Linux kiosk machine setup - any advice is welcome
by ShaggyDog from LinuxQuestions.org on (#6K7FF)
Hello,
I'm currently researching setting up a Linux kiosk machine. As part of my research I thought I'd ask around and hopefully get advice from someone with experience. I'm considering anything from ready-made solutions to a set of tools and settings I can apply myself, and anything in-between.
The machine in question is a PC with an integrated touch screen (looks like a giant tablet) with no physical keyboard or mouse attached. There are some peripherals attached - a POS printer, NCF scanner and QR code scanner.
The application is an AspNet Core 8 server with a Blazor UI (server side). It needs to run locally on the kiosk machine. It needs access to the peripheral in the following way:
The UI should be displayed in a browser that will be pointed to localhost:[some port]. It's a simple UI with big buttons and the occasional text input. It works well on Firefox, Chrome and Edge. Any reasonably up-to-date browser should be able to handle it.
This whole setup has been verified to run on Linux (Debian 12). Now I need to set up the machine for kiosk use.
The requirements are pretty straightforward:
The kiosks will be placed unsupervised in public spaces (lobbies, waiting rooms and such), and they need to behave as you'd expected from a kiosk at all times. The system must display the page, in full screen, with no possibility to close it, minimize it, navigate to some other page, bring up a menu that's not part of our app, etc. Even if a wise-a$$ comes along, and finds a way to plug in a keyboard, he mustn't be able to get the kiosk to a state where it's unusable to the next person (let alone gain access to the underlying system). The kiosk app must also come up automatically when the machine reboots.
The machine must not go to sleep (ever), the UI must not be rendered temporarily unusable by some sort of automated update. No outside dialogs or popups of any kind. An on-screen keyboard must show up when a text input is selected. I need to be able to customize this keyboard in terms of available layouts and languages.
I also need a way of remotely accessing the machine, including screen sharing. Being able to see remotely what the kiosk user sees is crucial. Also, there needs to be a way for an on-site technician to access the underlying system if need be (but in a secure, password-protected way).
I think that about covers it. These are pretty straight-forward requirements for a kiosk.
I would also like to ask specifically about one solution I found, which is Ubuntu Frame. It looks promising, it seems to support everything I need. But being new to this whole thing I don't know if there are any potential hidden deal-breakers. If you have experiences with Ubuntu Frame, or any other alternative solutions, I'd love to hear about them.
Thank you.
I'm currently researching setting up a Linux kiosk machine. As part of my research I thought I'd ask around and hopefully get advice from someone with experience. I'm considering anything from ready-made solutions to a set of tools and settings I can apply myself, and anything in-between.
The machine in question is a PC with an integrated touch screen (looks like a giant tablet) with no physical keyboard or mouse attached. There are some peripherals attached - a POS printer, NCF scanner and QR code scanner.
The application is an AspNet Core 8 server with a Blazor UI (server side). It needs to run locally on the kiosk machine. It needs access to the peripheral in the following way:
- Printer - though USB(virtual COM) /dev/ttyACM0
- Scanners - these are HIDs, either sending raw data or emulating keyboards, so the app needs access to both input and hidraw subsystems.
The UI should be displayed in a browser that will be pointed to localhost:[some port]. It's a simple UI with big buttons and the occasional text input. It works well on Firefox, Chrome and Edge. Any reasonably up-to-date browser should be able to handle it.
This whole setup has been verified to run on Linux (Debian 12). Now I need to set up the machine for kiosk use.
The requirements are pretty straightforward:
The kiosks will be placed unsupervised in public spaces (lobbies, waiting rooms and such), and they need to behave as you'd expected from a kiosk at all times. The system must display the page, in full screen, with no possibility to close it, minimize it, navigate to some other page, bring up a menu that's not part of our app, etc. Even if a wise-a$$ comes along, and finds a way to plug in a keyboard, he mustn't be able to get the kiosk to a state where it's unusable to the next person (let alone gain access to the underlying system). The kiosk app must also come up automatically when the machine reboots.
The machine must not go to sleep (ever), the UI must not be rendered temporarily unusable by some sort of automated update. No outside dialogs or popups of any kind. An on-screen keyboard must show up when a text input is selected. I need to be able to customize this keyboard in terms of available layouts and languages.
I also need a way of remotely accessing the machine, including screen sharing. Being able to see remotely what the kiosk user sees is crucial. Also, there needs to be a way for an on-site technician to access the underlying system if need be (but in a secure, password-protected way).
I think that about covers it. These are pretty straight-forward requirements for a kiosk.
I would also like to ask specifically about one solution I found, which is Ubuntu Frame. It looks promising, it seems to support everything I need. But being new to this whole thing I don't know if there are any potential hidden deal-breakers. If you have experiences with Ubuntu Frame, or any other alternative solutions, I'd love to hear about them.
Thank you.