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Progeny Debian
Founded in March 2000, Progeny Linux Systems develops Linux-based software and services for networking computing environments. Progeny Componentized Linux was a new kind of Linux "distribution", built bottom-up as a set of interchangeable parts that closely track their counterpart "upstream" open-source projects, rather than top-down as a monolithic, difficult-to-change whole. By being constructed in this fashion, the componentized Linux was easier to customise and modify than traditional Linux distributions.
Status: Discontinued
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 Latest News and Updates |
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| 2014-06-27 |
NEW • Distribution Release: Webconverger 25.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 25.0, the latest version of the specialist distribution for web kiosks, based on stable Debian GNU/Linux 7.0: "Webconverger 25 release. Highlights of this 25.0 signed and tagged release, making Webconverger an even better web kiosk: new super simple whitelist= filtering option; new numlock API, to assist deployments in banks and such for numpad data entry; incorporated Firefox 29/30-based Australis user interface refresh, being very careful to minimise its impact on our conservative user base; downsized 397 MB to 375 MB, losing around 22 MB; NVIDIA video card support restored with the Nouveau driver; various SSL and flash security updates." Read the full release announcement which includes a link to a raw changelog on GitHub. Download the live CD image from here: webc-25.0.iso (375MB, MD5). |
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| About Webconverger
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| Webconverger is a live, Debian-based web kiosk. It is designed for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafés where only web applications are used. Webconverger maintains a proprietary fault tolerant configuration service with email support to help deploy Webconverger en masse. The service is optional.
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| Recent Related News and Releases |
| 2016-05-19 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 35.1 |
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The Webconverger project has released a new version of its Debian-based web kiosk distribution. The new release, Webconverger 35.1, features better hardware support (courtesy of the Linux 4.5 kernel), Firefox 46 and various security updates. This release also introduces a commercial aspect: "From yesterday, configuring a device requires payment authorization. The new Stripe based billing system should make it painless for new subscribers who have just one or two machines to purchase a subscription. If you do encounter a problem, please email support. The trial is 30 days and the initial price is $9.99USD a month. Our pricing is flexible and for large deployments and for the likes of non-profits and charities, we ask you please to get in contact with sales@webconverger.com. We are hoping this new revenue stream will give us the resources to tackle our issue list, improve the Raspberry PI & Android versions and grow." The Webconverger software is still free to download and try. Further details can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (SHA1): webc-35.1.iso (450MB, pkglist). |
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| 2016-02-20 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 34.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 34.0, the latest stable release of the specialist Linux distribution designed for web kiosks and featuring the latest Firefox web browser: "Webconverger 34 release. With the arrival of free SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt, together with a kind offer from Fastly CDN to help distribute Webconverger since we are an open-source project, we are now serving our ISO images over SSL. Serving over SSL greatly reduces the chance of some malicious actor intercepting your connection to our server and giving you a corrupt version of our ISO image. That has never happened to our knowledge, though why not make it even less likely going into the future? Updates include: Firefox 44; ongoing security updates including the recent CVE-2015-7547 which we patched quickly thanks to the fantastic work of the Debian security team; added Cambodian (Khmer) fonts via Google's fonts-noto package." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details and some hints concerning the project's future plans. Download from here: webc-34.0.iso (411MB, SHA1, pkglist). |
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| 2015-09-25 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 32.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 32.0, the latest stable release of the specialist Linux distribution for web kiosks - now with Firefox 41.0 and improved web browser privacy features: "Webconverger 32 release. Prompted by the disturbing privacy defaults in Windows 10 and an enquiry whether Webconverger leaked any intranet information, we reviewed Firefox defaults. This review was accomplished with Wireshark, a tool that allows us to analyse every packet leaving and entering a Webconverger instance. We did notice a lot of network noise chatter caused by safe browsing, location services and a media codec download. We reduced this chatter by turning off these automatic Firefox services. Finally, an upgrade process on an install was packet sniffed. Strictly speaking, these Firefox defaults don't leak any private information and elements like safe browsing should give an extra layer of malware protection, but in practice the network noise generated by these services are too risky for security." Continue to the release announcement for full details. Download: webc-32.0.iso (407MB, SHA1, pkglist). |
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| 2015-07-30 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 31.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 31.0, the latest update of the project's specialist Linux distribution for web kiosks: "Webconverger 31 release. Two months ago was our momentous Jessie-based Webconverger 30 release and since then we've: fixed an issue with printing; pushed Firefox 39; further locked down some new Mozilla anti-features like social services, pocket and hello URLs; received a fantastic endorsement from the (Internet) famous security pundit SwiftOnSecurity. What next? We could really do with your feedback, help and support on a couple of goals for the next release: making wireless setups easier; improve boot times; perhaps work on efficient sharing a single machine with multiseat if there is a demand for it. Managed to integrate the EETI eGalaxTouch driver for some models of resistive touchscreens. It works well as your can see by this touch screen demo video and it's typically deployed in point of sales in retail. Unfortunately the driver is in a private branch since the end user of license is very limited and a good case study of how not to write a license." Here is the full release announcement. Download: webc-31.0.iso (409MB, SHA1, pkglist). |
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| 2015-05-25 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 30.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the availability of Webconverger 30.0, a major new update of the specialist Linux distribution made for web kiosks. This is the project's first release that is based on Debian GNU/Linux 8.0. From the release announcement: "Webconverger 30 release. As announced on Twitter earlier this month, we achieved a significant technical accomplishment for Debian-based derivatives doing the dreaded dist-upgrade. A seamless upgrade. No config changes. No hoop jumping. No sweat. If you are running the install version that upgrades itself, you will now be based on Debian 'Jessie'. The new major release of the underlying open Debian platform for Firefox that will be the basis for Webconverger for the next 3 years. So we skipped version 29 and 30 marks the fact that we are on Debian 'Jessie' 8.0. Hopefully the only difference you will notice is that this new release should run a bit better on newer hardware. There is an unfortunate caveat that if you are using an i486 kernel-based Webconverger, your upgrade will not go smoothly. We noticed that most people using the i486 kernel were doing so mistakenly and we've asked the very few people that are affected to please simply re-install with any version since 25." Download the live CD image from here: webc-30.0.iso (407MB, SHA1, pkglist). |
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| 2015-04-23 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 28.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 28.0, the latest update of the specialist Linux distribution designed for web kiosks, based on Debian 7: "28.0's most exciting new feature is opted in with the instantupdate API option which allows you to change the homepage remotely for one or many of your devices in an instant. No reboot required. The technology behind this is Websockets and the service runs upon wss.webconverger.com. The detailed changelog between 27.1 and 28.0 otherwise shows a raft of security updates and minor bug fixes. If you are Live user, you really must update for the Flash fixes alone. For install users, you should have nothing to worry about. Do double check the version on about: in case something is amiss. It's never a bad idea to re-install (it only takes a couple of minutes)! Coming soon: a major update where we will upgrade from Debian 'Wheezy' to 'Jessie' smoothly. Work in our testing branch is well underway and we hope to release the next version of 'stable soon after Debian makes the switch." Here is the full release announcement. Download: webc-28.0.iso (409MB, SHA256). |
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| 2014-12-22 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 27.1 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 27.1, the latest update of the single-purpose, Debian-based Linux distribution designed for web kiosks - now with updated Linux kernel, version 3.16.7: "Webconverger 27 release. Webconverger wishes you a happy new year and gives the gift of a better web experience. Highlights of Webconverger 27.1: better Intel support, we do recommend NUC hardware and this update will give more flexibility with external displays; rebranded to our new logo and do check out our refreshed website; includes Firefox 34 with accompanying security fixes; new 3.16 kernel for better hardware support; new tabswitch= API, a convenient function to switch between tabs when used for digital signage; important Flash security updates, so important that Mozilla blocked versions below 11.2.202.425; Gujarati font support." See the complete release announcement for more information and screenshots. Download the live CD image from here: webc-27.1.iso (406MB, SHA256, pkglist). |
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| 2014-09-18 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 26.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 26.0, a new update of the specialist distribution designed for web-only computers - now with Firefox 32.0: "Webconverger 26 release. Highlights of this 26.0 signed and tagged snapshot: revised boot menu, helping you get started with Neon, our web signage product; Firefox 32.0; basic proxy authentication - a customer wanted this to fit into their complex Windows deployment, so now you have it too; tab right click menu removed to make user interface simpler; bug fixes to the print button and the job scheduler API (cron=); the usual stable security updates and Adobe Flash, with an additional font to make Flash video text render correctly. Please ask your web developers to switch to HTML video. If you host your video on YouTube, you can make embeds use HTML5 with a html5=1 argument." Read the rest of the release announcement to learn about a known issue and the project's upcoming plans. Download link: webc-26.0.iso (385MB, SHA256). |
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| 2014-03-20 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 24.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 24.0, a new stable version of the Debian-based distribution designed primarily for web kiosks with Firefox as the only user application: "It has been 3 months since the Webconverger 23 release which has been a fine stable release. Now it's time to upgrade for Live users for security reasons and a couple of new features mainly driven by Firefox. Detailed changes between 23.0 and 24.0: Firefox 28; MP4 video playing support, so you can use an MP4 video now to attract patrons to your service when idle; Flash security updates, though do try HTML video instead, so we can deprecate Flash; Linux kernel 3.12, a longterm stable kernel; New filter= API which complements our new (yet to be launched) filter.webconverger.com service for fine grained blacklisting (think OpenDNS, but cheaper). For install users of 23.0, the upgrade delta is about 178M, when automatically upgrading...." Read the full release announcement. Download from mirrors: webc-24.0.iso (397MB, SHA1). |
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| 2013-12-17 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 23.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 23.0, an updated stable version of the Debian-based distribution with Firefox as the only application and designed primarily for web kiosks: "This 23.0 release is probably our last snapshot for 2013, one that should help turn your PCs into web kiosks or web digital signs. What's new? Linux 3.10 kernel for increased hardware compatibility; Firefox 26 and Flash updates; a change to make installed version upgrades and downgrades more bandwidth efficient; when using a non-English locale, accept language headers are properly set so for some web applications, pages will be automatically in your language. Some of these changes were previously announced on the mailing list, so thanks to all who helped test this release. Please download the latest release and we would love to hear from you." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: webc-23.0.iso (363MB, MD5). |
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| 2013-11-15 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 22.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 22.0, the latest stable version of the project's Debian-based distribution for Internet kiosks: "Webconverger 22 release. For those wise people who are using the automatically upgrading install version, you should have received all the benefits below. So this new release will help keep bandwidth low for new install users, since they don't need to download upgrades up to this release from the previous 21.0 release. And as for the non-upgrading static live users, please upgrade to keep users abreast with the latest web technologies and security updates. What's new: grabdrag API for better touch screen support; Emoji fonts; Firefox 25 and Flash security updates. Please download the latest release and we would love to hear from you!" Here is the brief release announcement. Download link: webc-22.0.iso (352MB, MD5). |
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| 2013-07-16 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 21.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 21.0, an updated version of the project's Debian-based distribution for Internet-only kiosks and similar deployments: "Webconverger 21 release. Firefox 22 and Flash security updates; fixed an issue whereby the installer would not show up on a small subset of machines; upgraded to syslinux 6 which should make the boot experience slightly smoother; re-introduced support for allowing pop-ups via the prefs= API; prefs= API has been beefed up so you can practically script Firefox to do whatever you want using autoconfig files; removed the proprietary Google Talk plugin in favour of WebRTC; TTF Liberation fonts are back to improve compatibility with Windows renderings. In other news we are working on a Webconverger Raspberry PI port, finally. With the caveat that it will only be used in web signage use cases (Neon) and not as a kiosk browsing machine. We were recently interviewed about Neon if you want to learn more." Here is the brief release announcement with a screenshots. Download: webc-21.0.iso (346MB). |
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| 2013-06-18 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 20.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 20.0, a new version of the Debian-based distribution designed solely for Internet browsing and for using web-based applications (e.g. Google Docs): "Please download Webconverger 20, our stable update release, featuring: Firefox 21 updates and Flash security updates; a dist-upgrade, based on Progress Linux 2.0; an a bit of a diet, 441 MB to 357 MB, saving about 60 MB by removing files you won't need; wide scrollbars options for touch screen deployments; tweaks to force viewing PDFs inline; customer configurations are now fetched over SSL. If you are using the recommended Install version of Webconverger, you should seamlessly upgrade incrementally day by day as Webconverger is updated. In other words, an installed Webconverger is maintenance free." Read the full release announcement for further information and screenshots. Download: webc-20.0.iso (355MB). |
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| 2013-04-11 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 19.1 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 19.1, a single-purpose Debian-based distribution designed for Internet-only web kiosks and featuring the Firefox web browser: "Webconverger 19.1 release. Webconverger 19 brings you in terms of effort put in: printing support completely overhauled with a new printer API; restored NVIDIA WebGL acceleration using driver version 313.30; new support API which allows customers to send us their complete (non-browsing) logs for study to; raft of package upgrades; new prefs API, to override Firefox preferences, typically used for omitting print headers; Firefox 20 updates and Flash security updates; tweaks to our Firefox kiosk extension (version 45); printing properly provisioned. Thanks to a government client, who needs to print off Ricoh printers, we have greatly improved our printing offering." See the full release announcement for further details. Download: webc-19.1.iso (441MB). |
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| 2013-03-12 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 18.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 18.0, a single-purpose Debian-based distribution designed for Internet-only web kiosks: "Webconverger 18.0 release. Webconverger is git signed and tagged '18.0' with the following new features: provisioned the proprietary Google talk plugin, which will make us more applicable in Internet cafes; with a Google account you can make voice and video calls; new fonts, you shouldn't see a missing Unicode glyph for your language, thanks to the newly integrated Droid font coverage; Arabic and Russian i18n support via the default key bind, through the boot Languages menu; Firefox 19; iptables= API described in filtering; showprintbutton API described in printing; 3.8.2 Linux kernel with better hardware support." Here is the brief release announcement with a screenshot. Download link: webc-18.0.iso (372MB). |
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| 2013-02-07 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 17.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 17.0, a specialist distribution designed for web kiosks - now based on Debian's "testing" branch: "Webconverger 17.0 is exciting for two reasons: new installer allowing you the choice to install to a USB stick and whole base is upgraded from 'Squeeze' to 'Wheezy'. The 'install' term can be misinterpreted as a straight copy of image. Install in Webconverger parlance means you are creating a read/write store. When you follow the USB guide you are: downloading the ISO; 'dd-ing', that is plonking the image upon the USB stick, without partitioning the USB stick (this is tricky); the new installer allows you to partition (tricky bit solved) the USB stick and use it as a read/write store." Read the full release announcement for more information and to see a photo of the installation screen. Download from here: webc-17.0.iso (372MB). |
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| 2012-12-11 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 16.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 16.0, a Debian-based live Linux distribution designed solely for accessing web applications: "Webconverger 16.0 showcases the proven DOOH Neon Web signage OS, under the new chrome=neon switch to Webconverger users. The only difference now really between the Neon and Webconverger products, is the extra monitoring offered in Neon, which would not be appropriate in Webconverger for privacy reasons. What's new: new chrome=neon and black background Neon theme; New homepage= expansions for WEBCID, WEBCVERSION and finally USBID for simple physical authentication in POS use cases; new noescape option for further locking down of install boot; update Firefox 17.0.1 and Flash update; bug fixes for https_proxy, xinput and disabling add-ons. Those using the install version, your will enjoy safely and silently upgrading to these new features and fixes." See the full release notes for additional details and links to relevant resources. Download: webc-16.0.iso (311MB). |
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| 2012-11-06 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 15.1 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 15.1, a minor update of the project's specialist Debian-based distribution for web kiosks featuring the latest Firefox web browser: "Webconverger 15.1. Our new automatic upgrade feature released in version 15 works well. Git-FS has helped us develop, debug and test better, and deliver to you an experience that improves every day. Just like the web does. Install users don't have to do anything to get these new features. Live users should download 15.1 and ideally switch to the install version by installing it to your hard drive. What's new: new hosts= feature for simple Internet blacklist and whitelist filtering; font hinting for smoother page rendering; faster browser boot times; feature and security updates to Firefox to 16.0.2; security update to Adobe Flash player 11.2.202.243; various updates to the underlying Progress Linux system" Read the complete release notes for further information. Download: webc-15.1.iso (308MB).
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| 2012-10-09 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 15 |
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Kai Hendry has released Webconverger 15, a specialist Debian-based distribution for web kiosks featuring the latest Firefox web browser: "Webconverger 15 realises a design goal to seamlessly upgrade. A feature that no other Linux distribution has. Currently upgrades only works on the writable install version, not the live / read-only version that you will try at first. You might be wondering what 486: and 686-pae: mean. You should be safe with the default 686-pae: live kernel choice, though if it doesn't work on ancient hardware, that is what the 486 kernel is for. In the future we will endeavour to reduce these options and make the kernel choice automatic. What else has changed? Firefox 15.0.1; xinput= touch screen calibration API; log= debug API; restored i486 support for old PC hardware; chrome=debug for browser debugging and testing; fix PDF support which was accidentally broken in 14.1; restore printing support with CUPS." Read the rest of the release notes for more details. Download: webc-15.0.iso (310MB). |
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| 2012-08-15 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 14 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 14, a Debian-based speciality distribution designed for web kiosks: "We have been hard at work and 14.0 marks several major enhancements: new i686 kernel, which should show better performance on multi-core hardware; NVIDIA 302.17 support via Bumblebee and VirtualGL for easing deployment; Mozilla Firefox 14.0.1, using the official distribution; 'noclean' API option for deployments where the default clean slate is not desirable (e.g. Granny's bungalow); 'swarp' API for mouse positioning; critical Flash update 11.2.202.238; better XRandR screen handling; time synchronization doesn't alter the BIOS clock; logging tweaks to increase signal over noise; better lock down." Read the full release announcement which includes related links and credits. Download: webc-14.0.iso (459MB, MD5).
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| 2012-05-25 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 13.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 13.0, a specialist Debian-based distribution for Internet kiosks and other web-only deployment scenarios: "Webconverger 13 excitingly includes WebGL 3D accelerated support for NVIDIA hardware and security enhancements, as well as: search engine changed to DuckDuckGo from Google after signing a revenue share deal on sponsored links like Linux Mint; new boot API to override DNS; new API to support scheduled shutdowns; updated Firefox to 10.0.4; updated Flash to 11.2.202.235; updated dwm to 6.0. All users should upgrade to this release, especially those with NVIDIA hardware." Read the remainder of the release notes and visit the project's redesigned website for further information and a detailed changelog. Download link: webc-13.0.iso (426MB, MD5).
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| 2012-03-28 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 12.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 12.0, a Debian-based browser-only distribution designed for deployment on web kiosks: "Webconverger 12 is the biggest leap forward this project has ever made. Highlights: operating system innovation, entire operating system is now maintained under git; new configuration and subscription service at making it much easier to customise your kiosk; new boot menu, with the ability to boot in a selection of different locales; Firefox 10 Extended Support Release; a new about: page that shows the running version of Webconverger; even better browser lock down and no more search bar; much better network handling; re-engineering of boot APIs like i18n; kioskresetstation works with blanking; numerous bug fixes." Read the rest of the release notes for notes on new configuration services offered by the distribution. Download the live CD image from here: webc-12.1.iso (538MB, MD5).
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| 2012-02-08 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 11.2 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 11.2, a Debian-based, browser-only live CD designed for Internet kiosks: "11.0 was a great and popular release. Thank you! 11.2 builds on that with: Firefox 10; Linux kernel 3.2 with TCP proportional rate reduction; removal of confusing tab groups from Firefox, making things simpler; stop accidental downloads of unknown mimetypes, therefore saving precious bandwidth; for developers - build upgraded to live build a42 from Debian Live and source has moved to Github; 10 second retry on net error for cases where network isn't quite ready; more (non-free) wireless firmware - realtek, libertas, brcm80211 and atheros, which means your wireless kiosk will almost certainly work. Here are the full release notes with notes on upgrading and future plans. Download the live CD image from here: webc-11.2.iso (257MB, MD5).
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| 2012-01-12 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 11.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 11.0, a web browser-only specialist distribution for Internet kiosks. The new version comes with updated Linux kernel version 3.1.8, Firefox 9.0.1, and several minor security-related tweaks. From the release notes: "I'm very proud to announce Webconverger 11, with the following improvements: Firefox 9; ability to change browser chrome options at boot time; quieter boots; several enhancements on the Firefox Webconverger extension; security tweaks to make the control script harder to override; new logo and site design; networking interface naming bug spotted and fixed. Do have a look at our new public statistics site, detailing Webconverger usage. New users please download Webconverger and test out if it's a good public kiosk solution for your community. We have a friendly support group if you have any questions." Download the live CD image from here: webc-11.0.iso (254MB, MD5).
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| 2011-12-19 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 10.2 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 10.2, a Debian-based live CD designed for Internet kiosks: "Without further delay may I present Webconverger 10 with an accompanying site redesign. At 9.0 - 10.2 you will notice the usual Flash update, Firefox 8, additional firmware for Ralink wireless and quite a few removed packages. The removed packages are mostly unnecessary for trying Webconverger. I think it's better to customise Webconverger with your chosen locale than altering the boot menu and then choosing the appropriate dictionary once Webconverger is booted. Likewise printing is best left as a customisation option, as it makes the initial download a bit too bulky otherwise. There are a couple of other additions in this release that warrant blog posts in the new year." Here is the complete release announcement with a screenshot. Download: webc-10.2.iso (253MB, MD5).
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| 2011-06-19 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 8.0 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 8.0, a Debian-based live CD for web kiosks, with Firefox 4, designed for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafés where only web applications are used: "Webconverger 8.0 allows you to deploy Firefox 4.0.1 in a kiosk environment. This release uses a lot of up-to-date Debian packages from Progress Linux. Between 7.2 to 8.0 there are several highlights such as: Firefox 4.0.1, updated Adobe Flash to 10.3.181.26, 2.6.39 Linux kernel, a few extra locales like South African English. Security has been tightened up by removing terminals, though there are probably ways of downloading 32-bit terminals for execution that could be blocked. There is a known issue where sometimes Webconverger boots without loading the browser. This is a strange intermittent problem that needs debugging. If it happens to you, please try booting again." Read the rest of the release notes for further information. Download: webc-8.0.iso (335MB, MD5).
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| 2010-11-07 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 7.0 |
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Kai Hendry announced the release of Webconverger 7.0, a Debian-based live "kiosk" distribution that boots into the Firefox web browser. The biggest change of this release is the base system update from Debian "Lenny" to Debian "Squeeze": "Webconverger 7.0 marks a huge milestone for the Webconverger browser-only operating system, since the Debian base system has upgraded from 'Lenny' to Squeeze'. The 6.2 to 7.0 changelog has several highlights such as: upgrade from Mozilla Firefox 3.5.8 to 3.6.12; switch from Splashy boot animation to Plymouth; upgrade from Adobe Flash 10.1 to Flash 10.2; faster booting thanks to Debian Live's live-boot and live-config. There has been a community discussed privacy change whereby Webconverger 7 reports its version to a ping service." Here is the brief release announcement with a screenshot and some relevant links. Download the live DVD/USB image from here: webc-7.0.iso (255MB).
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| 2009-12-13 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 5.8 |
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Kai Hendry has released Webconverger 5.8, a specialist, Debian-based distribution for web kiosks, with Firefox as the only available desktop application. What's new in this release? "The big difference with this release is using i686 builds instead of i486. This means that Webconverger will not boot on very old PCs and some cheap CPUs like Geode. If this is problem for you, let me know! For the rest of us with i686-compatible hardware, Webconverger should be a litter faster. In other news, the spelling from the previous release 5.7 with Firefox 3.5 should now be working for you. The CJK support might not quite work on these free images; however, if you purchase Webconverger with Chinese (or Korean or Japanese) support I will ensure all the relevant fonts and input tools are pre-installed." Check out the release notes for further information. Download (MD5) the live CD or the live USB image from here: webc-5.8.iso (227MB), webc-5.8.img (234MB).
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| 2009-11-09 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 5.7 |
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Kai Hendry has released Webconverger 5.7, a Debian-based distribution for web kiosks with the Firefox web browser as the only application: "Webconverger 5.7 features a Debian 'Lenny' back-ported Firefox 3.5 build. Overall I would consider this release as experimental. There is a couple of new known bugs introduced with Firefox 3.5, namely you can now non-persistently change configuration settings in the about: URL and browse the local file system - this introduces possibly some security issues. I've disabled the Debian installer again, I am finding it far too complex and I am tempted to write my own simpler installer based on dd. I've enabled Firefox's Private Browsing feature by default. Strictly speaking since the ~/.mozilla directory is purged between sessions, this feature is totally unnecessary and probably introduces problems." More information can be found in the release notes. Download: webc-5.7.iso (244MB, MD5).
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| 2009-09-13 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 5.5 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 5.5, a live, Debian-based web kiosk with Firefox: "Webconverger 5.5 is a much delayed release which is not as polished as I would have liked. Instead of delaying any further, I would appreciate you giving these experimental features a try and giving feedback on them: allow ICMP ping replies so that you can check the machine is up and running; allow for several home pages to be specified which get opened in separate tabs; noclutter added, which hides the mouse cursor after a couple of seconds of inactivity; several new experimental hooks to upgrade and setup CJK locales; a new PDF viewer based on ePDFView, which has a decent printing dialog; experimental option to install Webconverger onto a hard drive." Read the rest of the release notes for further information. Download: webc-5.5.iso (260MB MD5).
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| 2009-06-17 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 4.9 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 4.9, a Debian-based live CD and web kiosk designed for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafés where only web applications are used. What's new? "Shows a new Iceweasel (Firefox) security update 3.0.11; back to Xpdf despite printing dialog problems, because it's lighter and integrates better with the browser (no EULA to agree to every time); Webconverger base 4.9 featuring wireless essid with spaces fix and a compose key option; known to work flawlessly with Eee PC 900. Known issues: hard drive installer is not present on the ISO edition (or any edition for that matter)." Here are the brief release notes. Download: webc-4.9.iso (223MB, MD5).
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| 2009-04-27 |
Distribution Release: Webconverger 4.7 |
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Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 4.7, a live, Debian-based web kiosk designed for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafés where only web applications are used. What's new? "Added iptables firewall; fixed UA string for Hotmail; file:/// disabled in the latest kiosk extension; removed previous wireless default to join any open network; Iceweasel 3.0.9; CUPS printing support re-instated with a firewall rule to allow for printer sharing broadcasts; Linux kernel 2.6.29 backport, which means even better hardware support; Xpdf dropped in favour of a working printing dialog with Acrobat Reader - there are some embedding issues when you first run it, [Ctrl+q] is needed to close the PDF viewer. Known issues: spelling language has to be manually chosen and doesn't respect chosen locale boot options; the Debian installer which only worked on the ISO version is temporarily disabled until the Debian installer uses 2.6.29 which supports Squashfs 4...." See the full release notes for more information. Download: webc-4.7.iso (255MB, MD5).
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