Create Raspberry Pi Kiosk on Raspbian Debian Wheezy

Table of Contents

1. Raspbian Wheezy
   1.1. Chromium Browser
   1.2. Epiphany Browser
   1.3. Midori Browser
   1.4. Firefox (Iceweasel)
2. Raspbian Jessie
   2.1. Chromium Browser
3. Connecting to Wi-Fi on boot
4. Splashscreen
5. References
6. Sources

Raspbian Wheezy

*Chromium is not available in Debian Wheezy on the armhf architcture for the Raspberry Pi 3. If you get a "package not found" error when attempting to install chromium, try another browser below."

Chromium Browser

1. Install Raspbian Debian Wheezy

2. sudo raspi-config

   • Update the Raspi config tool (Advanced Options)
   • Enable SSH
   • Disable overscan. (Advanced Options)
   • Change your boot to desktop environment.

3. Now start the terminal and update your system:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   

4. Install chromium (browser), x11 server utils and unclutter (hide the cursor from the screen)

   sudo apt-get install chromium x11-xserver-utils unclutter
   

5. When the GUI starts up chromium needs to boot in kiosk-mode and open the webpage. Because of that we edit the autostart file:

   nano ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
   

   The autostart files needs to look like this:

   @lxpanel --profile LXDE
   @pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE
   @xset s off
   @xset -dpms
   @xset s noblank
   @sed -i 's/"exited_cleanly": false/"exited_cleanly": true/' ~/.config/chromium Default/Preferences
   @chromium --noerrdialogs --kiosk [URL] --incognito --disable-translate
   

Epiphany Browser

1. Install Raspbian Debian Wheezy

2. sudo raspi-config

   • Update the Raspi config tool (Advanced Options)
   • Enable SSH
   • Disable overscan. (Advanced Options)
   • Change your boot to desktop environment.

3. Now start the terminal and update your system:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   

4. Install Epiphany (browser), x11 server utils, xautomation and unclutter (hide the cursor from the screen)

   sudo apt-get install epiphany-browser x11-xserver-utils xautomation unclutter
   

5. Save this shell script: /home/pi/fullscreen.sh

   nano /home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

   Fullscreen shell script should look like this: (example replace [URL] http://github.com/elalemanyo/raspberry-pi-kiosk-screen)

   sudo -u pi epiphany-browser -a -i --profile ~/.config [URL] --display=:0 &
   sleep 15s;
   xte "key F11" -x:0
   

   Change file mode:

   chmod 755 /home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

6. Edit the autostart file to run the script:

   nano ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
   

   The autostart files needs to look like this:

   @xset s off
   @xset -dpms
   @xset s noblank
   @/home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

7. Reload the page (if needed) every hour:

   crontab -e
   

   Add this:

   0 */1 * * * xte -x :0 "key F5"
   

Midori Browser

1. Install Raspbian Debian Wheezy

2. sudo raspi-config

   • Update the Raspi config tool (Advanced Options)
   • Enable SSH
   • Disable overscan. (Advanced Options)

3. Now start the terminal and update your system:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   

4. Install Midori (browser), x11 server utils, matchbox and unclutter (hide the cursor from the screen)

   sudo apt-get install midori x11-xserver-utils matchbox unclutter
   

5. Save this shell script: /home/pi/fullscreen.sh

   nano /home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

   Fullscreen shell script should look like this:

   unclutter &
   matchbox-window-manager &
   midori -e Fullscreen -a [URL]
   

   Change file mode:

   chmod 755 /home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

6. Edit the autostart file to run the script:

   nano ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
   

   The autostart files needs to look like this:

   @xset s off
   @xset -dpms
   @xset s noblank
   @/home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

7. Auto StartX (Run LXDE):

   sudo nano /etc/rc.local
   

   Scroll to the bottom and add the following above exit 0:

   su -l pi -c startx
   

Firefox (Iceweasel)

1. Install Raspbian Debian Wheezy

2. sudo raspi-config

   • Update the Raspi config tool (Advanced Options)
   • Enable SSH
   • Disable overscan (Advanced Options)
   • Memory Split (Advanced Options)

3. Now start the terminal and update your system:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   

4. Install Firefox (Iceweasel), Gnash, x11 server utils, matchbox, xautomation and unclutter (hide the cursor from the screen)

   sudo apt-get install iceweasel gnash gnash-common browser-plugin-gnash x11-xserver-utils matchbox xautomation unclutter
   

5. Save this shell script: /home/pi/fullscreen.sh

   nano /home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

   Fullscreen shell script should look like this:

   unclutter &
   matchbox-window-manager &
   iceweasel http://www.domradio.de/foyer/wrapper --display=:0 &
   sleep 15s;
   xte "key F11" -x:0
   

   Change file mode:

   chmod 755 /home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

6. Edit the autostart file to run the script:

   sudo nano ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
   

   The autostart files needs to look like this:

   @xset s off
   @xset -dpms
   @xset s noblank
   @/home/pi/fullscreen.sh
   

7. Auto StartX (Run LXDE):

   sudo nano /etc/rc.local
   

   Scroll to the bottom and add the following above exit 0:

   su -l pi -c startx
   

8. Reload the page (if needed) every hour:

   crontab -e
   

   Add this:

   0 */1 * * * xte -x :0 "key F5"
   

Raspbian Jessie

Chromium Browser

1. Install Raspbian Debian Jessie

2. sudo raspi-config

   • Update the Raspi config tool (Advanced Options)
   • Enable SSH
   • Disable overscan. (Advanced Options)

3. Now start the terminal and update your system:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   

4. Install unclutter (hide the cursor from the screen)

   sudo apt-get install unclutter
   

5. When the GUI starts up chromium needs to boot in kiosk-mode and open the webpage. Because of that we edit the autostart file:

   nano ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
   

   The autostart files needs to look like this:

   @lxpanel --profile LXDE-pi
   @pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE-pi
   @xset s off
   @xset -dpms
   @xset s noblank
   @sed -i 's/"exited_cleanly": false/"exited_cleanly": true/' ~/.config/chromium-browser Default/Preferences
   @chromium-browser --noerrdialogs --kiosk [URL] --incognito --disable-translate
   

Connecting to Wi-Fi on boot

You may wish to have your Kiosk device connect automatically both to your home wifi (where you test it) as well as the wireless network where you deploy it.

In /etc/network/interfaces Add a line that says to cause wireless to connect automatically auto wlan0.

Then edit /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf to define one or more wireless networks, changing the SSIDs and passwords to match your networks. The id_str values just need to be unique.

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
	ssid="SCHOOLS NETWORK NAME"
	psk="SCHOOLS PASSWORD"
	id_str="school"
}

network={
	ssid="HOME NETWORK NAME"
	psk="HOME PASSWORD"
	id_str="home"
}

Splashscreen

1. Install Frame Buffer Imageviewer (FBI):

   sudo apt-get install fbi
   

2. Upload splash.png:

   scp splash.png pi@[IP raspberry pi]:splash.png
   

3. Move splash image to /etc/:

   sudo mv splash.png /etc/
   

4. Add script:

   sudo nano /etc/asplashscreen
   

   do_start () {
   	/usr/bin/fbi -T 1 -noverbose -a /etc/splash.png
   	exit 0
   }
   case "$1" in
   	start|"")
   do_start
   ;;
   restart|reload|force-reload)
   echo "Error: argument '$1' not supported" >&2
   exit 3
   ;;
   stop)
   # No-op
   ;;
   status)
   exit 0
   ;;
   *)
   echo "Usage: asplashscreen [start|stop]" >&2
   exit 3
   ;;
   esac
   :
   

5. Run:

   sudo mv asplashscreen /etc/init.d/asplashscreen
   

6. Run:

   sudo chmod a+x /etc/init.d/asplashscreen
   sudo insserv /etc/init.d/asplashscreen
   

References:

• How to get Wi-Fi to connect on boot?
• How to setup multiple wifi networks?

Sources

• https://github.com/basdegroot/raspberry-pi-kiosk
• https://www.danpurdy.co.uk/web-development/raspberry-pi-kiosk-screen-tutorial/
• http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/30093/epiphany-browser-in-full-screen-mode
• https://wiki.mhcsoftware.de/raspberrypi_als_web-kiosk-system