Hello Bjarke,
Purpose:
Cloud variant of Porteus Kiosk will focus on offering an easy access to Google services: Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs. Its designed mainly for educational environments - but with few tweaks could be used anywhere else. ChromeOS works only with specific hardware (Chromebooks, Chromeboxes) while Porteus Kiosk should cover all Intel compatible hardware.
Differences with default Kiosk:
- private mode is forcibly disabled so users can sign into Google account and sync their data from the network
- its not possible to change browser UI (disable/hide navigation bar, disable address bar) as these are not needed
- all other kiosk parameters are available as normal:
http://porteus-kiosk.org/parameters.html so its possible to lock the browser/system as you like
- new parameters designed just with Cloud variant in mind: set default search engine, enable password manager, full persistence, session idle replaces browser idle
- bottom panel is present by default with access to launchers, task manager, volume control, battery applet, clock/calendar, exit session button
- windows can be minimized/maximized and moved on the screen
I may add more features to Cloud (depends on user requests):
- write access for removable devices
- unlock downloads
- allow users to place files on Desktop
- integrate Google Talk plugin
- other ...
The idea is to have the Cloud variant less restrictive than kiosk (Cloud rather wont be exposed publicly, although this is still possible as persistence is optional).
I'm hoping to upload beta ISO sometime next week for early testers.
Thank you.