Public Access Laptop

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cereal_killerxx

Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

I'm a computer technician that works for a library system. I'm experimenting with the idea of making a public access laptop using Linux Mint 19. Was hoping to get some tips/advice.

Here are some things it needs to be able to do:
  • Public profile needs to automatically log in
    Public user cannot have the ability to install anything or change settings
    I need a program similar to Deep Freeze that will wipe the computer clean upon reboot
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
gm10

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by gm10 »

One way: Create an install with auto-login into a guest account and the environment you want, create a live image out of that, wipe the original install, configure grub to boot from the image. Since it's a non-persistent environment you don't have to clean anything.
jaykon

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by jaykon »

Note, I've not done anything like this for this use case but I'd really recommend investigating setting up a virtual machine for your users to connect to. That is, you first set up the computer let's say with Mint, then you configure a virtual machine inside this LM master - this is what you expose to your users - it can also be mint of course.
You make a backup of the VM and you can actually just restore this backup of the VM everytime someone new connects or as a nightly job. In this way even if the user breaks into the VM they still have another layer to get the real iron and muck things up.

I'm sure there are other equally good ways to get something like this done but take a look at some virtualbox examples as a starting point.

Good luck and if you suceed would be great if you report back.
cereal_killerxx

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

Slowly moving along with this. Is there anyway to get rid of the "Enter password to unlock your login keyring" pop-up when you open up Google Chrome?
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Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by KBD47 »

cereal_killerxx wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:15 pm Slowly moving along with this. Is there anyway to get rid of the "Enter password to unlock your login keyring" pop-up when you open up Google Chrome?
I did this the other day. Reset your key lock password to an empty password.
gm10

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by gm10 »

cereal_killerxx wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:15 pm Slowly moving along with this. Is there anyway to get rid of the "Enter password to unlock your login keyring" pop-up when you open up Google Chrome?
Either start chrome like this

Code: Select all

google-chrome-stable --password-store=basic
or just uninstall the gnome-keyring, you don't need anybody storing passwords there on a public computer, anyway. The latter will also remove the evolution-data-server, not something you should need on a public terminal, either, but just so you know.
kukamuumuka

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by kukamuumuka »

One easy solution -> For a Kiosk-computer, a temporary user can use a temporary /home the next way:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=176349&p=1159918#p1159918
cereal_killerxx

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

Thanks! I think I still might go with the Ofris deep freeze option but I'll keep that as a backup.

Next, I need a way to disable automatic Mint updates. I'm going to be doing the updates on these laptops manually. And seeing as the computers will be frozen, I don't waste bandwidth downloading the same updates again and again. Is there a way to turn off automatic updates? Or any other ideas?
gm10

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by gm10 »

Automatic updates are not enabled by default. And if you remove Update Manager from the startup applications it won't even display the shield icon when updates are available.
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Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by Pjotr »

In the recent past, I've configured the Guest account for this purpose on a public computer:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... our-liking
(item 1, left column)

Worked very well (still does, as far as I know).
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cereal_killerxx

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

OK thanks.

Next on my list is user groups. Is there a list somewhere of all the user groups for Linux Mint and what they allow access to?
gm10

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by gm10 »

cereal_killerxx wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:38 am Next on my list is user groups. Is there a list somewhere of all the user groups for Linux Mint and what they allow access to?
Users & Groups from the menu gives you access to that, a user's advanced settings give you access to common privileges you may want to assign - for a public terminal there's not really a reason to assign extra privileges though.
cereal_killerxx

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

I understand what Users and Groups is. That's not what I'm asking. Is there a list of all the Groups in Users and Groups so I know exactly what they are and what they do? For instance, there is a group called lpadmin. What is lpadmin? What does it allow access to? I'm looking for a list of all these groups so I understand what they allow access to. Thanks.
gm10

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by gm10 »

cereal_killerxx wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:54 am I understand what Users and Groups is. That's not what I'm asking. Is there a list of all the Groups in Users and Groups so I know exactly what they are and what they do? For instance, there is a group called lpadmin. What is lpadmin? What does it allow access to? I'm looking for a list of all these groups so I understand what they allow access to. Thanks.
I don't know if there is a list somewhere (google it I guess), but Users & Groups gives you the human readable version via the privileges tab, that's why I mentioned it. For example, "Configure printers" will add that user to the lpadmin group that you asked about.

You are welcome.
cereal_killerxx

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

Pjotr wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 1:24 pm In the recent past, I've configured the Guest account for this purpose on a public computer:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... our-liking
(item 1, left column)

Worked very well (still does, as far as I know).
Thank you! This works almost perfectly! Only thing that didn't work was some of the desktop short-cuts. For Google Chrome, Firefox, Gimp, and VLC Player I set custom icons to make them the same as their Windows counter-parts. Unfortunately, the icons didn't transfer over and I'm left with ugly plain white icons. Any way to fix this?
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Pjotr
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Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by Pjotr »

cereal_killerxx wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:39 pm
Pjotr wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 1:24 pm In the recent past, I've configured the Guest account for this purpose on a public computer:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... our-liking
(item 1, left column)

Worked very well (still does, as far as I know).
Thank you! This works almost perfectly! Only thing that didn't work was some of the desktop short-cuts. For Google Chrome, Firefox, Gimp, and VLC Player I set custom icons to make them the same as their Windows counter-parts. Unfortunately, the icons didn't transfer over and I'm left with ugly plain white icons. Any way to fix this?
Good to hear! :)

About the icons: the Guest account should copy all settings from the skeleton account. I don't know why this didn't work for your customized icons...
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
Twitter: twitter.com/easylinuxtips
All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
cereal_killerxx

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

Pjotr wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:01 pm
cereal_killerxx wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:39 pm
Pjotr wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 1:24 pm In the recent past, I've configured the Guest account for this purpose on a public computer:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... our-liking
(item 1, left column)

Worked very well (still does, as far as I know).
Thank you! This works almost perfectly! Only thing that didn't work was some of the desktop short-cuts. For Google Chrome, Firefox, Gimp, and VLC Player I set custom icons to make them the same as their Windows counter-parts. Unfortunately, the icons didn't transfer over and I'm left with ugly plain white icons. Any way to fix this?
Good to hear! :)

About the icons: the Guest account should copy all settings from the skeleton account. I don't know why this didn't work for your customized icons...
In my "Hospitality" account, I point those shortcuts to the icons in the Pictures/icons folder.
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Pjotr
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Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by Pjotr »

cereal_killerxx wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:48 pm In my "Hospitality" account, I point those shortcuts to the icons in the Pictures/icons folder.
Where does that Pictures/icons folder with the icons reside? In the home folder of Hospitality?
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
Twitter: twitter.com/easylinuxtips
All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
cereal_killerxx

Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by cereal_killerxx »

Pjotr wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:53 pm
cereal_killerxx wrote: Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:48 pm In my "Hospitality" account, I point those shortcuts to the icons in the Pictures/icons folder.
Where does that Pictures/icons folder with the icons reside? In the home folder of Hospitality?
Yes. home/Hospitality/Pictures/icons
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Pjotr
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Re: Public Access Laptop

Post by Pjotr »

Well, then it beats me....
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
Twitter: twitter.com/easylinuxtips
All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
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