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.
this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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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
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.
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.
Microsoft Windows surely?
/s
The number of kiosks that are stll Windows NT would make you shudder.
Windows 7
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 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.