Internet kiosk for motel lobby?

I'm looking to set up a simple internet kiosk in the lobby of a motel. For security, I think it's best if I set up a simple Linux distribution whose only user-accessible program is a browser.

Would it be a good idea to take a distro like Ubuntu, set up a limited user account, and uninstall everything except a browser? It might also be possible to use a minimal VM like Blackbox and configure the browser to start when the computer is booted. Alternatively, I've seen some distros that have already been configured for kiosk use - anybody have experience using one?

How would you recommend configuring the system to discard any changes on reboot? It would be nice to allow the browser to be able to write temp files, but I don't want users to be able to make permanent changes to the system.

What browser would you recommend? Firefox is the traditional choice, but there are some other contenders. I know that Arora and Chromium aren't fully baked yet, but I am a fan of the WebKit rendering engine and I am hoping that it's possible to use somehow.

Solution 1:

I think you can best customize the machine by putting Linux on, and using something like Opera in kiosk mode, as already mentioned by John T.

But really, just throwing Linux on it and leaving defaults is pretty useless just like giving users Windows. I recommend a Linux distro becase of customizability. If you are new with Linux, get someone who knows what they're doing (and I mean really knows what they're doing) and get them to limit the machine just enough.

Uninstalling "everything" from Linux (Ubuntu) machine might be a bit ... well ... problematic, since you can literally uninstall everything and literally leave just browser around. Including kernel, X11 GUI, and package manager. And removing just one of those three would leave you somewhat stranded.

EDIT.

Opera's kiosk mode can be launched by punching in:

opera -kioskmode

You should probably configure a startpage / homepage, however. There's some help for kiosk related options:

opera -kioskhelp

Some more information available from Opera themselves.

When I need a lite window manager, I like IceWM.

With a little time and will, GNU/Linux systems can be customized to do anything. If you have more than one machine, this time will definitely pay off. If nothing else, there's no arcane concepts such as registry so backup of all user configuration can be simplified to just copying the home directory.

Good luck!

EDIT 2

Just went to serverfault.com, there's a related and potentially interesting question over there.

Solution 2:

I don't see the need to uninstall everything else, just throw on Opera in kiosk mode.

How would you recommend configuring the system to discard any changes on reboot?

Deep Freeze.

What browser would you recommend?

See above

Solution 3:

I believe a few companies have been using imbedded Linux in Kiosk for some time now, try getting in touch with a company called 3Mtouch , I think I saw a demonstration at a convention once.