I want to configure a Linux box (Pi with Raspbian stretch lite if relevant) so that it boots to a web browser as a GUI, without any desktop environment.
So far I have most of the bits working apart from the actual "do it on boot" bit.
If I boot my Pi, login (at the terminal) then run the following: xinit ~/kiosk-xinit.sh -- :0 vt1 -nocursor -keeptty & .. where kiosk-init.sh contains:
#!/bin/sh DISPLAY=:0.0 xset s noblank DISPLAY=:0.0 xset s off DISPLAY=:0.0 xset -dpms matchbox-window-manager & while true ; do /usr/bin/midori -e Fullscreen -a http://www.google.co.uk done
.. then I get the environment I want.
What I need to achieve is having it do that without me logging in manually and running xinit.
I assume I need to have it autologin (in which case I'd like it to log in as aa user with limited privileges) but my experiments so far have got me nowhere other than a realisation of how little I know about the boot process....
Ideally I want to do this in a way that'll work on generic Linux boxes but for now a Pi-specific option would be a start!
Back when Chrome OS was rumoured but no-one had any detail I did a piece for MicroMart about a DIY alternative (unfortunately so long ago it's gone...). Basically as I remember it it was Debian minimal install with Blackbox window manager and Chrome. Somewhere in the Blackbox settings menu was an option to add apps to run on startup. It ran fine on an old Pentium box at the time and coped with Gmail, GoogleDocs. I don't think any CLI stuff was needed.
On Fri, 2018-03-02 at 19:46 +0000, Mark Rogers wrote:
I want to configure a Linux box (Pi with Raspbian stretch lite if relevant) so that it boots to a web browser as a GUI, without any desktop environment.
So far I have most of the bits working apart from the actual "do it on boot" bit.
If I boot my Pi, login (at the terminal) then run the following: xinit ~/kiosk-xinit.sh -- :0 vt1 -nocursor -keeptty & .. where kiosk-init.sh contains:
#!/bin/sh DISPLAY=:0.0 xset s noblank DISPLAY=:0.0 xset s off DISPLAY=:0.0 xset -dpms matchbox-window-manager & while true ; do /usr/bin/midori -e Fullscreen -a http://www.google.co.uk done
.. then I get the environment I want.
What I need to achieve is having it do that without me logging in manually and running xinit.
I assume I need to have it autologin (in which case I'd like it to log in as aa user with limited privileges) but my experiments so far have got me nowhere other than a realisation of how little I know about the boot process....
Ideally I want to do this in a way that'll work on generic Linux boxes but for now a Pi-specific option would be a start!
On 2 March 2018 at 20:04, Phil Thane phil@pthane.co.uk wrote:
Back when Chrome OS was rumoured but no-one had any detail I did a piece for MicroMart about a DIY alternative (unfortunately so long ago it's gone...).
So a little while back then!
Basically as I remember it it was Debian minimal install with Blackbox window manager and Chrome. Somewhere in the Blackbox settings menu was an option to add apps to run on startup.
I suspect that installing a WM and doing it this way might be the best option (and WM will have that capability I guess).
So far what I have is my Pi booting with a splash screen (no boot text) right up to the point where you'd normally login, at which point it auto-logs in (but throws a couple of lines of text onto the screen - I have got rid of motd etc but that's not quite enough) then loads the browser, but since it's still the terminal TTY as well a couple of error messages come up on top later.
I think I need to wind back to a clean Raspbian install and try again, it's all got too chaotic!
Mark
On 5 March 2018 at 17:44, Mark Rogers mark@more-solutions.co.uk wrote:
So far what I have is my Pi booting with a splash screen (no boot text) right up to the point where you'd normally login, at which point it auto-logs in (but throws a couple of lines of text onto the screen
- I have got rid of motd etc but that's not quite enough) then loads
the browser, but since it's still the terminal TTY as well a couple of error messages come up on top later.
The key to resolving this for me, in case anyone is interested, was: sudo systemctl disable getty@tty1.service sudo systemctl enable getty@tty2.service
Basically (as I understand it) disable login on tty1 and enable it on tty2. That removed the login text from the visible TTY on startup but still allows me to Alt-Ctrl-F2 to get to a terminal if I need to.
-
Mark Rogers -
Phil Thane