In this section, we will document how to use the KDE Kiosk Tool in a ThinLinc environment, and especially in close cooperation with the ThinLinc Desktop Customizer.
The KDE Kiosk Tool is at the time of writing this manual part of KDE Extra Gears. When writing this manual, we've worked with Kiosk Tool version 0.9, on both SUSE Linux 9.1 and on Fedora Core 2.
Being part of the Extra Gears, the Kiosk Tool is not shipped as part of any KDE distribution at this time. This means the Kiosk Tool needs to be downloaded and installed separately.
The Kiosk Tool developers provide packages for SUSE Linux 9.1, which can probably also be used in for example SLES 9. See The Kiosk Tool web page for a link to the SUSE RPM packages.
Cendio provides a pre-built RPM package of Kiosk Tool version 0.9 for Fedora Core 2, as unsupported software. This RPM is available at http://www.cendio.com/files/thinlinc/unsupported/.
Login via ThinLinc as root or some other administrative user and start the KDE Kiosk Tool. Logging in as root makes it easier to copy the configuration files to their final locations after changing profile parameters.
It is a good idea to make sure the user that is used to run the Kiosk Tool always gets its session on the same server. Use the mechanism described in Section 14.3.10, “ Forcing sessions for some users to certain agent hosts ” to accomplish this.
If needed, create a new profile and name it appropriately. Click the profile name and then the "Next" button to enter the profile-specific configuration screen. Don't use the "default" profile.
Now change whatever parameters seems appropriate, but don't define any Desktop Icons under "Desktop Icons", nor any menu entries under "KDE Menu". Instead, use the ThinLinc Desktop Customizer as described lated in Section 17.3, “ Using the ThinLinc Desktop Customizer ”.
Assign the profiles to relevant users, for example by connecting the profile to a group, using Kiosk Tool.
When done editing settings, exit the KDE Kiosk Tool.
Make sure the files edited by the KDE Kiosk Tool are copied to all agent hosts, or the desktop will look different depending on which agent host a user's session resides on. On Fedora Core, the files are created in /etc/kde-profile/. Depending on your distribution, the location may differ.
Use tl-rsync-all command as described in Chapter 13, Commands on the ThinLinc Server to copy the files.
When designing Desktops for use in ThinLinc, some settings are recommended.
Use a plain colour as background for the desktop
Using a picture or a gradient background will decrease decrease performance when running ThinLinc over slow to medium-slow links.
Use a simple screen saver
When using a screen saver, use one that doesn't eat a lot of CPU resources or bandwidth. A "blank screen" screensaver is the recommended solution.
If a screensaver which draws complicated patterns is used, a lot of bandwidth will be used for displaying something that is basically not interesting. Also, the other users of the linux terminal server will suffer, since the CPU and memory used by a resource-intensive screensaver could instead be used to run other users programs faster.