Help with new project [Solved]

[Tovian]

First, I hope I'm posting in the correct forum. If not, can someone please move this topic for me (Thank you)

I have decided to use one of my old PC's (an HP w/Intel I-3) for a VERY SIMPLE project but I am such a novice I don't know how to set up what I want.

I want to be able to hit the "ON" switch on this computer and have it boot to MX (or some other - better for a specific use - flavor of Linux). Once booted I want it to automatically launch Firefox to a specific url (my preferred interactive weather-radar map) in full-screen. It will sit all day long, running on my old "theater" monitor across the room so I can glance at it and see if any ugly weather is approaching my area. If the monitor shuts off after x minutes I can wake it up with the mouse, but I'd prefer that the screen not shut off for at least an hour.

This is all I want. I will have no need for a DE, I will have no need for any applications, I will have no need for ANYTHING except a dumbed-down interactive weather-radar display.

AND - most important - I really am a novice so any instructions/suggestions will have to be very specific.

This is how it looks now - but it's a full-blown version of MXL and requires normal hands-on navigation every time I turn it on. I just want this to appear every time I flip the switch (with no hands-on ANYTHING).



THANKS IN ADVANCE !!

[CharlesV]

I run a number of kiosk like machines and here is how I set them up.

First, I keep on board almost all MX stuff, as at times I need to modify the system.

Then my setup is as follows:
- Install MX xfce and set it to auto login .
- Setup firefox to start automatically. ( MX Session and Startup )
- set firefox to the page you want and then set to go full screen.
(I use firefox --kiosk when launching it )

- Then, start turning off things you dont want running using MX Service manager and MX Session and Startup.

. As I said I normally dont remove too much, but big things like libreoffice, gimp etc should not be an issue to remove

[FullScale4Me]

What you seek is called Kiosk Mode - so I suggest Google is your new friend for today.

[DukeComposed]

What you seek is called Kiosk Mode - so I suggest Google is your new friend for today.

Some homework is definitely in order here. This sounds like it could be a very rewarding project and it seems eminently doable if you break it down into a list of small tasks. Turn off the screensaver: easy. Change power settings to keep the display on: easy.

The way I see it, this will be a matter of taking a standard MX install, turning on the autologin option in "MX User Manager", and adding a new entry to "Session and Startup" as already suggested. There's no need to remove the other software on the system if you just want to run this one thing all day unless you expect someone might tamper with it, so consider what the worst-possible use case is going to be. If it's just you wanting to look at a weather map, there's not going to be much in terms of locking down of behavior that you might need to do if there are young children around or a nosy housekeeper. Having an office suite installed isn't an issue if you never run it, and if it's going to bug you that it's there and taking up disk space, you might have luck starting with the MX minimal respin, which removes a lot of the complimentary packages that a standard MX install contains.

[Tovian]

Great suggestions and I'm already making real progress. I'll report after the current thunderstorm.

THANKS !!

[DukeComposed]

Great suggestions and I'm already making real progress. I'll report after the current thunderstorm.

Looking forward to it. Two things that I'd recommend considering when building a kiosk machine or a dedicated application server like this: (1) create a second user account and put it in /etc/sudoers to be able to make administrative changes to the machine and (2) make sure you can remote into that account with SSH.

This way you can literally disconnect the mouse and keyboard from the machine and let it run as long as you like and still be able to patch it from, say, a laptop on the same network. More importantly, you can safely issue shutdowns and reboots when you need to, and when you get tired of using the machine as a kiosk or dedicated application server, you can remote into the machine and turn off the autostart stuff and repurpose the box without having to reinstall anything.

Edit: This turns out to be my 1,395th post on the forum and I'm quite pleased about that.

[CharlesV]

@DukeComposed Congrats!

+1 on all that, and I would add one more thing - on my mx machines that are headless, I have found that having xserver-xorg-video-dummy installed keeps them from having keyboard latency issues when I am remoted into them. (And for some reason on a couple of hp boxes this helps when there is no keyboard and mouse either.)

[atomick]

all info is good although a few things could be changed. yet play around stuff presented is all correct just a few tweaks and hints. openssh-server needs install client only comes auto with the MX- package so easy to call

Code: Select all

 
1:-  sudo apt install openssh-server -y 
2:-  Firefox trick:  /usr/bin/firefox --new-window https://www.forum.mxlinux.org --new-tab https://radar.weather.gov/ --new-tab https://www.accuweather.com --new-tab https://www.theweathernetwork.com  --new-tab https://www.weather.gov   #here any URL can be added simply follow this syntax for command line launching sep tabs. 

see in terminal shell firefox --help reveals this command syntax, can be easily scripted and set as an /etc/init.d start script for weather and choice to start

good idea one can consider is other gov weather and or seismic sites for earth quake activities. how about a Cron script or cron entry to change it up every 3 or 4 hours.
not too hard to accomplish. some cool things with tad little imagination can go long way to make it really cool and truly unique as such that linux can easily provide.
enjoy. cheers.

[Tovian]

I have had to handle a bunch of client calls and other responsibilities in the last few days. I'll be back on this in just a day or two.

[Tovian]

Well, as often happens with a "rookie", I've shot myself in the foot - and whether it's an injury I can recover from (or will have to be "reborn") will lie in whatever answers this post generates...

I set up an autostart for Firefox-in-kiosk-mode. No problem. Now I can't get back to my desktop (GUI) to make other modifications. And, (here's the real DA stuff...) I didn't create a 2nd user to boot into AND I can't remember the password for root.

Any way to kill Firefox running in kiosk-mode and get back to the GUI ?


Nevermind - Alt + F4 did it