| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
krlloyd
n00b
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 44
|
 Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject: Gentoo On An Appliance |
 |
|
At my company we have several PCs that are touch screens for labor entry. Currently they are running W2K and have IE loading on startup. The browser points to a web page where people can enter labor times ect.
I want to create a gentoo installation that acts as an appliance where the computer would not require a clean shutdown, I.E cold reboots. I am looking for guidance on how to do this. My first hunch is a "Ram Disk" ??
What kind of minimal install would I require to run firefox? Will simple X-Windows suffice?
Thanks for any advice! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
tobr
Guru
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 330
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
For the unclean shutdown thing: Install/set everything up, mount all file systems read-only, have a look at unionfs/aufs. In case of an unclean shutdown you will only lose the modifications made to the RAM disk. Looking at a live CD like Knoppix could also be helpful (to see how they do it).
You can run firefox without a window manager on X. I've never done such stuff but you would basically set up an ~someuser/.xinitrc and execute su someuser startx at the end of the boot process. (Don't add xdm to the runlevel!) Downside: When firefox crashes the X server terminates and you're back at the command line.
Another problem is if firefox dispatches from the command line (and it does IIRC) the .xinitrc script terminates and with it the X server. You would need to add something like yes >/dev/null to it.
On the other hand I think a small window manager comes with X which you could use (it probably doesn't take much space/resources).
As I've no real experience with these things, these are only pointers but I hope they help nonetheless!
_________________
Please add [SOLVED] to your message title if your problem is solved.
Death to all blobs! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
i92guboj
Bodhisattva
Joined: 30 Nov 2004
Posts: 10315
Location: Córdoba (Spain)
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
| tobr wrote: |
You can run firefox without a window manager on X. I've never done such stuff but you would basically set up an ~someuser/.xinitrc and execute su someuser startx at the end of the boot process. (Don't add xdm to the runlevel!) Downside: When firefox crashes the X server terminates and you're back at the command line. |
That is not a problem, just wrap it onto some bash scripting. Something in the lines of "while true; do firefox; done" would suffice. If it crases of any user closes it, it will be respawn.
Alternatively, you can use any wm that is configurable enough to not let the user exit. For example, fvwm. Don't forget to disable the control+alt+backspace thing in xorg.conf (Section ServerFlags, Option DontZap).
| Quote: |
Another problem is if firefox dispatches from the command line (and it does IIRC) the .xinitrc script terminates and with it the X server. You would need to add something like yes >/dev/null to it.
|
I don't use firefox and don't have it installed. If that is true, the "while" thing will not work (well, it will just spawn zillions of firefoxes). Are you saying that firefox automatically puts itself to the background when started from the command line? Then maybe a small patch could solve that issue. Or maybe it even has any command line option to avoid that annoying behaviour. I can't test, cause I have no ff installed right now.
| Quote: | On the other hand I think a small window manager comes with X which you could use (it probably doesn't take much space/resources).
|
That's "twm". But it is not too functional. I doubt you can disable the exit function on it, though I really have no experience with it. I always suggest fvwm  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
desultory
Bodhisattva
Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Posts: 9410
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Have you considered using catalyst to master the image? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
poly_poly-man
Advocate
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 2477
Location: RIT, NY, US
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
Do LTSP. Cold reboots don't matter ('cux you're not rebooting the actual computer it's running on), and you can pretty easily (AFAIR) make kiosks with only firefox, for example.
poly-p man
_________________
iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAA
avatar: new version of logo - see topic 838248. Potentially still a WiP. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tobr
Guru
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 330
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
| i92guboj wrote: | | tobr wrote: | Another problem is if firefox dispatches from the command line (and it does IIRC) the .xinitrc script terminates and with it the X server. You would need to add something like yes >/dev/null to it.
|
I don't use firefox and don't have it installed. If that is true, the "while" thing will not work (well, it will just spawn zillions of firefoxes). Are you saying that firefox automatically puts itself to the background when started from the command line? Then maybe a small patch could solve that issue. Or maybe it even has any command line option to avoid that annoying behaviour. I can't test, cause I have no ff installed right now. |
I had some time to test that. Firefox never puts itself in the background. The thing is that if it detects another running instance of firefox it will open a new window in it and terminate. So if no other firefox is running, it behaves like you'd expect. This is for version 2.0.0.6, so YMMV.
_________________
Please add [SOLVED] to your message title if your problem is solved.
Death to all blobs! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
krlloyd
n00b
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 44
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
LemurFromTheId
n00b
Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 64
Location: Finland
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
In case the computers have keyboards, don't forget to set CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ=n .
Also, you might be interested in Opera's kiosk mode, unless you definitely want it to be Firefox. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Other Things Gentoo
