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Ask Slashdot: Making a Tablet Run Only One Application?
An anonymous reader asks "I'm working for a medical centre who want to make a tablet with various videos and webpages about smoking cessation available in their waiting room. The tablet can't access the Internet because of security policies. I'm planning to use a local server with copies of the (Creative Commons) videos and pages accessed through local webpages using the tablet's browser. How can I make only the browser be available to the tablet users? Ideas? Suggestions?"
Setup a wireless network where all the HTTP requests go to the server with your content.
Easy if the tablet runs Windows or Linux. Much harder on other platforms. Maybe you should narrow the problem domain.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Put it on a VLAN, and Make HTTP(S) Go straight to the web server and only the web server. There are portal WAPs that do just that. Securing the tablet from running anything else would be as easy as installing a custom version of CyanogenMod or similar. Heck even Apple might be able to make an iPad that did just that.
I'd also tether the thing to the room, or it will walk away.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I do not have a solution to your problem. I am curious about the situation though. Is there a reason your organization wants this to be easy-to-steal-and-expensive tablets? Especially when there's the security policy. And you'll have to keep them charged too. Why not just a cheap laptop. Or a pamphlet and TV?
I realize it's difficult to get people to stop smoking, but fancy technology isn't always the solution.
Force the use of a proxy server for all web traffic on these tablets and jailbreak them putting on only the browser and no installer.
If using Android: create a replacement launcher app, set your new app as the default launcher, and... profit?
Just roll your own AOSP build that only has /system/app/Browser.apk along with essential system UI apks and include none of the networking drivers that the device needs.
Subject says it all.
Lock out everything but that needed to run. Plus, you can unlock it to upgrade the browser when needed.
You have a bigger problem there, how do you keep them from being stolen, add to that topic some phone home theft software too, want to inspire people to stop smoking? get a terminal lung cancer patient in the waiting room. wont fail.
I mean seriously - the first time someone thinks they can walk out the door with the tablet, it's gone. Don't think it wouldn't happen.
Why not instead just make a dvd with those videos and print out the text of the websites? You could have a small tv hooked up to a dvd player, have the dvd available to those interested, etc....
It wouldn't be as convenient to steal, and it is a technically easier way to set something like this up. Why are you going to such great lengths to make something more complicated than necessary?
You need digital signage, not a tablet. Only one person at a time can use a tablet. A couple of flat screens off a cheap PC hidden up in the ceiling or a closet, and use Xibo.
If you are using iPad, there is an app called MediaKiosk. This is used with metal kiosk housings that prevent the 'home' button from being pushed and will allow the charge cable to always be connected. Not really helpful for portable.
Without knowing what Tablet OS you are targeting it is difficult to give you advice. You can just search on google for the terms "kiosk mode" + whatever OS and that should give you what you are looking for.
A couple of options. One, you could probably bundle the files up into an app like one created using PhoneGap, which would make everything local. Two, you could set the proxy setting to point to a server that you control, that will direct you only to an internal web server that you control. Regardless of how you do it, you will need to physically block the power and home buttons, and for non-iPad tablets, any other button that might take you home like the back button with something like a lockable case. Seems silly to block the internet, though, considering how many people in that waiting room are going to be browsing with their iPhones anyways.
This seems like a terrible idea! People in a hospital are going to be smearing their fingers all over this device, and passing it around. It seems to be a very convenient disease vector. I would not touch it with a 20 foot pole.
Android Tutorial: http://www.basic4ppc.com/forum/basic4android-getting-started-tutorials/10839-android-kiosk-mode-tutorial.html
iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kiosk-pro/id409918026?mt=8
... should do the trick. Preferably one without any hardware buttons (other than volume/power).
In the app you can already disable the back button and menu button. The trick will be removing the Home button, Task Switcher button and notifications.
Now that Honeycomb/ICS source is available you should be able to find where they have the "fullscreen" code. This code is designed so that an app like YouTube can go full-screen -- but, once the user touches the screen, the soft buttons will return.
Hardware manufacturers can also set a flag to enable or disable the soft keys, so you may be able to find this flag and just turn off the keys.
All of this wouldn't prevent a user from booting into recovery or some such, but should provide a decently predictable experience for informational videos and whatnot.
The one part I'm not so sure on is how to disable notifications. Hopefully this will help though.
PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
on Android there is an app called APPLOCK you can use to lock down apps you don;t want people to have access to.
http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os
The only app that runs is the browser, it is based on gentoo so you can install pam modules to meet your site requirements needs (ldap, kerberos, etc),
And it is designed so you can easily force an enterprise wide os refresh whenever you need/want.
Work bio at MMWD
I assume the tablet will be cemented / bolted to something. Otherwise it would be ripe for easy theft.
So.... if it's bolted down anyway, why not just use a touchscreen computer, which opens up the "lockability" options a lot more.
That said, there are plenty of MDMs (Mobile Device Managers) that give you lock-down policy capabilities for Android - almost certainly your least expensive tablet option. Google "Android MDM" and you'll see a bunch of options out there.
If your employer is extra cheap you COULD potentially tap the Android API directly to manage a device but that is a lot of heavy lifting to accomplish something relatively simple.
Really not an expert in Android so I am just throwing ideas here.
Since Android is based on Linux, chmod a-rwx would be an easy staring point. If the application cannot be read and executed, it cannot be started.
Better, erase the unwanted apps with 'rm' and keep only the one you want, the browser.
Remember the year 2000? They promised us flying cars. They delivered the PT Cruiser...
I would be helpful to know what OS the thing is running :)
... I walk out of the waiting room with the tablet in my jacket
The closest you could get on an iPad is with 10.7 server w/ Profile Manager. You could remove the vast majority of the standard apps and force down Full Screen web clips that you could even change on the fly for all your devices. You could even set the devices to connect to specific wireless connections even with WPA Passwords. The only down side is some access to 'Settings'.
Using linux on a omap3230 with a zendframework php app that gets a db loaded with data, mysql..., serving over lighttp to a local browser firefox. The syncing can be done either through a usb stick or local network through a sync server... We served thousands of patients at their home through their platforms. Hope it helps
Come to think of it, people at a doctors get enough tablets anyhow.
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
The solution that you want may fully well exist without having to reinvent the wheel.
Is there any reason you can not use a LCD picture frame?
I don't know how well they deal with video but I suspect that you can put a good a presentation using stills on one of those.
If you are using android devices, you can create an app that publicizes itself as a Home Screen replacement. Then you set that as your default app and you have a kiosk on your tablet.
-= Offline =-
Instead of web pages, just have interactive books and videos loaded on the device. You'd need a central desktop configured to update/charge the devices (using a bunch of USB ports). Using SL4A scripts and whatever language you prefer, automate.
-= Kiosk =-
Simply create a web application without a browser title set only to your internal server. Then run the app in kiosk mode.
http://www.basic4ppc.com/forum/basic4android-getting-started-tutorials/10839-android-kiosk-mode-tutorial.html
I'd pick the cheapest tablet you can get (that'll support your content), then farm off the app coding to one of the many freelancing sites to do what you need..
tbh, this is a pretty simple thing to do on android - completely locking a tablet isnt hard, and completely locking the content isnt hard either. You could then have various external mechanisms for unlocking them again (via bluetooth, wifi, usb, etc).. as an android coder, i wouldnt think this would take more then a couple of hours personally.
If your determined to do it yourself, stackoverflow is a good place to start looking for ideas on how its achieved.
Just paint a black frame around some rectangular mirrors and put a big reversed brochure printout on the ceiling. Nobody will know the diff and you can keep the real tablets for yourself. (My experience at AOL is paying off.)
Table-ized A.I.
iOS has parental restrictions. Enable restrictions, enable Safari, leave everything else disabled. No step 3.
Provisio has a beta of their new SiteKiosk product for android tablets. It looks like it might do what you are looking for.
http://www.provisio.com/SiteKiosk/SiteKiosk_8_SiteKiosk_Android_beta.aspx
Root the tablet, then rename any links to all of the other apps. I did that on my fascinate to remove the vzw crap.
Easier: Buy a portable DVD player. Dirt cheap and does what you want. Less likely to get stolen. No software to break.
If using a Linux tablet, just run X with no window manager and start a fullscreen browser. Google keywords: "Maximus", "Devilspie", "Firefox kiosk mode".
If you're using Android or iOS, it looks like HockeyPuck has you covered above.
tablets seem out of place for a waiting room.
Leave a bunch of tablets laying around, even cheap ones, they will disappear pretty quickly. Who's going to round them up and charge them everynight ? BTW: I dont think getting the message out to stop smoking on tablets out will do anything. They know they have a problem, they wont sit their and watch ads and videos telling what they already know. You will just get 50 people a day asking how they can get into their facebook on this thing.
Why not just a TV?!? Why a tablet?!?
For the price of a tablet computer, you can get a 32" tv and a DVD player.
AND you don't have to risk someone walking off with it.
Geeze! No wonder healthcare is so goddamn expensive! Solving easy problems with the most expensive solutions.
1) infection control - to get their sign off for the obvious reasons.
2) housekeeping - to make sure they know it's not dish washer safe.
just my two bits
You can't figure out how to setup an HTTPD?
And give it a bogus default gateway.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
Tablets are generally designed to be resilient, and usable by the unskilled. For that reason, they can't usually be locked down like this, because the feature, in and of itself, is more technical than tablets are meant to be.
I don't know much about Androids, but an iPad makes a good example. Can you hijack DNS on the your wifi network? Yes... but it's incredibly easy to join another wifi network that isn't redirected, and there are no User and Administrator type accounts to keep people from doing so.
If you jailbreak an iPad, there is an extension you can install that locks it into a particular app (the browser, in this case). But getting around it involves, I think, nothing fancier than rebooting the device. You could modify the Hosts file on it to redirect no matter which network the user is on, as well... but a dedicated goof-off could always resort to direct DNS entry to cause mischief.
I would try to find out if anyone sells a wireless display with touchscreen capabilities. That could be linked to a computer that's locked down at an arbitrary level, and would prevent users from engaging in the kinds of shennigans they get up to when they have access to function keys and Reset buttons. If users can use the ctrl key or reboot the machine, you -will- end up with porn on your browser.
As a bonus, the device would be borderline useless to anyone who walks off with it and isn't fairly gadget-oriented, and you might be able to run several of them off of one host machine.
If this exists, someone should let me know, because I've made made want one.
If it doesn't you cold even use one of these:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/c609/
Wireless is great, but the real goal is just something hand-held that each person in the waiting room can have one of. Run some USB cables out to each end-table in the waiting room, and attach them to these. They're cheap, so have them stolen is less of an issue... unplugging them makes the, stop working, which makes them less immediately temping... they have no keyboard and no buttons that affect the actual computer behind the scenes... They're a perfect solution if you don't mind a few cables.
Is a portable DVD player. Or better yet, a wall-mounted TV and a running video from whatever appliance you want in another room.
Why use a tablet? Because you can?
frep.
Smokers pay taxes. Just make sure those taxes help subsidize healthcare for others, and while you're at it, deny them benefits based on their self abusive behavior. Win Win.
That's they way healthcare is heading anyhow.
It doesn't matter the OS or the web server. You want this only to be available to specific machines. So, you use https on the web server and certificates on the client machines to allow authentication under the client context.
Unfortunately, I can only tell you how to do this on SharePoint.
iPad in Kiosk mode:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mediakiosk/id352741530?mt=8
Android in Kiosk mode:
http://www.42gears.com/blog/2011/10/kiosk-mode-on-android/
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
If you are using iPads, besides enabling parental controls, you might also want to prevent access to the home button. I've seen this done at a few well put together installations. A few pieces of plexi-glass and some silicone adhesive will do the trick. If you use some other opaque framing material, you can even make it look like you paid many more thousands of dollars for custom technology.
Wrong approach. People will walk off your tablets. Instead, have the users bring their own. Set up an open wireless connection that supplies the users with a captive DNS directing everything to your internal service that only serves up your content.
Don't provide any other open connection. Then your crap shows up on everybody's ipad and android phone. Be prepared to fend off angry customers.
But at least you save the cost and headache of managing all those tablets and don't have to.replace.them every week.
There aren't any apps for it anyway...
Assuming Android:
Well, your container application would override some of the keys (onBackButton for example) to do nothing, making it harder to leave the app. Or you could use key events (http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html) to have them fire an event when a key is pressed, that you'd have to configure to your liking. Your only problem would be the home button key, since it doesn't return any value when pressed.
From what I gather from reading tidbits here and there ( http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2079691/overriding-the-home-button-how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-choice ) you'd have to make your app have an intent to be the launcher and make it the default launcher in the settings. Pressing the home key would just fire the app once again.
if its an android tablet couldn't you build a live wall paper? They can interact with the user. You would then be able to hide all the other buttons :)
this device is designed to do what you are asking http://www.i-display.com/products/i-view-Android/
Go grab a copy of this - http://funambol.com/solutions/devicemanagement.php Setup the DM server and make it do your bidding! :o)
"My immediate reaction is "WTF? What kind of moron doesn't make things 64-bit safe to begin with?" Linus
Slashdot's credibility as a technical knowledge source is seriously compromised by these comments' lack of technical savvy + belittlement of a client's request for product development guidance on a rather simple effort; reflecting poorly on this technical community. And the reason I won't be returning.
Wanna bet it gets used as an ashtray by some sneaky smoker within the first 24 hours?
I'm talking out my hat here, since I have not done anything with Android or iOS, but the following would work for any generic *nix.
In Linux, BSD or any *nix (does iOS run a form of BSD, like Mac OSX does?), one can make any program the shell (the thing that comes up when you log in). So as soon as the tablet boots up, it will just be running the web client.
The problem with that would be how much the web client needs the graphical user interface login. If it needs that, then you can make rsh or another restricted shell environment, which only allows the programs that you specify in a chrooted directory.
There are probably some complications to getting such a thing set up right to run the embedded things, but I would presume that the Android (which supposedly has a Linux kernel) and possibly iPad tablets could be set up that way.
Also, I think some versions of Linux have a 'kiosk' mode that does most or all of what you want.
Then, to prevent going outside, configure the tablets to only work with a single WiFi access point, and that access point is connected to your data server, and that server is not connected to anything else. The user would have to login via an external boot loader or debugger to get around the OS and modify the WiFi configuration.
You might want to have another application running in the background that screams bloody murder if the tablet gets out of range of the WiFi access point. Maybe something like 'beep ... beep ... Beep .. Beep .. Please return to the office ... BEEPBEEPBEEP HELP I'M BEING REMOVED FROM THE OFFICE!!!! HELP!! HELP!! HELP!! AIEEEE!!! '
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
Go take a look at the app "kid mode" for android. While not 100% security, if you make the "write here" zone small and out of the way enough, and make the patter harder than "Z", it aught to work well enough. Also you could modify ADW.Launcher or similar to only allow your app.
All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
It was a kiosk style app to run on Android tablets - I had my programmer knock it up in a day.
He built a basic wrapper for the regular Android browser.
This app hid all the on-screen controls and went full screen. There was no address bar.
It had a pre-configured URL that the browser went to, and auto-refreshed to after xx minutes of inactivity.
There was a hidden way to get to the preferences where the URL could be changed.
It also had the ability to load web pages off internal flash storage so it didn't need internet access.
We also put in an auto-update feature so it could load replacement content off a USB stick that was inserted.
Specialist Mac support for creative pros, Melbourne
I am working on a similar project. I was able to block out the rest of the tablet by setting a permission for full screen. This took over the entire screen, including the back and home buttons.
change the shell from explorer.exe to your own application -- iexplore.exe would work, so would mshta, or your hta file. I think you can also make it an hta file.
you can use .pac files to completely filter the internet by regular expression or any algorithm operating on the URL or filesystem, so you could wind up connecting to some internet sites if it becomes applicable.
you don't need a local server, an hta will work cleaner, with all of jscript to access anything on the system, including the file system, the registry, peripherals, and any browser functions you could ever want.
I did all this on wince five years ago, and on win 98 through 7.
Not if you are a germ.
THL phish sticks
John Kerry, whichever way the wind blows.
Why not use one of the cheap ass video players that sell for 80 bucks and can hold video and PDF documents and pretty much nothing else?
My kids have these Coby knockoffs that they love and have no trouble using. They play video (in way more formats than most tablets) and PDF and picturse, and that's about it, no pesky browser or wireless networking to bother with. Best of all it isn't a 500 dollar item people will want to walk off with, and even if they do walk off with it, you are out 80 bucks instead of 500.
Of course if what you are trying to do is show that you can throw thousands of dollars into the waiting room, that won't really accomplish what you are trying to do.
I have written some software called Smart Lock Enterprise that locks down Android devices to just one or a few (white list) apps. It works great on tablets and is in several production environments. You can find the consumer version at https://market.android.com/details?id=com.nightshadelabs.smartlock.pro.free and you can contact me about a business version at david [at] nightshadelabs.com
Setup something similar using Videolan VLC on both the server and the client. Then, just lock the client down to videolan and a web page to select the videos.
Stop taking money from innocent people while you kill them. If you're doing any work on behalf of the medical industry then you are a cunt.
BlackBerry Playbook comes with a demo mode wher it only plays a videoclip.
...he wants a digital photo frame with Wifi
and for security... unplug the dam server from the internet! if it's only serving local file then no bloooooody net access is required. ^_^
Simples!!!
Laters Sol "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
The battery life is impressive, but otherwise, android tablets really aren't significantly more expensive than this thing, and can certainly play any video format under the sun once you load the right player app.
How about this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005HUH88K/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1329192256&sr=8-1
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Set up your own WiFi, have it set DNS to your own DNS server, and only provide DNS for the sites you want them to visit. Quick, simple, works with any device or OS. Not much they can do afterwards...
(For additional security, block at the IP level, but not really worth the effort at that point.).
I think the 'beauty to the bone' philosophy of Gnome 3 might be exactly what you are seeking. Maximal maximizing of windows means that it will effectively resemble a kiosk.
Their they're doing there hair.
iPhone Configuration Utility (free, allows you to lock down pretty much any feature of your iDevice). I've seen at least one deployment where an iPod Touch is used for a museums guided audio tour (because those specific IR devices cost a shit-ton more than an iPod Touch).
Android has similar options (paid)
Windows devices have similar options (but you must deploy Active Directory, Windows Server (to run it), SQL Server (backend), Exchange (remote wipe and push the policy) and pay for CAL's for all those)
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1465?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Nicotine-stained tablet touch-screens are probably not something I'd want to touch, anyway.
Has anyone yet honestly thought about the excessively non-sanitary aspect of publically-accessible, touch-screen tablets?
Gross!!
Kriston
Hilarious, but no kidding.
My kids, wife and touch as little in possible in any waiting room. Only our own tablets/smartphones or other things we have brought in.
buy them cheap digital frames and load the pics and movies onto SD cards? A search will show you cheap MP3 players that may be as good. not the best answer, sorry. I like the 'Delete all other app' and 'isolate your network', and have it all just point to a web server, like airports and Twin Golden Arches.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Why is it when someone asks how to do something, everyone immediately tells him hes doing it wrong and should do something else. And then everyone says something different that he should do, 'use a windows box', 'use a dvd player', 'use paper', etc. That is not helpful at all.
1. Print the pages.
2. Put them in the waiting room.
3. Give them tablets to people who know what to do with them.
4. Resign because you're a spineless nonthinking idiot.
Really? You want to task a TABLET with all its capibilities with displaying ONE web page?
Kill yourself now and improve the race.
M
I did that recently with the Apple iPad[2]. I didn't want to have to root or buy anything extra - what I had to do is prevent access to the home & power buttons (we bought mounting cases). I created a web page that was "full screen-able" then directed Safari there, made a shortcut button to it on the home screen & then disabled (restricted) all the apps. Also disabled the "ask to join wifi when one is avail". etc. etc. Now there is no way to exit the Safari app and you can't access the URL bar so you can only visit URL's that are clickable. This was for a digital signage system. All it does is visit my slackware servers, and the media I've loaded to them.... https://sites.google.com/a/alaska.edu/digitalsigna/home/setup-instructions https://sites.google.com/a/alaska.edu/digitalsigna/ Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Pat
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
Yeah, don't lock it down. Let the patients use it for random web browsing if they aren't interested in your videos. Waiting rooms can be extremely boring and not everybody has mobile net access.
I saw a demonstration at a car show where one of the manufacturers had an app on iPads that were mounted in perspex boxes. The home key was covered and inaccessible except through a pinhole, and that was "hard enough" to get around given they had staff in the area to keep an eye on people.
On Android, write a service that is given permission to run on start up that iterates through the running activities, and brings the browser to the front if it is not the foreground app. If this is written so that it does it's processing in loop, the browser will never be able to be dismissed.
eg. // Get the foreground running tasks, 20 of them max // This will need changing to match the name of the browser // Launch browser; in effect, as apps are not closed, this will bring the browser to the front // Put an Intent here.
ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager)context.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
List taskInfo = am.getRunningTasks(20);
for(int i=0; i 0)
{
ComponentName componentInfo = taskInfo.get(i).topActivity;
if(!componentInfo.getClassName().contains("browser"))
{
}
}
}
This is a classic case of someone with a solution who is hunting to find a problem to apply it to.
So a couple of points to address.
First, all this is in reality is a waste of time and money. People will quit when they are ready, and not one minute sooner.
Second, they don't want to sit and read some fearmongering propaganda about tobacco. If they're interested in a Quit Program, they would rather take some hardcopy literature home and just look it up online.
Third, none of the smokers in the waiting room want something to remind them that they can't have a smoke right now, all it does is make them want to go light up.
You want to improve the public health, that's great. So build a smoking room, put in some high quality air scrubbers, and hang a flatscreen TV on the wall with a looped playback of your cessastion program. Making the smokers stand outside in brutal weather conditions, next to the traffic which is spewing several orders of magnitude more of the same dangerous substances, is hardly in anybody's health interests.
Tablets for this application are a bad idea -- too easy to steal. A better solution would be to have a monitor mounted to the wall with a tiny PC screwed to the back. Healthy Advice Network sells setups like this with whatever sort of messages you want.
You could take a look at my app, Kiosk Browser SE ( https://market.android.com/details?id=it.automated.android.kiosk.se&feature=search_result ). Kiosk Browser SE will allow you to lock your Android tablet to a specific web site or group of sites preventing end users from escaping to the underlying operating system. You can develop your user interface using HTML, Javascript and CSS – You can even use WebKit based CSS transformations and animations. It also has the ability to load sties from local storage so you don't need to have a network connection. It can be configured via standard Android settings screens or, for larger roll outs, via an xml file stored on the device - this allows you to configure one device in the way you want and then generate the xml file to be copied to other devices. Sorry for the self-pimpage... ScaredyCat
I'm too looking for tablet that would run just HTML5/JS web applications. Browser autostart is must and system needs to be locked so that you can't easily get to undelaying operating system (when normally using application). We currently do this with stripped down Debian that simply starts X and Chrome (fullscreen, with some plugins).
It works very well but now there is severe shortage of sub $500 x86 tablets. I'm trying to find tablet similar to ExoPC (or WeTab), but i have only found few POS 'superpads' that are very low quality (grayish plastic screen etc.). On the other side, there are many expensive indrustial type tablet, but they are too heavy and expensive.
Our application could run on ARM tablet, but rooting and hacking Debian into easily available Android devices is too hackish. When i saw information about Linux tablet called Spark, i was excited until i noticed that it's just on of those useless 'superpads' from china (meaning, there is no 3G or 10.1" screen... or anything).
OS X Lion Server’s Profile Manager is what you want. You can manage every detail of an OS X or iOS device with it: http://www.apple.com/support/lionserver/profilemanager/
What about :
Create the HTML, etc.
Mash it together with phonegap into "native" offline app for your platform.
Load the app
disable wifi (erase all password info)
Use SureFox browser (Android version) to allow only certain websites. Access to any unapproved websites are blocked by the browser. There isn't even an address bar. You have to per-configure everything before the users can use the tablet. No need to mess with the network configuration. http://www.42gears.com/surefox/ Also look at SureLock to allow only SureFox as the allowed application. Users can't access any other applications or System Settings. http://www.42gears.com/surelock/
For your situation, I recommend a tablet made of crushed wood pulp, which has been pressed into individual flat sheets. The technology is locked down and is probably a lot cheaper than your idea of tablets using ios or linux.
Another plus for the old school approach is that when Timmy the Ten-year-old accidentally hits the corner of the device with his elbow and knocks it to the floor, you dont have to account for the loss of a two hundred dollar or more device.
who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
And write the application on there. Don't use Android.
That's all the specificity needed (and indeed possible) to implement this easy solution.
Linux would be even easier than Windows, but that mostly due to the hardened nature of Linux and the ease of chrooting your system within the app, enabling an easier development and still retaining the security.
Use the iPhone Configuration Utility (it works on iPads). Turn off all other extraneous apps and restrict the rest. There's several non-Safari browser apps that you can lock in Kiosk mode, use one of those.
Put your video on DVD and hand out portable DVD players. It'll be cheaper and more secure than a tablet+server solution.
Android tablet, Droid wall, and seal. Root the Android tablet. Install and configure Droid wall to only allow the browser to work via wifi. Install and configure seal to restrict access to the browser without a password.
I use IncarcerApp to do this on my iPad. It is a Cydia App, it requires jailbreaking. What it does is you define some unlikely keypress combo (default volume up up down down or something like that). Then it can lock out the home button and/or optionally lock out all screen touches, sleep button, etc. What you would do is start the video then press the magic combo with it set to lock the screen touches, home and sleep buttons. Then unless someone can guess the combo they are stuck!
I use this with my 2 y/o daughter.
In November of 2011, I visited a large physicians' practice located on the first floor of a major hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. They had chairs with bendable arms on one wall. On each arm, an iPad was securely mounted and permanently plugged into power. I think the power cables were securely wired to the chairs, arms, and iPads. Each iPad was securely affixed to the bendable arm. With regard to the cabling, I'm pretty sure the setup was compliant with OSHA rules. The iPads were used (among other things) for patients to fill out "New Patient Forms" and "Medical History." There may have been some other disclosures for some patients to read.
Most of the users were elderly. Many of the people using the devices had never touched an iPad (and for some, I'm sure they had never touched a computer before). As this office seemed to be pretty much focused on people requiring drugs and/or surgery for severe spinal and joint conditions, more than a few of these users were in pain and/or medications and reduction of user confusion may a priority.
With more than 50 people in the rest of the waiting room and about a dozen of the iPad chairs, there always seemed to be a physician's assistant close by to insure the iPad was only being used as intended. I can understand their desire to prevent unauthorized uses of the iPad as very personal information is being entered through these devices and potential for installation of monitoring software would make some people uncomfortable.
Even without the paranoia factor, I can understand the desire keep these iPads locked down to a few icons just to reduce end-user support and related confusion.
Live Long and Prosper - Thanks Leonard. You are missed.
Auto-run an SSH session with credentials supplied and X forwarding to the machine serving the videos running a simple webpage in a webkit window. Have the script auto reload same window if closed.
Naturally limit the user privileges and limit network abuse with MAC filtering.
I'm kidding, but it could work:)
That said, how to theft-safe the device? Glue it to the wall.
Defining Statistics and Social Research
I know that it is against /. policy to provide and answer that entails spending money but the solution to your problem is here: http://www.3lm.com/product.html
To bad they will want to charge you for the product.
No sigs in BETA. Beta SUCKS.
Take an old tabletop arcade game, one with controls below on each side, glass flat in the middle that's the screen.
Replace with touch screen.
Put in old cheap mobo etc.
Load custom distro / windows base in kiosk mode - solved.
You're only out the time to find the husk of the old arcade machine they were throwing out, the cost of the touch screen, a cheap computer and labor putting it together (software too)
Tablet idea just seems...poor. When everyone has a small tablet on them and some sort of auto link function to services available near them, it might be handy for them then to have their own tablets link to that information but..yeah.
POINT 1 - You need to liase with management and be trasparent
Speaking from experience, any custom stuff done on the NHS won't be appreciated... you need to go via management or everything that goes wrong will be your fault and clients will blame you personally (as you will be the only one that knows how it works). Annoying patients / clients (when a service stops working or becomes slow) will also annoy the managers. So just make sure you spend time on the paperwork so that it can be maintained by someone else. Then any good work you do won't get lost in the system - or ignored by management.
POINT 2 - Use the tablets to record REAL life - no need to look for online videos to copy when you can make your own!
Think about how these tablets will do a better job of convining smokers to stop... use the camera's to your advantage and go about cancer wards and hospitals interviewing the people that have issues becasue of smoking. After all we hear that so many thousands of people die because of it every year.
Give them a Blackberry Playbook, they won't be able to figure out the multitasking (i.e. tapping the blackberry logo does not quit the app and there is no home button) and will be stuck in your app forever.
If it's an Android tablet, you can load it with a custom ROM for that device that has only the Browser as an application, you can strip everything else out.
wrap it in tin foil?
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
The Google Chromebook is basically just a browser . . . .
don't forget to glue the tablet to a kiosk
Instead of creating your own browser as other people have suggested, you can use an existing app: Kiosk Browser HC, and for a little price (after all you won't pay that so that shouldn't be a worry) there's an improved version: Kiosk Browser SE.
According to the version of the OS and if you can root the tablets or not, that might be all that you need, but if there's some other requirement then check SureLock Kiosk Lockdown
Healthcare IT is, "We want this. We don't want a better alternative." 9 times out of 10. Alternatives probably don't help the OP.
If it is Windows, I'd use http://www.web-screen-saver.com/ - $19.95 or less per copy and the configurations support a Kiosk mode as well as embedded media. It's worked well for me.
baby applications tend to lock out everything so if you used one as a boilerplate and built from there you could have the app auto start on startup and a little python / other watchdog script could ensure it relaunched even if it crashed..
You don't even need to hijack DNS or mess with the tablet OS - just have the access point route all the traffic to your content server instead of the real public internet. (Of course, you need Wifi-only tablets :-) You could probably serve the whole thing from a PogoPlug or equivalent, or alternatively use a small PC with a Wifi card as the server/WAP.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks