The MozillaKiosk that I announced last month has been renamed OpenKiosk
and is now an official Mozilla Extension! So this is a good time to do a
little bit more of a write-up for the people who a) had trouble getting
it working, or b) had more general questions, or c) didn't even try it :-(.
This message is, first, an announcement of the official release of
OpenKiosk under the Mozilla Public License (MPL), and second, a short
intro to the installation and configuration of OpenKiosk. Part two follows.
INSTALLATION
First, install Mozilla itself
(http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/). You only need the browser
component, but it won't hurt to install the mail/news components as
well. OpenKiosk doesn't work on Firefox.
Next, install the official Mozilla extension jslib
(http://mozdevgroup.com/products/), an API for Mozilla-based application
development with javascript that you can get at
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=mozillaid=257vid=1351
Finally, install the OpenKiosk extension:
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefoxid=417vid=1353
CONFIGURATION/USAGE
Once OpenKiosk is installed, you can run it with
mozilla -kiosk
at whatever kind of prompt (CMD on Windows, terminal session on Mac or
Linux) your computer uses. That will give you the basic idea. Our actual
kiosks work by forcing this command to run at startup.
Then, log in under an account with administrative privileges (like root
in Linux or OS X, or any local or domain admin user under Windows) and run
mozilla -kiosk admin
(the default password is 'admin'; you can change it in the admin
options) and that will get you the admin configuration window. Paging
through here and trying a few different settings will really explain things.
A FEW IMPORTANT NOTES
1) OpenKiosk makes several assumptions about the physical nature of the
kiosk computer and hardware--for example, the keyboard can't have an Alt
key (or you could Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, or Ctrl-Alt-Del and get
out of the kiosk session). Ctrl is also problematic, independent of Alt.
You can disable key combinations in the OS, but it's platform-dependent,
confusing for users when keys don't work, and generally a big hassle. If
you're having trouble finding keyboards that will work for you, email
me. There are a few manufacturers that we like.
2) OpenKiosk disables right-clicking, since the Save As option or other
items that open dialogs, for example, would confuse everything (and give
access to the filesystem and potentially, to the OS). Use touch-screen
monitors and/or a keyboard with a built-in one-button trackball.
3) The next feature we're working on is a way to set some pages to be
full-screen with NO buttons or widgets, while other pages show some
buttons and widgets (Home, Back, etc.). This will accommodate attract
screens, which shouldn't have home and back buttons, for example, even
when the following pages might need them. This seems really obvious, now
... oops.
4) This is open source software. If there's something you don't like
about OpenKiosk, or that you think is missing, please email me, and/or
write a comment for the extension page. Better yet, please consider
doing it yourself, or paying someone to do it! We worked with
MozDevGroup (http://www.mozdevgroup.com) and they have been fantastic.
5) For more on the story of the development of OpenKiosk, and a few more
details about usage, see http://mozdevgroup.com/clients/bm/ .
-
So give it a try, and happy holidays!
Thanks a lot,
Matt
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