public pc

[Chris Mohler]

On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 4:08 AM, Embrik Kaslegard
<embrik_leifsson at yahoo.no> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I am installing a public pc with ubuntu 8.04. My tequest is how do I
> close the desktop enivornment? This user can be everyone visiting the
> library and I don't want them to delete shortcuts and change the
> environment.
>
> I have tried kiosk (a kde-app) but I can't get it to work. I may do
> something wrong - but if there are other gnome apps out there I would
> like to give it a try.

Have you tried pessulus?  I've never used it, but it seems to fit the
bill.  It should be in the repos:

$ aptitude show pessulus
[...]
Description: lockdown editor for GNOME
 pessulus enables the system administrator to set mandatory settings in GConf,
 which apply to all users, restricting what they can do, which may be of
 particular usefulness for kiosks (internet cafes, for example).

 Examples of what can be locked down are the panels (no changes in the panel
 configuration are allowed, locking their position and their contents), some of
 their functions individually (disabling screen locking and log out), the web
 browser (disabling specific protocols, arbitrary URLs, forcing the user to be
 in fullscreen mode), among many others.


Chris