I would like to configure an fc6 system so that it: - logs on without user interaction - runs only one application {vnc viewer - which asks for the name of a machine to connect to} - if the viewer is exited, then vnc viewer should restart, waiting for a machine to connect to. - has a way to exit the viewer.
I haven't had any luck with searching for "linux single app" and the like. What are the technical terms for this sort of configuration ?
Any pointers to information in this area would be very welcome ;)
Thanks, DaveT.
On Sat, 2006-11-04 at 12:27 +1100, David Timms wrote:
I would like to configure an fc6 system so that it:
- logs on without user interaction
"timed login" was the term used on older versions, perhaps it's still applicable.
- runs only one application {vnc viewer - which asks for the name of a
machine to connect to}
"sessions" options allowed you to configure what is automatically started up.
- if the viewer is exited, then vnc viewer should restart, waiting for a
machine to connect to.
- has a way to exit the viewer.
The above two seem mutually exclusive. I imagine some sort of process watchdog could check for a terminated VNC process and restart it. Though you'd have to be careful of looping around restarting a crashed process with faults.
Any pointers to information in this area would be very welcome ;)
"kiosk mode"
Tim wrote:
On Sat, 2006-11-04 at 12:27 +1100, David Timms wrote:
I would like to configure an fc6 system so that it:
- logs on without user interaction
"timed login" was the term used on older versions, perhaps it's still applicable.
OK, thanks Tim, I found that: # system|administration|login screen {gdmsetup}| # users|add {user-to-login}|add|apply # security|enable automatic login=tick|user={user-to-login} # restart os. This works OK to get the desktop logged in straight away, after a reboot. If I ctrl-alt-backspace or logout from this desktop, I need to manually login at the greeter login.
The second option on the security tab is autologin after a number of seconds. While you can set the timeout to 1 second, gdmgreeter will actually use 5 seconds (I guess to ensure that you can log in as someone else if you need to}. This timeout option works to automatically relogin after a logout.
- runs only one application {vnc viewer - which asks for the name of a
machine to connect to}
"sessions" options allowed you to configure what is automatically started up.
OK, found that: system|preferences|more preferences|sessions # startup programs|add|vncviewer|close This starts the vnc viewer automatically after a logout or restart and it sits waiting for the vnc server to connect to. Editing the properties also allows to pass parameters to vncviewer like the servername: - vncviewer -passwd=/home/{user-name}/.vnc/passwd -fullscreen hostname:1
Combined with the first part, any time the machine gets to the login prompt it is automatically logged in and the vnc viewer is run full screen, connecting to the required vncserver.
- if the viewer is exited, then vnc viewer should restart, waiting for a
machine to connect to.
- has a way to exit the viewer.
The above two seem mutually exclusive. I imagine some sort of process watchdog could check for a terminated VNC process and restart it. Though you'd have to be careful of looping around restarting a crashed process with faults.
I found the user can make two mistakes: - tells the remote vnc desktop to logout - leaving the vnc-session alive, but showing only a back ground image. From my tests, this requires a vncserver -kill :1 and vncserver :1 to allow it to work again. {and a local machine logoff (ctrl-alt-backspace) to allow autologin/sessions startup to reconnect to the vncserver} - if the user activates the vnc viewer popup {F8}, Exit viewer can be selected. This disconnects the viewer session. A {ctrl-alt-backspace} gets the user connected to the vnc server again.
In |sessions|current sessions| there is an option to set a program style as restart. This didn't seem to work for vncviewer.
Any pointers to information in this area would be very welcome ;)
"kiosk mode"
Aha; some useful results now I know what this is called: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kiosk-HOWTO.html http://www.neveprise.net/main.do?id=howto-misc-firefox-kiosk
Surprisingly: to get the above setup working, fc6/gnome has all the options within the gui. "No text config files were harmed in the making of this configuration" :-)
Thanks also to Craig {didn't try since I don't have kde installed, and my previous attempt at using expect was hugely unsuccessful} and Chris {ltsp packages} for their suggestions.
David Timms.
David Timms:
- if the viewer is exited, then vnc viewer should restart, waiting for a
machine to connect to.
- has a way to exit the viewer.
Tim:
The above two seem mutually exclusive. I imagine some sort of process watchdog could check for a terminated VNC process and restart it. Though you'd have to be careful of looping around restarting a crashed process with faults.
David Timms:
I found the user can make two mistakes:
- tells the remote vnc desktop to logout - leaving the vnc-session
alive, but showing only a back ground image. From my tests, this requires a vncserver -kill :1 and vncserver :1 to allow it to work again. {and a local machine logoff (ctrl-alt-backspace) to allow autologin/sessions startup to reconnect to the vncserver}
- if the user activates the vnc viewer popup {F8}, Exit viewer can be
selected. This disconnects the viewer session. A {ctrl-alt-backspace} gets the user connected to the vnc server again.
In |sessions|current sessions| there is an option to set a program style as restart. This didn't seem to work for vncviewer.
A simplistic solution might be to add a whacking great big "RESTART" icon on the desktop, which either has the commands to start up VNC again, or does a logout and relies on the auto-relogin process.
That gives users some fall back option if they get lost.
Tim wrote:
David Timms:
- if the viewer is exited, then vnc viewer should restart, waiting for a
machine to connect to.
- has a way to exit the viewer.
Tim:
The above two seem mutually exclusive. I imagine some sort of process watchdog could check for a terminated VNC process and restart it. Though you'd have to be careful of looping around restarting a crashed process with faults.
David Timms:
I found the user can make two mistakes:
- tells the remote vnc desktop to logout - leaving the vnc-session
alive, but showing only a back ground image. From my tests, this requires a vncserver -kill :1 and vncserver :1 to allow it to work again. {and a local machine logoff (ctrl-alt-backspace) to allow autologin/sessions startup to reconnect to the vncserver}
- if the user activates the vnc viewer popup {F8}, Exit viewer can be
selected. This disconnects the viewer session. A {ctrl-alt-backspace} gets the user connected to the vnc server again.
In |sessions|current sessions| there is an option to set a program style as restart. This didn't seem to work for vncviewer.
A simplistic solution might be to add a whacking great big "RESTART" icon on the desktop, which either has the commands to start up VNC again, or does a logout and relies on the auto-relogin process.
That gives users some fall back option if they get lost.
Good point, which fits with the keep it simple philosphy! And I could rename the launcher, and change the icon to anything; the user need not know what the icon is really doing ;)
Thanks again, DaveT.
On Sat, 2006-11-04 at 12:27 +1100, David Timms wrote:
I would like to configure an fc6 system so that it:
- logs on without user interaction
- runs only one application {vnc viewer - which asks for the name of a
machine to connect to}
- if the viewer is exited, then vnc viewer should restart, waiting for a
machine to connect to.
- has a way to exit the viewer.
I haven't had any luck with searching for "linux single app" and the like. What are the technical terms for this sort of configuration ?
Any pointers to information in this area would be very welcome ;)
---- KDE has an auto login feature
It shouldn't be much of an issue to: - set VNC Viewer app to run at login but that isn't the full solution that you were looking for... - have an 'expect' script running at startup that periodically checks if VNC Viewer app isn't running and start it up automatically
Craig
You could use ltsp terminals. The 'vnc-ltsp-config' package seems to add VNC - I use ltsp with XDMCP at home. It does pretty much what you're describing, but it requires some configuration on the host side.
Chris
yum info vnc-ltsp-config Loading "installonlyn" plugin Setting up repositories Reading repository metadata in from local files Available Packages Name : vnc-ltsp-config Arch : noarch Version: 4.0 Release: 3 Size : 4.8 k Repo : extras Summary: Easy Enabler of VNC remote LTSP desktops Description: Easy Enabler of VNC remote LTSP desktops. This package contains xinetd.d configurations that allow incoming VNC clients to open a new desktop session with each connection. Xvnc connects to the local server using XDMCP.
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Chris Mohler -
Craig White -
Development discussions related to Fedora -
Tim