The launch of the new version of Porteus Kiosk 5.2.0 which is the latest version of the distribution to include Flash support, as well as a Remina rebuild, updates, and more.
The distribution stands out for being a basic container that includes only the minimum set of components necessary to run a web browser (Firefox and Chrome are supported).
That is reduced in its capabilities to prevent unwanted activity on the system (for example, changing settings is not allowed, application download / installation is blocked, only access to selected pages).
In addition, specialized cloud builds offered to work comfortably with web applications (Google Apps, Jolicloud, OwnCloud, Dropbox) and ThinClient to work as a thin client (Citrix, RDP, NX, VNC and SSH) and server for the management of kiosk networks.
Configuration is done through a special wizard, which is combined with the installer and allows you to prepare a customized version of the distribution kit to place on a USB Flash or hard disk.
For example, you can set a default page, define a whitelist of allowed sites, set a password for a guest login, define an inactivity timeout to log out, change the background image, among other things. more.
At startup, system components are verified using checksums and the system image is mounted in read-only mode.
Main new features of Porteus Kiosk 5.2.0
This new version of Porteus Kiosk 5.2 has been announced as the latest version with the ability to use Adoble FlashPlayer, in the future there will be browser versions without support for the Flash plugin.
Regarding the software versions we can find that they are synced with the Gentoo repository as of March 14, including the updated packages with the kernel Linux 5.10.25, Chrome 87 and Firefox 78.8.0 ESR.
The remote desktop interface of Remmina has been rebuilt with support for the CUPS print server to provide the ability to redirect local printers to remote systems through an RDP session.
Besides, that is disabled ability to move links to bookmarks bar and home button (the content of the bar and the home page are determined only through the configuration file) and it is also forbidden to drag the URL to the tab bar to create a new tab.
The "libva-intel-media-driver" package has been added with the implementation of the VA-API (Video Acceleration API), which provides a unified interface to hardware acceleration mechanisms for video encoding and decoding.
It is also mentioned in the announcement that Shift + F9 and Shift + F12 combinations were blocked, that provide access to vault inspection modes and facilities for people with disabilities.
Finally, it is mentioned that by default, the distribution does not offer the ability to automatically install updates for the operating system components and software included in the Internet kiosk solution.
The Polish company Porteus Solution, which develops and maintains the Porteus Kiosk distribution, sells this service together with the support and creation of customized images taking into account the requirements of the customer (including the brand). The cost depends on the number of installations.
If you want to know more about it About this new version released, you can check the list of changes and the project website.
Download Porteus Kiosk 5.1.0
For those who are interested in being able to test this distribution, they will be able to obtain the image of the system from its official website in which the corresponding links are provided in its download section (the boot image of the distribution occupies 110 MB).
In the same way, you will be able to find more information on the site about the configuration, installation and even information to modify the system image, in its documentation section.