20 Jun
2013
20 Jun
'13
12:37 p.m.
Hello Luvers
The following message was received by the Committee and is being
forwarded to Luv talk list as is. No endorsement of content is to be
implied.
Please respond directly to sender if interested.
Cheers
Daniel.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [luv-ctte] [general inquiry] Connect with developer
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:42:03 +1000 (EST)
From: bouwmeester.chris(a)gmail.com
Reply-To: LUV Committee private mailing list. <luv-ctte(a)luv.asn.au>
To: luv-ctte(a)luv.asn.au
Chris Bouwmeester sent a message using the contact form at
http://luv.asn.au/contact.
Hi. We have an application which at the moment runs on Adobe AIR/flash under
windows. I'd like to explore the suitability of running it under Linux
instead. The application is for preschoolers and we also need to make changes
to the operating system to lock it down and prevent them getting out of the
application, etc. Are you able to point me towards someone who can do/assist
us with that sort of thing? Thanks, Chris.
_______________________________________________
luv-ctte mailing list
luv-ctte(a)luv.asn.au
http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-ctte
20 Jun
20 Jun
4:30 p.m.
Chris Bouwmeester wrote:
Hi. We have an application which at the moment runs on
Adobe
AIR/flash under windows. I'd like to explore the suitability of
running it under Linux instead. The application is for preschoolers
and we also need to make changes to the operating system to lock it
down and prevent them getting out of the application, etc. Are you
able to point me towards someone who can do/assist us with that sort
of thing? Thanks, Chris.
The lockdown part can be achieved mostly by running the app
full-screened in X, enabling DontZap (on by default these days), and
disabling the gettys (or disabling Ctrl+Alt+Fn). Unless the app
itself offers e.g. a shell, you should be fine.
Preventing users from hijacking the boot sequence is harder -- you
have to worry about getting access to the BIOS, the bootloader, the
initrd (esp. recovery shell), plus anything you leave enabled in init.
This is not particularly onerous iff you can get a custom BIOS
compiled by your hardware vendor (if you have homogeneous hardware).
Also you will need to worry about physical security, esp. access to
jumpers and cables to disk &c off the mainboard.
If you're just worried about a preschooler dropping to a shell by
accident and rm -rf'ing the disk, you can probably forego my 2nd and
3rd paras -- it's more concerned with deliberate malice.
I won't even bother to comment on the flash part -- I'm sure plenty of
other people here will have articulate rants about that.
Though, perhaps I should have started by asking: why do you want to
switch from Windows?
10:41 p.m.
New subject: Fwd: [luv-ctte] [general inquiry] Connect with developer
On 20/06/2013, at 16:30, "Trent W. Buck" <trentbuck(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Preventing users from hijacking the boot sequence is
harder -- you
have to worry about getting access to the BIOS, the bootloader, the
initrd (esp. recovery shell), plus anything you leave enabled in init.
I'm imagining a modern spin off series of Rug Rats. Tommie, now an adult himself,
ignored daytime tv advice and let the toddlers play with iPads too often. With their new
found computer skills and easy access to Ruxcon lectures they trivially crack the boot
loaders on their locked down preschool computers.
Each episode would be a wacky new adventure where the kids try to complete activities on
the ABC 4 Kids website while the adults try to catch them plugging in USB drives that
circumvent the restricted X desktop and included educational software.
3565
days inactive
3565
days old
2 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
Daniel Jitnah -
Edward Savage -
Trent W. Buck