Webksk Slax

How to build a web kiosk using Slax
These directions are to install SLAX to hard drive and run from RAM then configure this system
into a stand alone internet kiosk or card catalog computer for a library. This setup is compatible
with Biblionix Apollo as of August 2012. This document was combined from various posts on the
SLAX forum and other internet message boards and blogs.
This configuration requires advanced technical knowledge and takes 30-60 minutes to setup.
After the initial setup this runs like a champ and needs very little attention or maintenance.
1. Click build slax on www.slax.org Keep Slax Core, Xorg, KDE, and Firefox and get rid of
apps, office, devel or any other default modules Click Add more modules below the current
modules. Search for gparted and click Add to build next to GParted 0.4.3 all
2. Download the .ISO. Burn the .ISO to a CD or DVD.
3. Boot your PC from the newly burned CD or DVD. On Dell PC you press F12 key when
computer powers up to select boot device but other computers are different. Open firefox to
make sure you can access the internet. Dont worry if performance is sluggish this is a live Cd
and will run like a champ booting off hard drive and running in RAM
4. Prepare your PC by creating a partition. You can use gparted From the SLAX desktop, click
the Kmenu in the lower left corner, go to System then click GParted Partition Editor. Or if your
system is running Windows go back into Windows download a free partition tool such as
EaseUS partition master. You can also create a partition from a Windows disc during the install
process if all else fails.
5. Create a partition that is 2X the amount of system RAM + 2GB (or more if you installed extra
slax modules). For Example if you have 1GB system RAM installed with a barebones slax install
then you will create a 4GB (4096MB) partition.
note: If you created the partition in Windows or elsewhere then boot back into SLAX using the
live CD
6. In GParted, the new partition will show as Unallocated space. Click on the unallocated
partition in the top window, then click the New icon in the upper left. Choose your new size. For
Create as choose Primary Partition, for File System choose ext3 (or the file system of your
choice). Click Add.
7. Click Edit at the top menu bar, and chose Apply All Operations. On the pop-up, click
Apply. If any more pop-ups occur talking about a new medium, just click cancel for now. This
process should take a minute or so, maybe longer on older systems. Then click Close when it
says All operations successfully completed. The new drive partition should be listed as
dev/hda2
8. Right-click the new ext3 partition you just created and chose Manage Flags. Click the box next
to boot (cancel any new medium windows). Close GParted.
9. On the desktop, double-click System, then double-click Storage Media, then right click on
the hard drive icon and chose . Then right click the CD icon and browse the contents . Highlight
both boot and slax in the just opened CD-window, and copy then paste them or drag them to
the just-opened hard drive window. The copying will take a few minutes.
10. After the files copy In the hard drive window, double click boot. Now double-click
liloinst.sh. Search the code for a line that reads
append = ramdisk_size=6666 changes=slaxchanges
Change this line so that it reads

append = ramdisk_size6666 copy2ram autoexec=xconf;telinit~4 changes=slaxchanges
Then click File at the top, and Save . Close the window.
11. Start a Konsole by clicking the black square icon in the lower left. Navigate to the boot folder
on the hard drive. You can likely do this by entering the following (then press enter):
cd /mnt/hda2/boot
If your partition is different than hda2, you will have to modify that command (ex: hda3 instead
of hda2). Once you are in the directory, type the following and press enter:
bash liloinst.sh
Press any key, then press enter, wait, then press any key, then press enter, and close the Konsole
window.
12. Reboot and remove the live cd if you did everything correctly Slax will be running from your
hard drive. Now its time to configure Slax as a kiosk
13. Start a Konsole then type adduser guest. Customize the following options or just click Enter
for the defaults. If you do not want to enter a password for guest just click Enter
14. Change root password, the default root password is toor in SLAX and anybody can google
this. From Konsole type passwd then enter new root password
15. Configure KDM to autologin guest from Control Center System Administration Login
Manager Convenience and change Enable auto login user to guest
16. Login as guest and configure desktop, display settings etc as desired (Peripherals Display
Power Management) and other settings. My only desktop icon is firefox
17. Start Firefox and set homepage to the webpage of your library catalog system or your favorite
search engine for web kiosk. Also set other options such as never remember history as you
prefer. This is also a good time to load flash, java, adobe reader etc if you need these
applications.
18. From firefox addons install rkiosk and restart firefox to activate kiosk mode. From kiosk
mode ALT+F4 exits firefox Alt+F1 opens menu and Alt+F2 opens the run dialog. It is highly
unlikely an average user will ever choose either of these key combinations but your staff should
know them. In kiosk mode you get a blank page fullscreen then you forgot to change your
homepage and firefox must be started in safe mode. From terminal type firefox -safe -mode.
19. Next autostart Firefox when slax starts, Click Kmenu and Find Files or Folders and search
autostart. It should be under /home/guest/.kde/autostart Then Right click in Autostart Folder
> Create New Link to Application and under Application menu type firefox under command
and name fields then click ok
20. Last (optional) clean up the Kmenu and Desktop by removing extra stuff. From run type
kcontrol to open Control Center then click Desktop -> Multiple Desktops and change the
number of desktops to 1. Then click Panels -> Menus -> Edit Kmenu and only leave a link to
Firefox in the Kmenu. Also uncheck the box to show side image and change Quick Start Menu
items to 0
21. Finally log out and End CurrentSession and your Slax desktop should automatically login as
guest and launch Firefox in kiosk mode. Congrats you are done!
Additional setup or modification of these directions may be needed for some configurations.
This is just a guide, use it as a tool to create the best setup for your public access users.

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