’s near Norfolk, VA, which is one reason I’ve only been in on the perimeter of this project that he was considering using Porteus for. If the same as the kiosk version, I would definitely caution him against proceeding with using it unless he’s cool with not updating individual instances of it.

[Chris McQuistion]

Maybe the Kiosk version is different from the Desktop version.

The Kiosk version is touted as "Free" but also very specifically says it is secure only if automatic updates are enabled and that requires a paid license.

[Chris McQuistion]

Michael, 4M Linux just looks like a standard distro.  Is there some easy way to turn it into "Kiosk" mode?

[Alex Smith (K4RNT)]

Is LTSP an option?

" 'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie as wisdom and warning... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we’re all damaged." - Jean-Luc Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie, Star Trek: TNG episode "The Drumhead"
- Alex Smith

- Kent, Washington (metropolitan Seattle area)

[Chris McQuistion]

If there is a locked-down "Kiosk" way to run LTSP so computers just start up with a wiped browser configuration on boot, I'm all for it.  I don't know much about LTSP but from my quick look at their web page, it doesn't appear that this is one of their use cases, but if I'm missing something, please show me!

[Alex Smith (K4RNT)]

How about it connect to a remote Linux server, like with something like X2Go that would only spawn a web browser.

" 'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie as wisdom and warning... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we’re all damaged." - Jean-Luc Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie, Star Trek: TNG episode "The Drumhead"
- Alex Smith

- Kent, Washington (metropolitan Seattle area)

[Mark J. Bailey]

I can’t speak to the cost-benefit of paying for updates or not (not knowing your deployment scenario), but while not ideal, you could always skip on updates and just periodically redeploy a fresher download. Might even be able to use something like OPSI (http://www.opsi.org/) or Redhat Ansible to remotely deploy and manage, though OPSI has a self-booting remote “installer image” (linux-based) which can come in handy for full remote re-installs while I’m not sure Ansible offers anything at this level. OPSI is Python based, so if you know Python, you’re at least 1/10^th the way there! 😊 If you’ve ever messed with OPSI you’ll know exactly what I’m referring to. Powerful tools aren’t necessarily easy to ingest!

[Kent Perrier]

have you seen https://webconverger.com/ ? Free tier has auto-updates.

There are lots of tutorials for taking Ubuntu (and probably other distros) and making a web kioso out of them.

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[Paul Boniol]

Many years back, I was looking for similar.  Hopefully there is something good (and free) out there now.  What I ended up doing was using Mandrake/Mandriva and doing a lot of taking away, locking down, etc.  

If you want to go that route, I can see if I still have my notes.  They may have been thrown away in the great purge, when I was moved across campus.  And there have been just a few changes since then. lol :)

Hopefully one of the other solutions will work for you.

Paul

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 5:59 PM Chris McQuistion <chris.mc...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Jack Coats]

Sorry, I havenot read all the responses. This may be duplicating others.

Back 'in the day', one option of the Linux Terminal Project was to
basically allow machines to be turned off and boot from a network
server keeping no local data. Thus cookies, local files, etc, all go
away and only use what comes from the server. At that time it was
lightweight enough to run from RAM an not need writable swap. But
then again, that is when mainframes still walked the earth. Anyway,
it might be a reasonable thing to look back into LTP.

At that time it was all 'free'/open source. Not with paid gateway to
the 'good stuff'.

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><> ... Jack

If you are not paying for something, you are not a consumer, you are
the product. - Chamath Palihapitiya

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I
learn." - Ben Franklin