This section documents a number of configuration tasks an
administrator might find useful in setting up a machine to serve
as a public kiosk.
To prevent all drives, such as floppy disks, cdroms, or
other removable media from automatically mounting, unset the
/desktop/gnome/volume_manager/automount_drives
/desktop/gnome/volume_manager/automount_media |
keys as shown in Figure 4-11.
To prevent a user from saving files to disk and from
access to all "Save As..." dialogs, set
the
/desktop/gnome/lockdown/save_to_disk |
key as shown in Figure 4-13.
To prevent the user from forcing an application to quit by
eliminating access to the force quit button, set the
/apps/panel/global/disable_force_quit |
key as shown in Figure 4-14.
When using a machine as a public kiosk, it is recommended
that the system be configured to skip the login screen and to
automatically start an X
session.
The automatic login process is enabled through the
configuration of gdm, the
Gnome Display Manager.
Specifically, the automatic login functionality is set in the
gdm configuration file,
/etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf.
The automatic login process can be enabled by directly
editing /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf, or by
using the graphical Login Screen Setup
tool. Both techniques are described below.
 | Note |
|---|
| | Configuring gdm requires
administrative privileges. |
 | Tip |
|---|
| | For more detailed information regarding the
configuration of gdm, the
Gnome Display Manager, refer to
the Gnome Display Manager Reference
Manual available within the online help system
through (the main menu on the
panel) => , in
the Desktop Category. |
To enable automatic login using the graphical
Login Screen Setup tool, start
the application by either
After typing in the administrative password, the
Login Screen Setup tool will
appear on your screen. To enable automatic login, check the
box labelled "Login a user automatically on first
bootup" and enter a valid system user name in
the Automatic login username text entry
box. Figure 4-15
demonstrates this configuration for a fictional user named
"sam".
To enable automatic login, add (or change) the following
directives to /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf:
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
AutomaticLogin=<valid_username> |
where
<valid_username>
is a valid user on the system.
