Erich Schroeder sends this setup info. Requires a GDM version > 2.2.5.5 with a working auto-login feature.
Setting up Linux for use as a video kiosk is similar to setting up Linux as a graphical multimedia workstaion, with a few extra considerations. If the machine is to be a standalone unit, it must boot straight into kiosk mode. Furthermore, the video environment must be modified in to disable standard dialog screens and to eliminate visitor access to any other portion of the system. If the application should crash or exit accedentaly, then it should restart as quickly and automatically as possible
I've worked out another way of implementing the startup procedure, using
a combination of gdm autologin and a perl script called ps-watcher. I have
the standard user on an automatic timed login with the following in the
/$HOME/.Xclients-default
#!/bin/bash
#
ps-watcher --sleep 10 --config /home/camera/pswatch.ini
#turn off power management and blanking
xset dpms 0 0 0
xset s off
#run X without a window manager
exec /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession failsafe
#end of .Xclients-default
ps-watcher is available from:
http://www.netwinder.org/~rocky/ps-watcher/
and the content of our pswatch.ini file is:
# This is for watching for dead kiosks
[xterm -e mozilla]
occurs = none
action = /home/camera/runkiosk
and finally, the runkiosk script looks like:
#!/bin/sh
setterm -blank 0
xset s off
xterm -e mozilla -chrome chrome://kiosk/content/ism-kiosk.xul
I'm using this same method on some experimental video kiosks in which I'm
using Ogle to run interactive dvds we had authored.
Erich