Comments on: Creating a Touch Screen Kiosk using Firefox, Ubuntu and Blackbox

By: kerk

kerk — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:26:00 +0000

@vaughan99, Thank you for the comment. When the option is available I compile my kiosk into an Adobe Air application and run it that way. But I build the interface using flex so this is pretty easy to accomplish. Using a projector is also a good option, but I’m not aware if there are any issues getting dynamic data when deployed in this way.

By: vaughan99@yahoo.com

vaughan99@yahoo.com — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:48:00 +0000

I’m very interested in creating a client/server embedded Flex-based application, and this seems like a good model. However, might I suggest using a Projector in full-screen mode instead of a Firefox browser? It would cut down on the setup overhead, has a leaner memory profile, and removes one layer (firefox) that could crash.

By: cm

cm — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:29:00 +0000

Spiffy!

When I want to ensure that firefox is always running, I autostart it with this little bash script:

#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/firefox -P default

while true ; do
/usr/bin/firefox -P default
done

By: kerk

kerk — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:19:00 +0000

@Tony,

The other thing to look at is the Flex CursorManager. You can create a blank png file and then use the Flex CursorManager to set it as the active Cursor. It works great for me with a Flex based kiosk but only works half the time when compiled as an Adobe Air application. I’m very busy with projects but will try and post examples when I have time. If you google CursorManager you should find some examples.

By: nothingsoriginalontheinternet@gmail.com

nothingsoriginalontheinternet@gmail.com — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:13:00 +0000

@Tony:

try this:

body { cursor:none; }

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:23:00 +0000

The Kiosk Set up is excellent as I had tried to use. But, I am not able to make the cursor/mount pointer invisible for the touch screen application. I tried to use html style method to hide the cusor but it not work in firefox ( work in I.E only ).

body style="cursor: url(empty.ani);

Would you help me that how to make the cursor/mouser pointer invisible ?

By: kerk

kerk — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:11:00 +0000

@belleyboy

I’ve had good luck with UnyTouch monitors. http://www.unytouch.ca on both windows and linux.

By: kerk

kerk — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:06:00 +0000

@Jerry

Thank you for the comments. I love your peach kiosk case.

I haven’t set up any type of watchdog program but it is a great idea and I think I’ll figure something out. When I do I’ll post details.

For a virtual keyboard I’m using a Flex component which I built myself. My entire Kiosk app is built in Flex so this component is easy to use. See link below.

http://kerkness.blogspot.com/2008/02/flex-on-screen-qwerty-keyboard.html

By: belleyBoy

belleyBoy — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:48:00 +0000

This is a great guide. I have just started a project for an in-store product video guide and think this will be perfect.
One question though, what model of touchscreen works with Ubuntu? I can’t find any that don’t say they need Windows drivers.

By: J

Sun, 04 May 2008 03:26:00 +0000

I enjoyed reading your post. I recently designed a touchscreen kiosk application to include the enclosure design. Since this was my first kiosk, I chose to deploy the kiosk with Windows XP and a kiosk application development program called Kiosk-in-a-box (KBOX). Similar to your kiosk; however, I am using the KBOX program to make browser object calls which pull some of the pages from a remote Ubuntu server running apache2, php, and mysql. While reading your article, I was curious whether you had considered implementing a “watchdog” process whereby the watchdog will detect when/if firefox crashes and would automatically restart the browser without interaction from the user. I implemented a similar process on xp. Also, have you developed a virtual onscreen keyboard to be embedded into the pages you are displaying to the user?

I am anxious to walk through your howto and build a development box similar to yours and port my app over so that it is 100% linux from kiosk to remote server.

Check out the pics at http://www.southeasternnetworks.com/gallery/project_gallery.htm

My virtual onscreen keyboard is modified code By Dmitry Khudorozhkov found at http://www.codeproject.com/KB/scripting/jvk.aspx

Good Luck with your project!

Regards,

Jerry
jerry.bryan at southeasternnetworks dot com