Hi Steve --
Thanks for the thoughtful and comprehensive reply. I agree that
'restriction' is usually not in the vocabulary of those who contribute
their time and effort to providing open source solutions. As someone
who provides computer services to the public however, my focus is on
giving fair use of a limited number of workstations to a large number of
people in accordance with usage polices set in place by our
Trustees. Some type of ticket / reservation / security system is a
necessity.
I'm very intrigued by the process you mention as your third point. My
wish list for the finished application would include:
1) a browser-based administration module that a) lists each available
computer with status (in use / available), time remaining, and way to
increase that time or send a log-off command or message, b) assigns the
total number of computers to user-selected groups or pools -- for
example, we provide 20-minute computers for visitors, 60-minute
computers for patrons, and a 3 hour computer for genealogists in our
Local History room, c) a screen from which to generate passwords and
print matching login tickets for each pool -- we print them on different
colored paper --, d) full usage statistics for each computer by date
range, e) an optional printer-release module that will trap the print
output from each workstation, give a page count to the administrator,
and release the print job upon appropriate payment, and f) the ability
to grab a screen shot from any computer in use in case the user is
reported as in violation of our Internet usage policies.
The system would automatically delete passwords from the list as soon as
that particular log-in session is completed.
2) a client module that a) allows us to list our computer / internet
usage policies on the log-in screen, with an "I agree" button next to
the field where a patron enters their password to begin a session, b) an
on-screen timer with a 'logoff' button that counts down the remaining
time, and c) security provisions that prevent users from changing the
wallpaper, deleting screen icons, or adding / deleting programs.
I'd like the system to be flexible enough to work either in a
thin-client environment, or with each computer running as full Linux
workstation. Although Debian / Ubuntu / Gnome is my current choice,
the system should ideally work under any distro and window manager.
Kyle Hall from the Crawford County Federated Library system has written
a kiosk management system in php that covers many of these bases. I'm
currently in a discussion with him about how his system can be expanded
to cover more of the things on my wish list --
http://kylehall.info/index.php/about/
Thanks as well to everyone on this list who has taken an interest in
this discussion
Cheers,
-- Darrell
[email protected] wrote:
hi Darrell,
thanks for your intriguing post.
a few observations; 1) this is one instance of the use of
a GNU/Linux system which may seem to be at odds with the
very premise of free (in the GNU sense) software, and that
is; to NOT limit the ability of users to do things. so your
use cases may seem odd at first, but you have a valid and
important case.
2) many open source programmers may not be familiar with
commercial software products (and may not want to be), so
you might have a better chance of getting an answer if you
do the groundwork of listing the features you are in search
of yourself, rather than asking the list to go learn them.
3) it seems that a good desktop linux distro would allow
an administrator or programmer to create a system (based on
the existing pieces you mention) that might consist of a
some shell scripts, perhaps a "lite" database, a web server,
and client- and server-side scripts to accomplish the
features that you list, and then provide hooks for that
system to be made into a distributable package (e.g. Ubuntu).
i wouldn't be surprised if your listing the desired features
explicitly might seed some capable programmer's mind to suggest
(or even spend some time coding something up) which may help
you right away. or, it may just prompt someone to remember
that something _does_ already exist that answers your needs.
(i think Francis' LibPrint suggestion seems very helpful)
just keep in mind that the very nature of the linux system
is organic, and the workforce is distributed and lasseiz-faire.
it doesn't seem to be very agile in responding to monolithic
deficiencies (just look at how we ended up with the linux
kernel vs. hurd :).
/[email protected]
--
-------------------------------------
Darrell Eifert
Head of Adult Services
Lane Memorial Library, Hampton NH
"Beware the man of only one book"
Old Latin proverb
