At work, we use PiSignage for a large overhead screen. It's based on Debian and uses a fullscreen Firefox running in the labwc compositor. The developer advertises a management server (cloud or self-hosted) to manage multiple connected devices, but it's completely optional (superfluous in my opinion) and the standalone web UI is perfectly usable.
this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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Realistically, any LTS distro from a netinstaller or minimal image that can use a kiosk compositor like cage. So, the usual suspects of Debian, OpenSUSE, AlmaLinux, RockyLinux (or a derivative of one if the native distro doesn't support Raspberry Pi). Then you just have cage open the browser of choice on startup (e.g. chromium --kiosk <url>) and you have a lightweight and relatively secure web kiosk.
Cage is not what I want from a kiosk. I want window management, I just want a few fixed windows in fixed positions. Sometimes I want to rotate between a few windows. I'm running Magicmirror now which gives what I want, but it is too slow and too locked into the everything is a web app model.
If you can get your head around it, NixOS is perfect for this. It's what we use at work. You configure chromium to open full screen on a certain webpage, instant dashboard with next to no overhead.
Ooo I do love me some Nix modules. Any particular options to look out for in order to configure something like that?
Edit:
It's programs.chromium.extraOpts isnt it? Lol
I've used Armbian and DietPi. Currently running a magic mirror on a Rock64 and a NAS on an ODROID HC4. Of the two OSes, I think I'd recommend Armbian. Skip installing a DE and just get a basic X session with a simple web browser.
Note that MagicMirror is web based, so the setup steps for putting up a web browser would be similar.
I do exactly this with Armbian and an Orange Pi Zero 3 for a little Home Assistant display.
Autostart a browser in kiosk-mode on boot. Nice and simple.
I also made an image of that SD card if I ever need to set up another.
I have a pi3 with a 20" touchscreen that I'm using. Raspbian booting to magic mirror. It works, but Magic Mirror is slow bloated/slow that I'm not happy with it. I'm about ready to make my own QT based signage - I suspect it will be much more performant as well as more flexible. Still it is a lot of work and so I hesitate to bother (even if version one could be done in a day - I have enough other projects).
I’ve been using chilipie-kiosk for a few projects. It‘s easy to set up and I‘ve never encountered any problems with it.
It‘s basically just a lightweight Debian installation which launches Chrome in fullscreen mode on startup, opening either the preconfigured URL or the one that was open at the end of the last session.
Microsoft Windows surely?
/s
Windows 7
The number of kiosks that are stll Windows NT would make you shudder.
I like Fully_Kiosk on android, but it's paid.
Eh, I just saw you weren't meaning a tablet. That's what most people kiosk on.
RPi Digital Signage is really good. Binaryemotions.com. it's built thoughtfully for a bunch of different situations. The kiosk mode paired with some sort of start page would work.