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Loftus describes the process for creating a Linux-based GCompris children's game machine that is suitable for offline use in a public or school library setting. This machine may be built using micro PC kits that are very reasonably priced; with a bit of careful shopping, it may be built at a component cost of less than $700. He targeted those who have some prior experience using the Linux terminal or Windows command line, as well as assembling or swapping out components on desktop PCs and laptops.
This machine may be built using micro PC kits that are very reasonably priced; with a bit of careful shopping, it may be built at a component cost of less than $700.
This article will describe the process for creating a Linux-based GCompris children's game machine that is suitable for offline use in a public or school library setting. This machine may be built using micro PC kits that are very reasonably priced; with a bit of careful shopping, it may be built at a component cost of less than $700. This article is targeted at those who have some prior experience using the Linux terminal or Windows command line, as well as assembling or swapping out components on desktop PCs and laptops. Extensive information about all of the games available in the GCompris package is available at gcompris.net/screenshots-en.html.1
Hardware
Although this unit may be built with a Raspberry Pi, a more robust micro PC platform is strongly recommended. Recommended platforms include Gigabyte BRIX micro PCs or ASRock Industrial micro PCs. While it is not necessary to spend extra money on a very high-spec gaming PC, the builder should purchase a unit that has at least a quad-core processor and capacity for 8GB of RAM. These micro PCs are often sold as bare-bones kits that have no RAM, hard drive, or OS installed. For this particular purpose, it is recommended that the builder purchase a bare-bones kit and install those components yourself, rather than pay for a complete machine with a Windows installation that you'll be overwriting.
There are a variety of instructional videos on YouTube that will show a new builder how to install RAM and a hard drive into a micro PC chassis. It is recommended that you do a search for how to install those components for the unit you plan to buy before you place a purchase order for that item. I recommend Gigabyte BRIX and ASRock Industrial micro PCs because there are a large number of instructional videos on YouTube for models from those two manufacturers. Many of these units can use either an M2 hard drive chip or a SATA hard drive. SATA hard drives are generally regarded as having a longer lifespan than the M2 chips. The higher data speeds that the M2 chips provide are not critical for this particular application.
When purchasing RAM for these devices, you need to make sure to get SO-DIMM format chips (the same size chips that are used in laptops) and verify that the RAM specs for the unit you buy match the specs for the RAM chips you buy. For example, you may buy a micro PC that states it is PC4-19200 RAM-compatible, and then it may mention it uses 260-pin SO-DIMMs. You need to make sure to purchase 260-pin PC4-19200 RAM chips, or you'll get a RAM chip that doesn't fit into the slot on your PC at allor it may fit but then you get an error at boot that prevents the machine from loading the OS. SATA hard drives on these units fit into a small caddy that's usually connected to the lid of the case. You can connect using two cables that are also connected to the motherboard. A 128GB hard drive and 8GB of RAM are sufficient for this installation.
These systems work well with touchscreen monitors that are 20" to 24" in size. In my own experience, the ASUS VT229 monitor works very well. Going with a much smaller monitor diminishes the visual impact and play value of the machine, while touchscreen monitors of more than 24" tend to increase in price at a geometric rate. When you're designing a children's game machine, you have to account for the possibility of breakage. Also, because the child has to sit so close to the touchscreen to interact with it, monitors bigger than 24" may be overwhelming for younger children.
Software
After you've found your instructional videos, purchased a monitor and components, and installed your RAM and hard drive, the next step is to download the Linux Mint OS. You may do this by going to linuxmint.com, then clicking on Download at the top of the screen, scrolling down to where you see the header for Mate Edition, and then clicking Download in that header.2 This takes you to a page of download mirrors; select a download site from the same country that you're in. Once you've downloaded the ISO file for the Linux Mint OS, go to the Linux Mint Installation Guide at linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs .io/en/latest.
Installation
Looking at the guide, "Create the bootable media" will tell you how to create your USB device installer. Once you've created your installer, then connect your monitor, keyboard, and mouse to your micro PC and plug in the USB installer. You will need to access your BIOS settings. On Gigabyte machines, you do this by hitting the F2 key while the machine POSTs. For ASRock Industrial PCs, you hit the F11 key. Once you are in the BIOS settings, you need to look for the boot device order and set the thumb drive that your ISO file is on as your first boot device. If you use some other brand of micro PC, you should do a quick web search for how to load the BIOS screen at boot for your device.
Go to the Install Linux Mint section of the instructions, and you can follow along with the installer steps by scrolling down through the subsequent pages. Here is a list of several recommendations to keep in mind while going through the installation process.
1. At the screen that asks you to connect to Wi-Fi, it is recommended that you use your public Wi-Fi network and not a staff-side network.
2. Click the box to install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware. Failure to do so may result in your unit not working correctly.
3. Ideally, you should use a brand-new blank hard drive when you assemble your unit. Click the option to erase the disk and install Linux Mint. Use the default options provided by the installer regarding your hard drive partitions.
4. Be sure to select the correct time zone for your installation or you may experience Wi-Fi connectivity issues later on.
5. Be sure to select the American English keyboard layout.
6. The password you enter during installation is the root password for the machine. Remember that this is a public machine, and if you use "password" or "1234" as your machine password, you will be hacked. Follow the guidance from the installer, and create a password that the installer rates as good. Do not use any password that is rated as fair or weak. Record your root password somewhere that the systems librarian or computer tech will have access to it. Do not allow staff to write the root password on a sticky note and leave it stuck to the side of the monitor. For this tutorial, we're using the username "gameadmin." If you use a different username, then you'll need to make an adjustment to a line of script that appears later in this tutorial.
Setup
After Linux Mint installs and the machine reboots, uncheck the box on the welcome screen to show the welcome message at startup. The next step is to open the Linux Mint terminal by clicking the terminal icon in your task bar. That is the icon that looks like a black box with the $_ symbol on it.
Once the terminal is open, enter the following list of commands, and hit enter after each command:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install gcompris-qt
Next, enter your password as prompted. Once these three commands have been run, you will have updated your Linux Mint machine and installed the GCompris software package. Now, click on the linux mint "lm" icon at the bottom left of the screen, and in the menu search box, type "screensaver." Uncheck the box that says "Lock screen when screen-saver is active."
The next step is to enable the guest account. The guest account in Linux functions similar to a Windows machine that has had the Deep Freeze software installed on it. The guest user is not permitted to make any permanent changes to the machine, and any files that are created or saved are deleted once the guest user logs off of the machine.
This function is enabled by clicking on the Linux Mint icon in the bottom left of the screen, entering "login window" into the search box, entering the system password, going to the Users tab and clicking on the slider to allow guest sessions, then rebooting the machine.
After rebooting the machine, you'll now set GCompris to launch at startup. Go to the Linux Mint start button, then go to Games in the All Applications window, rightclick on GCompris, and select "launch when I log in." Next, open up the terminal and enter the command gcompris-qt –disable-quit to hide the quit button in the gcompris software. You can end the game using Ctrl Q, but hiding the quit button will reduce the number of times you have to restart the software because someone hit "quit" at the end of their session and left the machine sitting on the Linux Mint desktop.
Creating a symbolic link is a programming trick in several Linux versions that makes it so the changes you apply to a named account are also applied to the guest account. This will allow you to log in to your guest account, make any tweaks or minor adjustments that you'd like, and then have those changes apply whenever someone uses the machine as a guest. To create the symbolic link, open the Linux Mint Terminal and enter the following two commands:
sudo mkdir /etc/guest-session
sudo In -s /home/gameadmin /etc/guest-session/skel
You will be asked for your password after entering each command. Next, reboot the machine, and you should find that the settings you've applied to the gameadmin account are now applied to the guest session account.3
The final step is to use rfkill to prevent patrons from accessing the internet on this machine. This is for libraries that prefer to use only machines that are whitelisted or that do not have internet access in their children's area. For this step, log in to the gameadmin account, and open the Linux terminal. Then, input the command rfkill block all, and hit enter. The system will ask for your gameadmin password. In the future, when you want to run updates on this machine, you'll need to remember to open the terminal and enter the command rfkill unblock all to re-enable networking on this machine, then re-enter the kill command to disable Wi-Fi before you turn the machine back over for public use.
Endnotes
1. The GCompris-qt software suite is a GNU package and is released under the GNU Affero General Public License. More information is available at gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html.
2. Linux Mint also comes in versions with the Cinnamon and Xfce desktops. The instructions provided in this article were only tested on machines using the MATE desktop.
3. If your admin username is something other than gameadmin, you will need to edit your commands accordingly; for example, if you used gcomprissettings as an admin name, then your second line would be sudo ln s home/gcomprissettings /etc/guest-session/skel.
Copyright Information Today, Inc. Nov 2024