Re: Whaddaya mean my grandmother can't use Linux? (kiosk)

[Jan Carlson <janc iname com>]

Michael Jinks wrote:
> 
> "W. Wade, Hampton" wrote:
> >
> >  Could you please summarize those posts -- possibly a new thread -- on
> > kisoks?
> 
> The most helpful was from Ramon Gandia.  I'll attach it below.  The
> "single user with no login" problem was addressed by someone who
> described using runlevel #4, set up just like runlevel #5, but instead
> of starting xdm do this:
> 
> su username -c startx
> 
> The post from Ramon:
> 
> Marco Shaw wrote:
> >
> > > Linux is not for grandmothers to install and configure, but
> > > if she's lucky
> > > enough to have a grandson who can do this for her, then Linux
> > > is as easy
> > > to "USE" as any system on the market.  Even more so because it doesn't
> > > degrade over time and will work predictably.
> >
> > Since her grandson isn't readily available, then it should be Windows.
> > Don't get me wrong, I'm a big 'cheerleader' for Linux/FreeBSD and the like.
> > I remember some 60-ish person on this list about a year ago asking if she
> > should go for it.  Remember this is your grandmother's PC, not yours to
> > prove to your Linux-friends that 'you converted your grandmother to Linux'.
> 
> I hear you, but I beg to mildly disagree.
> 
> Bruce Tong with my help, set up a "kiosk" machine running RedHat 5.1.
> It
> boots up into runlevel 5, with a nice logon window.  Once the logon
> is made, it loads up Netscape 3.04 for Linux and connects PPP via diald.
> 
> It is crashproof and prying-finger proof for 99.99% of the people.  A
> linux savvy person could drop out of runlevel 5 to runlevel 3, but
> would still need a shell account, which this computer does not have
> except
> for root).
> 
> With very slight modification, this would work nicely as an Internet
> Appliance at minimal cost.  We used a DEC Venturis Pentium 75 machine
> which
> was obtained for $100 off an auction site.  We added an internal modem
> but
> left the network card for troubleshooting.
> 
> The beauty of the system was that it required NO Linux knowledge
> whatsoever
> to use.  We put this machine in a coffee shop, of all places, and let
> total
> strangers have at it with no problems at all.  Bruce created an RPM and
> docs for it, which I may yet post to contrib.redhat.com if there is any
> interest.
> 
> The only rough spot is shutting it down.  It is quite resistant to it!
> If
> you three finger salute it, it goes back to the login screen in due
> course.

It is easy to fix Ctl-Alt-DEL so it does a graceful shudown
instead of a reboot. Change -r to -h in /etc/inittab:

   ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -h now

First, switch from X to a text console:

	Ctl-Alt-F1 

then shutdown:

        Ctl-Alt-DEL


Jan Carlson
janc iname com   Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Mailed with Netscape 4.5 on Red Hat Linux 5.2