This post will show how to make minimal changes to a base Fedora 25 workstation installation and arrive at a kiosk type display that can be unleashed on the general public without too much fear of them destroying the system or navigating somewhere they shouldn’t be on that computer.

  1. Install Fedora 25 Workstation, update and install any display drivers you may need.
  2. Under Settings -> Users check Automatic Login ON for the user you want to auto log in.
  3. Disable Windows / Super Key / GNOME3 overlay key
    • $ gsettings set org.gnome.mutter overlay-key ”
    • to set it back: $ gsettings set org.gnome.mutter overlay-key ‘Super_L’
    • hitting Super_L+s & Alt+F1 will still bring up the overlay; commands below will stop that
    • $ gsettings set org.gnome.shell.keybindings toggle-overview “[‘<Super><Alt>p’]”
    • $ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings panel-main-menu “[‘<Super><Alt>p’]”
    • These last two keybindings appear to not be able to be set to empty so I used the key combo of Alt + Super + p which is not very likely to be pressed, you could make this longer to make it even less likely to be pressed.
  4. Disable Alt+F4 for window closing
    • $ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings close “[‘<Alt>F9’]”
    • This will change it from F4 to F9. To disable all the way enter ” in place of “[‘<Alt>F9’]”
  5. Disable Ctl+Alt+Delete for logout / shutdown
    • $ gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys logout ”
    • to restore use “<Control><Alt>Delete”
  6. Disable F1 for help
    • gsettings set org.gnome.Terminal.Legacy.Keybindings:/org/gnome/terminal/legacy/keybindings/ help ”
    • note: this change requires a reboot to start working
  7. I chose to leave the virtual terminals in place but you can disable them (F2 through F12)
    • This keybinding can not be empty so use this below. This completely disables switching to that terminal, Ctrl+Alt+F12+b does nothing on my system.
    • $ gsettings set org.gnome.mutter.wayland.keybindings switch-to-session-12 “[‘<Primary><Alt>F12b’]”
  8.  Disable Alt+F2 for program launch
    • TODO: find shortcut
  9. Set firefox to start automatically
    • Create a file name auto_firefox.sh and remember where you saved it. The contents of the file should be

#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/firefox http://www.TheWebSiteYouWant.com

10. Add auto_firefox.sh to the list of start up programs

  • navigate to /home/YOUR-USER-NAME/.config/autostart
    create a file named auto_firefox.desktop the contents of the file should be:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=auto_firefox
GenericName=auto_firefox
Comment=Auto Start Firefox
Exec=/home/tintdisplay/bin/auto_firefox.sh
Terminal=false
Type=Application

 

11. Install Firefox add-on rKiosk

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/r-kiosk/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/r-kiosk/