What is school.machine.kiosk.?
School.Machine.Kiosk is designed to be run from the CD, and offers a locked down desktop, kiosk type locked browser, and a suite of applications typically used by 11-18 year old students.
- School.Machine.Kiosk is a complete operating system & application suite customized for use on school/college machines.
- School.Machine.Kiosk. is designed to be used in partnership with School.Machine.Kiosk. (S.M.K. is designed for use within schools, and S.M. is designed for use on students personal machines.
- School.Machine.Kiosk is designed to be maintenance free. On the rare occasions somthing goes wrong, simply reboot and everything is reset.
- School.Machine.Kiosk. is delivered with the office suite OpenOffice.org
- School.Machine.Kiosk. runs on both new and older hardware.
- School.Machine.Kiosk. utilizes a locked down desktop, with an internet browser configured to run much like a 'kiosk', when the browser is closed nothing is saved between sessions. When the browser is opened it always has an empty history, no passwords, etc.
- School.Machine.Kiosk. is completely free!
Why was School.Machine.Kiosk. created?
Live CD versions of Linux are very useful, and lend themselves to implementing a kiosk type environment. However there are security risks with the browser unless it's specifically locked down. An unlocked browser, even on a live CD, can still store passwords, etc. It can also be opened and 'hidden' on a separate desktop or off the screen. By doing this it will still keep the session open. If a user hides a browser window using this method, any subsequent browser sessions, when closed, don't actually empty the cache. The original user can come back to the machine, reveal the hidden browser window, and access all the history, passwords, etc, from previous user's sessions. School.Machine.Kiosk is configured to avoid this. All browser sessions are forced to open in the same window. It is impossible to close a browser session and not close ALL and EVERY browser session simultaneously, regardless of their possible hidden status. In addition to this there are various other extensions and configuration changes to harden the browser into a kiosk strength environment. Even if the user forgets to log off, his/her browsing history is unavailable to the next user.
Live CDs also don't lend themselves to multiple user accounts. However with the nature of the locked down desktop and the kiosk browser, a single account is sufficient. The single user account includes a network application (LinNeighborhood) that enables network browsing. If the school/college has an existing Microsoft network, it can still be accessed, and it's resources can be used.
The applications include OpenOffice.org (a Microsoft compatible Office suite). Using LinNeighbourhood and OpenOffice.org (and various other MS compatible applications), the student can work on existing MS documents on existing MS servers.
And lastly, School.Machine.Kiosk. is configured for USB key access. Due to S.M.K. running from CD it cannot save to CD, but instead saves to USB key.
To summarise: By burning S.M.K. onto a CD, and configuring a PC to boot from it, a student can work on a variety of typical student tasks, in a locked down, resettable desktop environment, and just needs a USB key to save his/her work.
Fully Loaded Browser
In addition to the range of school/college based applications, the browser is preconfigured with all the necessary add-ons (Firefox with Flash, Java Runtime Environment and Mplayer), and a lightweight PDF file reader.
Put it in the CD Drive and Forget about it!
Because everything runs from CD the machine cannot be 'broken',
any changes made to the computer are purely made to the RAM, and
are undone the next time it's turned off.
There are no software problems to be dealt with, no need to pay for I.T. help - no maintenance, no worries, no hassle!
Software Included.
School.Machine.Kiosk's application suite is very nearly the same as School.Machine's. The only difference is that those applications that normally use the CD drive or store data on the hard drive are removed/inaccessable (due to S.M.K. running from CD). Therefore Brasero (CD/DVD burner), Thunderbird (email application), and the Control Centre are unavailable.
'Okay, I'm Interested, What Do I Do Next?'
Go HERE to look at the the screenshots, go HERE to read about School.Machine. and decide if you want that as well, go HERE to download School.Machine.Kiosk., burn it onto CD, and ensure your PC will boot off the CD drive.
First Steps...
Assuming you have a network in place already, or a router or computer that has DHCP up and running...
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Ensure your BIOS boots enables the machine to boot from the CD drive first.
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Boot from the School.Machine.Kiosk. LiveCD
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Try it out! Have a look around, surf the internet, look at a PDF file, try some sites with Flash content, etc.
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Use LinNeighborhood to browse a Microsoft network, and access its network folders.
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Explore the Web 2.0 applications.
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Save data to/from your USB key.
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If you need to turn a row/class room full of machines off, just switch them off at the mains. Because everything runs from CD there is no need to shut the machines down gracefully.
Note: If you want to run School.Machine.Kiosk. from a USB key, look here. School.Machine. has been designed to be as lightweight as possible, and on a fairly speedy CD drive everything is nippy. I've run School.Machine.Kiosk. on a 16x CD drive quite satisfactorily. However, for the quickest operational speeds, run School.Machine.Kiosk. from a USB key.
Update (Dec/09): Received notification that The Hurlingham Club in London was, and is, using my School.Machine.Kiosk. software in their members I.T. room. Some of the quotes/feedback I received from their I.T. Manager (David Appleton, The Hurlingham Club, London, Aug/09) include:
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"It does the job very nicely"
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"We have been [using] the School.Machine.Kiosk. Live CD for use on our public computers in our Members I.T. room"
Update (Nov/08): I was commissioned by Quarry Bay School in Hong Kong to re-master Linux for them. They had been using my HospitalityMachineKiosk software (the predecessor to School.Machine. & School.Machine.Kiosk.) successfully for some time, and wanted something a bit more custom. The finished result is based on School.Machine.kiosk. Some of the quotes/feedback I received from their Head of I.T. (Ken Kiwi, Quarry Bay School, Hong Kong, Nov/08) include:
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"It's a simple setup, I can start using the kiosk machine as soon as I have installed it to my PC using my bootable CD rom or thumb drive or Hard disc installation!"
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"No configuration are needed as it connects the the internet straight away!"
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"System is secured as the kiosk OS is locked down and only the installed application are permitted to run, which means viruses does not affect the kiosk machines!"
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"Browser resets when time expires so personal data such as user name/passwords/temp files are cleared!"