Faq
What’s this?
EveryDesk is a ready-to-use, installable image designed for 4GB USB keys. It allows to use a complete Linux desktop on a USB key, without requiring an hard disk installation or specific configuration. You just download it, copy it to an USB key, boot from there. It can be used as a substitute for a thin client (providing much more than that), a complete, secure desktop or to extend the life of an old computer. Thanks to the integration of Active Directory and the ability to have all user data on any central Windows or SMB server, it is possible to use EveryDesk in places with critical security or privacy requirements, because all user data is stored centrally in an auditable way, and temporary files are stored in RAM, so after shut down no traces remain on the key. The image is based on Ubuntu Lucid, with several modifications designed to adapt it to the use from a flash disk/USB key, like a different set of I/O scheduling parameters, ram-based temporary directories and many other little things.
Why are you releasing it?
EveryDesk is the basis for our HealthDesk product, a specific customization of a Linux desktop designed for health care environments like hospitals and medical research organizations. We believe that many organizations and companies may benefit from our work, especially considering that part of it was funded by the European Commission in several research projects; it is our way to give back to the community.
Is it something specific to health care or Public Administrations?
No, despite the fact that most of the research behind it is related to the adoption of open source software in Public Administrations. We have a long history of work in the free and open source community, being on the market for more than 15 years, and we provided specialized desktop systems for several commercial companies. Most of our results were included in EveryDesk, and we believe that this system can be useful for administrations and companies alike.
Where does the name comes from?
EveryDesk: “your desktop, everywhere you go”.
Installation procedure
You simply have to download the USB image from the SourceForge project, and uncompress it; after that, you simply have to copy it on the key. Under Linux, OSX and other unix-like systems you first have to identify the device name of the USB key, so after inserting the key execute the dmesg command from the command line, and look for the last lines. Something like:
[355975.805041] sd 16:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[355975.805050] sdb: sdb1
Your key will be device sdb (the sdb1 means that there is a single partition). So, download the image file from SourceForge, unzip it, and execute the command:
sudo dd if=<name of the EveryDesk image> of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
This will wipe the content of your USB key! So, be careful before performing the installation.
We have used “sdb” and not “sdb1″ because we are overwriting all the key, creating new partitions on the key; this approach allows for easier install, without fumbling with disk partitioning tools. This command will copy the image on the disk, including the boot sector and creating the new partitions; a possible problem may appear on USB keys that create “hidden” partitions that are not removable, like some U3 usb key. Those are not reliably working, so I suggest to simply buy a simpler, plain 4GB key.
Under windows you can use a similar process, using WinDD, or using the free WinImage tool. In this case, select in the “disk” menu the item “restore virtual hard disk image on physical drive…” and select your USB key.
The image can also be run unmodified under QEMU, for example to test or modify its configuration before installing the image on the USB key.
Default login/password
The default login is “conecta“, with password “conecta” (without the quotes). The password is the same for all administrative requests as well.
Adding other packages/languages
The Ubuntu software center is the preferred tool for browsing, searching and managing packages. You will find there also the various non-free packages, like the Flash plugin or the Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer (although the very capable and complete Evince PDF viewer is already installed). As for languages, the image defaults to English and Italian, but more languages can be added through the functionality included in the control panel (in the menu, on the right side) under “System” the “Language support” applet.
USB Key lifetime
The USB keys tend to have a limited number of write cycles before the individual cells start to misbehave; the number may range from 10000 to one order of magnitude later. This number is, however, large enough when paired with a functionality present in all modern USB keys called “wear levelling” that creates a transparent translation between the logical blocks presented to the USB interface and the internal memory map. Even with the low-cost, simplest keys, 10000 writes would imply that you can save around 20GB of data every day for ten years before encountering problems, that given the focus on server-based storage would guarantee a very long lifetime in any case. EveryDesk employs several strategies to reduce write wear, including coalescing writes together, write caching to prevent unnecessary use when a file is created and then deleted or modified, temporary directories in RAM and much more. (source for the data: Corsair)
Why is the desktop different from my Ubuntu install?
We tried to simplify and provide a consistent and uniform interface for users that may have limited or no experience with Linux. For example, the concept of “user switching” was quite difficult to explain to our testers, that found more rational to simply reboot the key; or the “notification icon” in the stock Ubuntu gnome panel that has the semblance of a mail, and gave the impression that the user has unread messages.
What is 3270? 5250?
3270 is a protocol used by IBM mainframes, while 5250 is used by IBM minicomputers, like the AS400/iSeries. They are both widely used in central public administrations and private companies.
Activating the “desktop roaming” feature
All the necessary packages are already installed, and the only change necessary is the modification of the file that is included in the user home directory with the name .pam_mount.conf.xml and edit the contents to adapt it to your specific needs. The line should be:
<volume user="<username>" fstype="cifs" server="<cifs ip server>" path="<server path of home directory>" mountpoint="~/" />
Then, copy on the server (changing the appropriate permissions) the file that is available on the project site called “conectahome.zip”, that contains all the specific customizations.
It’s boring! I want 3D effects!
The desktop does not enable 3D compiz effects by default. Given the wide variability of 3D cards and drivers, and the limited support of some vendors, it is safer and more efficient to provide a basic (but nice) 2D desktop than risking to increase the percentage of users unable to use EveryDesk from the start. 3D effects can be enable in a simple way from the control panel, under the “appearance” control.
Is it possible to ask for support or customizations?
We provide a complete support service for EveryDesk, both in the open source edition and in the specific customization created for our users. Conecta Research provides services and consulting on EveryDesk, with specialized workshops (for healthcare companies and administrations), software selection services, governance and much more. You can find more information in our healthcare and general websites about our offering.
Is there anything else to say?
The background image is by EvenFlow and PR09Studio, icons are NuoveXT, default fonts are Droid sans. The use of Droid allows for good readability even at small sizes, and works very well on small screens like netbooks or older PCs that are limited in their resolution.