LITTLEBLACKDOG.COM

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: setting up a kiosk

hey guys, long time no talkie, I know.

I have a situation, that I am hoping that someone might have an idea for.

The guard shack for the company I now work for, has a PC that is supposed to only be used for watching Security cameras.

The cameras feed like webcams on two pages on the intranet.

The machine is set up with dual monitors so that both windows can be open in full screen at the same time.

The guards keep using the machine for things other than viewing the cameras.

I want to set the machine up in a kiosk mode, where only the IE windows are accessible, and IE is locked to only viewing those two pages.

My question, is there a way to have Windows run in a kiosk mode with multiple IE windows?

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:38 pm Post subject:

I remember years ago reading that Opera could run in a kiosk mode. I have no idea if this would work for you or not, but heres a link Opera's kiosk mode

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:50 pm Post subject:

tecgod13 wrote:
I remember years ago reading that Opera could run in a kiosk mode. I have no idea if this would work for you or not, but heres a link Opera's kiosk mode

yeah, Opera and IE are both able to run in Kiosk mode... just haven't yet figured out if it will run two kiosks on two displays on one machine.

Found some third party software that will do it... but it ain't cheap, so I am trying to avoid that.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:49 pm Post subject:

OK... I have found that multiple instances of IE can be run simulateously in kiosk mode.

What I don't know yet, and I will know shortly, is how they behave on multple monitors.

I am hoping that when kiosk is run on multiple monitors, it only uses full screen on one.

What I am hoping, in addition to this is that I can then get the second instance of IE to open on the OTHER monitor in full screen mode.

Does anyone know of a way to specify screen position when launching an application?

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:04 pm Post subject:

TheGodAnubis wrote:
OK... I have found that multiple instances of IE can be run simulateously in kiosk mode.

What I don't know yet, and I will know shortly, is how they behave on multple monitors.

I am hoping that when kiosk is run on multiple monitors, it only uses full screen on one.

What I am hoping, in addition to this is that I can then get the second instance of IE to open on the OTHER monitor in full screen mode.

Does anyone know of a way to specify screen position when launching an application?

Ultramon. Its a utility for multiple monitors and allows you to launch certain apps in certain screens/positions. But I don't know if it can launch/position the same application in separate screens.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:22 pm Post subject:

Extreme wrote:
Ultramon. Its a utility for multiple monitors and allows you to launch certain apps in certain screens/positions. But I don't know if it can launch/position the same application in separate screens.

yeah... I didn't even think about UltraMon... I'll see if I can make that work.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:40 pm Post subject:

Thanks Extreme... I shoulda thought of that... but I didn't

UltraMon did it for me.

I created the following shortcuts and placed them in the startup folder:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -k 10.0.0.5
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -k 10.0.0.6

Using UltraMon, I made the first launch on display 1, and the 2nd on display 2.

Two browsers in kiosk mode, one on each display.

Then, using a PICS file, I set Internet Explorer to be unable to access any site other than those two and Windows Update.

Then I locked down the permissions on the user account on the machine.

BEAUTIFUL!!!

Thanks again.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:07 am Post subject:

Ultramon rocks...