Sometimes it is useful to create a kiosk with settings that enables some tools for trouble-shooting. SSH access to the kiosk, toolbars and developer tools can come in handy while testing scripts and hardware.

Follow the guide to build a standard kiosk but use the settings provided here.

Use the text file method to configure the kiosk, edit and copy the text shown below to another FAT32-formatted USB stick. Put it at the root level of the USB stick, naming it kiosk-config-dev.txt or any other describing name.

connection=wired
dhcp=yes
browser=chrome
homepage_append=mac
homepage=http://pixi.guide/spot
disable_private_mode=yes
homepage_check=PIXLAB Blocks Server can't be reached. Please check your network connections.
wake_on_lan=yes
disable_zoom_controls=yes
persistence=session
primary_keyboard_layout=us
additional_components=uefi.zip initrdpxe.xz 08-ssh.xzm
root_password=pixi
browser_preferences=http://pixi.guide/public/chrome-policies.txt
hide_mouse=no
disable_navigation_bar=no

The differences compared to a standard setting are:

• Add 08-ssh.xzm module to enable SSH.
• Set root-password for SSH access.
• Show the mouse
• Show the navigation bar
• Enable a chrome policy file stored on the Blocks server, with this any chrome policies can be set on the kiosks to change browser polices.

In some cases, when using the Chrome browser with PIXILAB Player, you may need to override the browser's policies. This can be done by storing a text file named chrome-policies.txt in the directory <your-blocks-root>/public/PIXILAB_Player (where "<your-block-root>" is the location of your Blocks root directory).The path to this file is then be specified in the kiosk-config.txt file used when creating the player the, as described above. This example assumes the default domain name pixi.guide (which in your case may be another domain name, or a hardcoded IP address).

browser_preferences=http://pixi.guide/public/PIXILAB_Player/chrome-policies.txt

The "chrome-policies.txt" file must contain the following policy to be able to access the Developer tools in Chrome.

"DeveloperToolsAvailability": 1,

More information on Chrome policies and syntax can be found here.

To log on to the kiosk with SSH one has to find out its current IP number. One method is to use the dhcp server's client leases list and look for the particular MAC adress.

To log on, use a ssh enabled terminal. I´m on windows so I have enabled the OpenSSH Client in the Windows optional features.

$ ssh root@[ipnumber]

Enter the password specified in the kiosk-config file.

On Windows, as a side effect from not storing anything persistent on the kiosk one has to reset the known_hosts file between each connection. That is because the hash identifying the Kiosk keeps changing. Simply open the known_hosts file stored under your user in a hidden folder called .ssh with a code editor and delete the entry with your kiosks IP number. Don't forget to save the file. Is is possible to do broader wildcard setting in the known_hosts file but I prefer this method.