dip.kiosk

Introduction

dip.kiosk is a guide and script(s), that demonstrate a way to build a dual boot kiosk system with Lubuntu 18 x64 linux distro and Porteus Kiosk 4.8.0 x64 linux distro which can be administered and updated through cloud storage (Google Drive). Triple boot (or more) can be supported with light modifications, as long as: the second OS is Lubuntu and third is Porteus Kiosk (e.g. first OS: Microsoft Windows).

In this guide we use Google Drive as our storage source. Lubuntu is a full featured lightweight linux distro running on low end hardware. Porteus Kiosk is a fantastic solution for kiosks running on low end hardware too and its web site provides all the details to build a kiosk. Both distros have a great community and as such they make an ideal choice to build a hard disk driven, dual boot kiosk system.

However information on how to build and administer a dual boot system running Porteus Kiosk from hard disk is spread in various areas. Furthermore information on how to update you kiosk installation remotely is difficult to find.

Below we show draftly how to build a Lubuntu 18 x64 and prepare it for Porteus Kiosk 4.8.0 x64. Up next we demonstrate how to deploy Porteus Kiosk on a hard disk partition using a script and a Google Drive shared folder. Lastly we show how a typical remote update procedure should be issued.

Limitations, Security and damage precautions

• Default booting is Porteus
• Learn how to lock your GRUB2 with a password and letting only Porteus Kiosk boot
• Although full automation of remote update can be possible (needs some research) it imposes security risks (you need to make Porteus GRUB2 aware by customizing your kiosk ISO, install grub-set-default and grub-reboot on both systems or/and you may have timetables to switch GRUB2 configurations files and automate the script to run as service on Lubuntu etc)
• Having Porteus kiosk run, as intended, securely from RAM, you need someone to boot to Lubuntu before you ssh to it and perform an update
• In my use case scenario kiosks were at the same place I work, I only needed not to unscrew the kiosk, install CD/USB etc. to perform an update, thus I didn't bother designing a secure solution to fully automate remote updating (if I find myself some free time that I don't want to spend with my beloved ones, I will research it and propose another guide)
• Setting wrong values in properties file can damage your kiosk system irreversibly. You need to do 3 things: backup, backup and backup you system before proceeding.
• I am not responsible for what happens
• READ all of my texts and script source, disclaimers etc
• Read the previous 3 lines 3 times aloud then continue reading this guide
• OK you have been warned

Prerequisites

• PC with Lubuntu minimum requirements
• Google Drive account
• Lubuntu 18 installation CD/USB link
• Porteus Kiosk 4.8 installation ISO/USB link
• familiar with GRUB2, ssh, openssh-server, ufw

1. Lubuntu 18 x64: typical installation

• Boot Lubuntu 18 x64 installation CD
• Install in one primary partition: /dev/sda1
• Leave space 500MB for a second primary partition
• Create second partition /dev/sda2 as FAT32 and format it
• Make sure GRUB2 gets installed in /dev/sda
• Finish Lubuntu installation
• Make sure you can boot Lubuntu from hard disk using GRUB2

2. Lubuntu 18 x64: dual boot preperation

• Boot to Lubuntu
• Install the following

$ sudo apt-get install syslinux, git
$ sudo apt-get install syslinux-utils

• Install openssh-server and start it

$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server
$ sudo service ssh restart

• Maybe you need to allow your ufw to accept ssh incoming requests

$ sudo ufw allow ssh

• Edit custom GRUB2 config files, check --id you assign. You will need it to set your default boot OS

$ sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom

• Add the GRUB2 menuentry below at the end of the file and save

menuentry "Porteus-Kiosk-hybrid.iso" --id porteus-kiosk-hybrid-iso {
        set isofile="/boot/isos/Porteus-Kiosk-hybrid.iso"
        loopback loop (hd0,1)$isofile
        linux (loop)/boot/vmlinuz boot=boot iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
        initrd (loop)/boot/initrd.xz
}	

• Edit your GRUB2 defaults

$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub

• Set your default boot, use the --id value above

GRUB_DEFAULT=porteus-kiosk-hybrid-iso

• Update your GRUB2 boot loader

$ sudo update-grub2

3. Porteus Kiosk 4.8.0 x64: ISO image creation

The ISO image creation can vary from case to case (due to different functional requirements), from system to system (due to non-functional requirements). As such it is out of scope of this document to explain how you should build your own system. It is implied that you know exactly how to create a USB or CD with a running Porteus Kiosk. Play around and create it, Porteus Kioks wizard is self-explanatory and you will have no problem, if different Google and use Porteus fantastic community.

Please find below listed the main steps to follow along with some links to read/watch etc.

• Boot your Porteus Kiosk 4.8 CD/USB
• Follow wizard, make your choices (read parameters here)
• Make sure you add ssh support and enabled firewall *
• Choose to "Save ISO" to USB as Porteus-Kiosk.iso
• The above can be tricky, if having trouble to Save ISO check the videos here

In order to access your Porteus Kiosk remotely (e.g. to reboot) you have to make sure that after completing this guide, you can access your running kiosk using ssh through the Internet. That probably means having your network's router/gateway with static ip (or dynamic DNS) and port forward some port to kiosk's port 22.

4. Porteus-Kiosk.iso: Google Drive upload

• Reboot to Lubuntu (hold shift during POST so GRUB2 shows up)
• Upload your Porteus-Kiosk.iso to a Google shared folder
• Left click the uploaded ISO file and "Get Sharable link", e.g. https://drive.google.com/open?id=3Kk2iOUUh485etmsOIa7sTDGoNrjQdY8M

5. dip.kiosk: script(s) download

Run the following

$ cd ~/Desktop
$ git clone https://github.com/dimipet/dip.kiosk.git
$ chmod u+x ~/Desktop/dip.kiosk/updateKioskCloud.sh

6. dip.kiosk: updateKioskCloud.properties edit and upload

This is a key/value file with a TAB between key and value. ** When editing be careful ** There is a one single space between each key (e.g. tmp_folder) and its value (e.g. /tmp/porteus). This single space is a TAB hidden character used as a delimiter between keys and their values. If in doubt use a descent text editor (notepad++, atom, vim see here that can show hidden control characters. Below I use nano but take care not to delete anything.

First things first: make a copy of your properties sample file

$ cp -p ~/Desktop/dip.kiosk/updateKioskCloud.properties.sample ~/Desktop/dip.kiosk/updateKioskCloud.properties

Now edit your file

$ nano ~/Desktop/dip.kiosk/updateKioskCloud.properties

You should see the following content, edit it to suit your needs, again make sure not to delete TABs

isoCD_filename	Porteus-Kiosk.iso
isoCD_MD5	9354d22bac456e1168769ef0d0f251eb
isoCD_URL	https://drive.google.com/open?id=3Kk2iOUUh485etmsOIa7sTDGoNrjQdY8M
hybrid_filename	Porteus-Kiosk-hybrid.iso
tmp_folder	/tmp/porteus
boot_folder	/boot/isos
target_partition	/dev/sda2

• Set isoCD_URL with the sharable link you copied from Google Drive when you uploaded your Porteus-Kiosk.iso
• Find the MD5 of the Porteus-Kiosk.iso you created above (step 3). One way to do that is

$ ms5sum Porteus-Kiosk.iso
9354d22bac456e1168769ef0d0f251eb  Porteus-Kiosk.iso

• Set isoCD_MD5 with the MD5 value found above

• In case you don't install on /dev/sda2, set target_partition to your desired target partition

• Upload your updateKioskCloud.properties to a Google shared folder and make sure you uploaded it correclty, use (connect) an online text editor for that like AnyFile

• Delete your local updateKioskCloud.properties file, you wont need it anymore, you should be editing with extra care from now the file online, as the online properties file is the file that the script uses

$ rm ~/Desktop/dip.kiosk/updateKioskCloud.properties

• Head to your uploaded updateKioskCloud.properties file, left click it and "Get Sharable link", a link like the following should be copied to your clipboard e.g. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Aa1oKJ6df89phsuOIa7sUGDoRVSqoP9Q

7. dip.kiosk: edit updateKioskCloud.sh

• Edit the script updateKioskCloud.sh,

$ nano ~/Desktop/dip.kiosk/updateKioskCloud.sh

• Find the line google_properties_link="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dFfAw9tm95ok0JTskyvt6Lsl8y1NHMDT"
• Delete the whole link between the two double quotes
• Paste the link you copied from Google Drive above

You should now see something like the following (but with your own copied link)

google_properties_link="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Aa1oKJ6df89phsuOIa7sUGDoRVSqoP9Q"

8. dip.kiosk: install Porteus Kiosk

• Run

$ sudo nano ~/Desktop/dip.kiosk/updateKioskCloud.sh

The script will

• download updateKioskCloud.properties,
• read its values,
• download and validate the ISO from Google drive
• dd the ISO to your /dev/sda2 partition
• update your GRUB2
• reboot

After reboot you should be able to watch your Porteus Kiosk running !

9. Typical Update Scenario

You decide that you need to update your your kiosk.

• Create your new Porteus-Kiosk.iso
• Test your Porteus-Kiosk.iso on VirtualBox, if OK proceed
• Upload it to a Google shared folder (follow step 4)
• Direct edit updateKioskCloud.properties in Google Drive with some connected app e.g. Anyfile and follow step 6 on how to fill values for isoCD_MD5 and isoCD_URL
• Have someone to hold SHIFT keyboard key (after POST before GRUB2 menu shows up) and select to boot Lubuntu
• ssh to Lubuntu and run as step 8 above

$ sudo updateKioskCloud.sh

License

Each library is released under its own license. This repository is published under GNU/GPL Version 3.