Installing Firefox Add-ons

'User made' tutorials related to Porteus Kiosk edition.
Official kiosk documentation can be find here: http://porteus-kiosk.org/documentation.html
Forum rules
Porteus Kiosk section of the forum is unmaintained now. Its kept in a 'read only' mode for archival purposes.
Please use the kiosk contact page for directing your queries: https://porteus-kiosk.org/contact.html
fkento
Ronin
Ronin
Posts: 1
Joined: 25 Aug 2016, 19:31
Distribution: 4.0
Location: USA

Installing Firefox Add-ons

Post#1 by fkento » 06 Sep 2016, 19:38

There seems to be a lot of confusion on the forum about how to install Firefox add-ons. You cannot simply save the xpi file in the firefox extensions folder. There's a lot more to it. After a lot of trial and error I believe I figured it out and it's not that hard. So I'm posting this here to help others and possibly myself in the future. Most of the information comes from viewtopic.php?f=102&t=1741 but I'm hoping this is more straightforward.

First of all, you need a technician PC running some form of Linux. I used Ubuntu 16.04 LTS but you can use whatever you're comfortable with. I put the Porteus-Kiosk.ISO file in my home directory and extracted it to ~/iso. These instructions assume you are doing the same.

Step 1: Extract the ISO file to the ~/iso directory

Code: Select all

mkdir ~/iso
sudo mount -o loop ~/Porteus-Kiosk.iso /mnt/cdrom
cp -a /mnt/cdrom/* ~/iso/
sudo umount /mnt/cdrom
Step 2: unsquash the 003-settings.xzm file to squashfs-root

Code: Select all

cd ~/iso/xzm
rm -rf squashfs-root
unsquashfs 003-settings.xzm
Step 3: Launch Firefox using the Kiosk profile

Code: Select all

firefox --profile ~/iso/xzm/squashfs-root/home/guest/.mozilla/firefox/c3pp43bg.default
I would strongly recommend using the exact same version of Firefox on your technician PC that is embedded in the ISO. Currently that is 45.1.1-esr but that could change with the next version of Porteus Kiosk Browser.

Step 4: Install add-ons

The Add-ons Manager does not work in this profile so you have to install add-ons by dragging and dropping the xpi file onto the Firefox window. It's helpful if you have Chrome or another browser installed so you can use Chrome to go addons.mozilla.org, download the xpi file for the add-on, and then drag and drop the xpi file into Firefox. Once you have all the add-ons installed, close Firefox.

Step 5: re-squash the 003-settings.xzm file

Code: Select all

cd ~/iso/xzm
mksquashfs squashfs-root 003-settings.xzm -comp xz -b 256K -noappend
rm -rf squashfs-root/
Make sure you specify "-comp xz" to force using xz compression. Some of the other articles I found do not mention this. Also the option "-Xbcj x86" seems to cause problems for many people so I omitted it.

Step 6: Re-build the ISO file

Code: Select all

cd ~/iso
./make_iso.sh
This will create a new ISO file in your home directory. If you have VirtualBox installed you can use it to boot the ISO into a virutal machine and test it all out. If you need to make changes, go back to step 2. If everything works, proceed to the next step.

Step 7: Preparing the ISO for booting from hard drive or USB drive.

Code: Select all

cd ~
isohybrid -type 0x83 -offset 1 -h 255 -s 63 Porteus-Kiosk.iso
Technically you don't need all those options, but if you don't you might run into problems because without them isohybrid creates a partition table that is invalid according to certain tools (like parted). I was using CloneZilla create an image of the finalized Kiosk but it was complaining about an recursive partition table until I added those options.

Step 8: Copy the ISO file to bootable media

Code: Select all

dd if=~/Porteus-Kiosk.iso of=/dev/sdx
Replace sdx with the actual device name for your USB or hard drive (sdb, sdc, etc...)

markstutzman
Ronin
Ronin
Posts: 2
Joined: 24 Jul 2017, 20:18
Distribution: 3.7.0

Installing Firefox Add-ons

Post#2 by markstutzman » 25 Jul 2017, 14:55

Can anyone tell me which version of Firefox is included with Porteus Kiosk v 3.7.0?
I'm planning on using this tutorial to add an on-screen keyboard to Porteus Kiosk, to turn some older 32-bit touch-screen all-in-one PCs into PACs for my library, which will be mounted to the end panels of the stacks, so physical keyboard is not possible.

User avatar
fanthom
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5666
Joined: 28 Dec 2010, 02:42
Distribution: Porteus Kiosk
Location: Poland
Contact:

Installing Firefox Add-ons

Post#3 by fanthom » 25 Jul 2017, 15:02

Hello markstutzman,

Answer is here:
http://porteus-kiosk.org/faq.html#1

Thanks
Please add [Solved] to your thread title if the solution was found.

markstutzman
Ronin
Ronin
Posts: 2
Joined: 24 Jul 2017, 20:18
Distribution: 3.7.0

Installing Firefox Add-ons

Post#4 by markstutzman » 25 Jul 2017, 18:15

Better question: How did I miss that?
Thanks, and sorry to waste your time!

Also note: 'about:' does *not* work if one has enabled URL whitelisting during the Porteus Kiosk configuration step. I had to reconfigure with whitelisting disabled in order get results.

Locked