Kiosk-HOWTO, E-booki, How to EN

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Kiosk HOWTO Gene Wilburn, ITS Dept, Royal Ontario
Kiosk HOWTO Gene Wilburn, ITS Dept, Royal Ontario
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i
Kiosk HOWTO
Gene Wilburn, ITS Dept, Royal Ontario Museum
<genew@rom.on.ca>
v1.0, October 1999
This document provides a guide for setting up a WWW−based kiosk using Linux, X11R6, FVWM2, Netscape
Navigator 4.X, and a customized trackball. It outlines the methods that were used to create a public kiosk for
the Hands On Biodiversity Gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
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Kiosk HOWTO
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      Kiosk HOWTO Gene Wilburn, ITS Dept, Royal Ontario
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Information display kiosks are useful in libraries, galleries and museums, educational institutions, municipal
offices, visitor information booths, conferences, shopping malls, airports−−−in short any location where
simple, easy access to information is desirable. Kiosks are normally set up with touchscreens or pointing
devices such as trackballs, to allow people to select and view information that is attractively displayed and up
to date.
There are many ways to create kiosks, from expensive solutions based on proprietary software to
HTML−based open−source solutions. Browser−based technologies are particularly attractive because they
are inherently multimedia, offering text, graphics, sound and streaming media, and the content is highly
portable.
Linux provides a flexible and interesting platform for kiosk development. Linux is inexpensive to set up and
it offers a wide range of options, from diskless display stations to self−contained, database−driven web
servers. Due to the versatility of the underlying operating system, a well−designed Linux kiosk can be placed
in a remote location and administered via a telephone or network link.
This HOWTO explores one method of setting up Linux as a standalone information kiosk, using Netscape
Navigator 4.X and FVWM2 on a Red Hat Linux 6.X system. It is based on a kiosk I set up for use in the
Hands−on Biodiversity Gallery
in the Royal Ontario Museum (
, Toronto, Canada.
The kiosk outlined in this HOWTO incorporates a trackball rather than a more expensive touchscreen. There
are undoubtedly many other ways to create a Linux−based kiosk, but this one has worked reliably for us and
it may provide a useful starting point for your own kiosk project.
5.Other Considerations
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   Kiosk HOWTO Gene Wilburn, ITS Dept, Royal Ontario
1.1 Copyright, license and terms of usage
Copyright Gene Wilburn 1999. All rights reserved.
The author disclaims all warranties with regard to this document, including all implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a certain purpose; in no event shall the author be liable for any special,
indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits,
whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortuous action, arising out of or in connection with the
use of this document.
This legalese means
use at your own risk
.
1.2 Acknowledgements
Our Linux kiosk derives heavily from the work done by the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, for their
municipal website,
Charlotte's Web
(see
. The Charlotte's Web kiosk
project, which employs a touchscreen monitor, was set up in 1996 using an early version of Slackware Linux,
Netscape Navigator 2.X, and FVWM. The webmasters at Charlotte have created a very useable kiosk
implementation and have shared their complete setup via their website. This HOWTO, to a certain degree,
represents an update of their work, altering the details to work with Red Hat 6.X, Netscape Navigator 4.X,
FVWM2, and a custom−made trackball.
I worked with Debra Luneau (debral@rom.on.ca), the Royal Ontario Museum webmaster, to create the
graphics overlays for Netscape. The examples we distribute at our ftp site are her work−−−and are the ones
we use on the kiosk in the Biodiversity Gallery.
The Ontario Biodiversity section of the ROM website was designed by Hopscotch Interactive
(www.hopscotch.ca). The original application was converted from a flat−file database system to a
MySQL−database driven system by Gord Howells (gordonh@rom.on.ca), the ROM's database designer and
programmer. The non−kiosk version of this mini−site may be viewed at
.
2.
Setting up Linux for use as a web−based kiosk is similar to setting up Linux as a graphical workstaion, with a
few extra considerations. If the machine is to be a standalone unit, it must boot straight into kiosk mode.
Furthermore, the browser environment must be modified in to disable standard dialog screens and to
eliminate parts of the browser that allow inappropriate interaction, such as the Location Bar in Netscape.
Essentially a kiosk website is self−contained. Users navigate through the site via clicks with a pointing
device. The pointing device can be a touchscreen, a trackball, or a mouse. Mice are difficult to secure in a
public area.
A Linux kiosk can be connected back to a home site via a direct network or PPP link, requesting pages from
the home site, or it can be a self−contained website, running Apache and any corresponding CGI modules.
1.1 Copyright, license and terms of usage
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