August 05, 2011
Port Jeff Village awaits county funding for info kiosks
"The project is to improve access to stores and encourage downtown shopping," said Nicole Christian, grant writer for the Village of Port Jefferson, since August 2010.
Port Jeff Village awaits county funding for info kiosks
y Brittany WaitWrite The Author
One of the new kiosks would be installed near the Chamber of Commerce on West Broadway. Photo by D. Willinger (click for larger version)
Port Times Record
August 03, 2011 | 03:01 PM
Soon the Village of Port Jefferson will see kiosks scattered about down port if Suffolk County approves a grant application for $7,000.
The village plans to make a matching commitment of $5,000 to provide the upkeep for five free-standing kiosks meant to orient pedestrians to the area, part of the Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization program.
"The project is to improve access to stores and encourage downtown shopping," said Nicole Christian, grant writer for the Village of Port Jefferson, since August 2010. She assisted Barbara Ransome, director of operations for the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, in writing and finalizing the application. It was a joint effort by the Economic Development Council, Chamber of Commerce and Beautification Committee. They expect to hear back from the county in late August.
Village Treasurer Don Pearce said that the village has not budgeted for the commitment in the general fund budget and that the amount is likely to come from unreserved, unappropriated funds. The village will use the funding to maintain the kiosks and surrounding landscape. Each kiosk will cost $1,500 — a total of $7,000 for all five, at no cost to the Town of Brookhaven.
The kiosks, standing on two wooden post legs with a lockable clear vinyl front, will display information to direct residents and visitors to retail shops and restaurants, and display information about local events, festivals and concerts. Once the county approves the grant they will pick the design. Each will have a You Are Here map of the village.
The five kiosks will be stationed throughout the village — in front of the Chamber of Commerce, on land owned by the town; between the Village Center and the Maritime Explorium; at the corner of West Broadway and Main Street; near Arden Place; and at Rocket Ship Park. None of the kiosks would be installed in upper Port. But Mayor Margot Garant is in the process of hiring a planning consultant to formulate a redevelopment plan for the upper Port commercial district.
At the July 18 town hall meeting, councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld moved a resolution authorizing support for the submission of an application from the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce to the Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization program for the kiosks. Suffolk County requires a resolution from the Town Board showing local support for the proposal. The Town approved the resolution, so it has entered into a contract with Suffolk County to receive funding to install the kiosks once the grant is approved.
This project was one of the applications reviewed by the Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization Committee that met several times to review applications. The 18 legislative districts get together, with representatives from each district, to make recommendations to county executive representative Carolyn Fahey and county legislature.
Town historian Barbara Russell represented Port Jefferson at the meeting. Russell said, "The committee is very much in support of the funding for the application," but stressed legislature approval is required and that will take time.
"It's going to help pedestrian traffic circulate throughout the village," Mayor Garant said. "I think the kiosks will help orient visitors."
Port Jeff Village awaits county funding for info kiosks
March 20, 2010
Internet Kiosk Vending Expands
PR from Pay Email announces expansion of internet kiosks to LA, SFO, Portland and Seattle. Not often anymore we see PRs on internet kiosks.
MORRISVILLE, NC, March 19, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Pay Email announced today the expansion of their kiosk vending machines to airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. Kiosk vending machines offer travelers the opportunity to surf the internet with an easy pay per minute system.
"Our kiosk machines act just like a laptop," said Glenn Lancaster, CEO of Pay Email. "With the swipe of a credit card or one of our pay-as-you-go cards you can access e-mail, reserve a hotel room, or book a connecting flight. You do not have to pay any daily wireless fee or log onto an unsecured network."
Pay Email has internet vending machines in airports across the USA including Pittsburgh, Louisville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Salt Lake City, Houston, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle with more airport locations coming soon. Pay Email pay cards can be used at all locations.
Learn more about Pay Email kiosk machines:
http://www.payemail.net/Pages/Products.html?source=pr-032010
Learn more about Partnership Opportunities:
http://www.payemail.net/Pages/Partnership.html?source=pr-032010
About Pay Email
Pay Email, LLC has over 40 years of experience in the vending and kiosk marketplace with a reputation for providing great service and cutting edge products. Pay Email is the leading provider of internet kiosks to airports and hotels in the USA with machines in Pittsburgh, Louisville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Salt Lake City, Houston, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle with more airport locations coming soon. Learn more about Pay Email on the web site: http://www.payemail.net/index.html?source=pr-032010
---
Press release service and press release distribution provided by http://www.24-7pressrelease.com
# # #
Technology Telescopes Still Heading to Zero Cost Client
 Dukker and Ncomputing with $20 chip to embed in LCDs from LG to create next generation internet appliances (and kill the PC finally). Link |
May 02, 2009
Tutorial on ARM-based web kiosk system
The tutorial looks at various options that affect power, from attempting to run on batteries or Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), neither of which is feasible for most kiosks, to using traditional CRT monitors, which can be cheaper, but which add considerably to power draw and size. For the LCD-based systems typically used by kiosks, ARM processors are typically used due to their lower power consumption, say the authors.
by Vincent Sanders and Daniel Silverstone (May 1, 2009)
http://www.simtec.co.uk/
Foreword -- This article continues a series of tutorials on embedded Linux system development by noted ARM Linux kernel hackers Vincent Sanders and Daniel Silverstone. The initial installments described how to build a simple embedded system, adding a simple web server, and how to build an embedded Linux web kiosk.
Papers in the series have been contributed to LinuxDevices by Simtec Electronics, a 20-year-old U.K.-based company specializing in embedded hardware and software services, with special expertise in ARM Linux.
The series will include:
* Building a simple embedded system
* Building an embedded Linux system with a web server
* Building an embedded Linux web kiosk
* Building an ARM-based embedded Linux web kiosk (this paper)
* Improving an embedded Linux system
* Deploying embedded Linux systems
Enjoy . . . !
An ARM-based web kiosk system
by Vincent Sanders and Daniel Silverstone
Introduction
This is the fourth article in a series demonstrating the fundamental aspects of constructing embedded systems.
This article covers the targeting of the web kiosk system from the previous article to a specific ARM based hardware platform.
This document, and indeed the whole series of articles, assumes a basic understanding of a Linux-based operating system. While discussing concepts and general approaches these concepts are demonstrated with extensive practical examples. All the practical examples are based upon a Debian- or Ubuntu-based distribution
Scaling the design
The previous articles have not required any additional hardware; indeed, by using the QEMU emulator, we have been able to keep all the examples confined to the realm of software.
It is rare however for an embedded system to have no limits on its hardware resources. In fact, it is common for a project brief to severely limit the available hardware platform, generally through cost and size, but increasingly through power usage. The cost and size limits are self evident however the power limitation bears a closer examination.
Embedded systems like the web kiosk example are generally in a fixed location which presents the opportunity to have a full mains power connection. In this situation why might power consumption be an issue?
The primary emerging reason is that running electrical cabling for power to these systems limits their location and may have high cost implications. If, instead, the systems can be powered entirely from a single data cable, using low voltages, they become much more flexible.
A second consideration which has gained greater significance in recent times is that of environmental impact. Appliance applications where the unit is powered for extended periods of time, and must always be available, by their very nature have a large environmental impact. A PC might consume 100W on average, over a day that builds up to 2.4KWh or some 876KWh per year, which equates to roughly 400kg of coal or 377kg of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere (conversion factors from DEFRA). If we produce a system which can operate from just 12W, we reduce the yearly figure to just 105kWh or 45kg of carbon dioxide. A side effect of this is, obviously, reducing the electricity bill by over 80% which makes economic sense.
The obvious power supply method for a networked system is to use Ethernet cabling employing the IEEE 802.3 Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) standard. This however introduces a maximum available power of 12 Watts (24W for the much less common IEEE 802.3at standard). Running a standard PC and LCD monitor from 12W is simply not possible with current available technologies.
If the project brief calls for an integrated display we may plausibly use a directly connected LCD panel in a fashion similar to a laptop. By using a directly connected panel, the refresh rate may be lowered significantly, which could reduce power draw. A direct connection also removes the need for power sapping line drivers which are required for standard monitors to connect over long cables. This approach might let us reduce the display power requirements to around 10W. This only leaves 2W budget for the computer, clearly a PC of any description cannot operate within such a power budget and an alternative solution must be sought.
The most common low-power computing platforms are currently based upon ARM System On Chip (SoC) devices. These devices operate at a few hundred megahertz instead of the gigahertz speeds found in PCs and consume a fraction of the power. There are numerous SoCs available, in a huge array of hardware solutions, and selecting the correct one for a given application is something to be discussed in a future article. One important factor in selecting a suitable system for developing a Linux solution is it must have kernel support. A useful reference for what systems are supported in current ARM Linux kernels is the KAutobuild project.
For the purposes of this article a Simtec Electronics thin client system with a 400MHz Samsung SoC module has been selected. This system provides reasonable CPU performance coupled with a GPU capable of driving large screens. This hardware would be capable of being directly connected to an LCD panel as discussed previously, and has sufficient power supply flexibility to have PoE functionality added if required.
An important idea which should be highlighted here is that, for many embedded applications, suitable hardware is often already available. Embedded projects often start with a faulty premise that they will need bespoke hardware solutions specifically for their application.
Often existing products can be modified or extended to produce completely acceptable results at a fraction of the cost. It is especially important to be realistic about the volumes of a product. A product which will have small production volumes will by definition have a higher per unit cost when the Non Recurring Engineering (NRE) cost is amortized over all the units produced. Thus, although purchasing and customizing an existing product may have a relatively high per unit cost, the NRE will be much lower.
To make this clearer let us use a real example. For a hundred units the thin client system selected costs GBP 200 per system (approximately $300 U.S.) or GBP 20,000 pounds total. A fully bespoke design from Simtec Electronics for a system of equivalent complexity would cost approximately GBP 40,000 and have a manufactured per unit cost around the GBP 150 mark for small runs. For a hundred unit run this means the bespoke approach has a unit cost of GBP 550; indeed the GBP200 per unit cost is not arrived at until almost 300 units have been produced. This is a trivial example and includes no NRE cost for required software, such as a boot-loader and a Linux kernel port, which the pre-built system already includes, and no budget for contingencies or specification changes.
The practical result of this is that, for fewer than a thousand units, the "customized off-the-shelf" approach nearly always makes economic sense.
Converting the example
The method we have employed so far is to use a shell script to copy binaries from a host system and generate an initramfs cpio archive to boot. Just because we have changed architecture there is absolutely no reason not to continue in this way.
Because the board has no local storage attached (there is provision for such; we are simply not using it) the instructions for bootstrapping the system with a Debian armel installation accessed via NFS were followed. This produced a system we can develop on in exactly the same way as our x86 host previously. Because Debian provides support for numerous architectures, this approach can be used just about anywhere that a Linux kernel, with the appropriate options, can be started.
The actions to build the browser were identical to those in the previous article. Indeed because no graphical environment was installed, the NetSurf browser could be run directly from the NFS mounted system.
The configuration script for the ARM web kiosk system is very similar to the original. The main difference is in the number of modules required. It is drastically reduced because a specifically-configured pre-built kernel was used. This kernel has the drivers built-in for the limited peripheral set found on the development boards made by Simtec Electronics.
The webkiosk-arm.gz and the kernel were placed on a TFTP server and the ABLE boot-loader was used to start the system.
> (tftpboot)vmlinuz-2.6.26-simtec1-s3c24xx-eabi initrd=(tftpboot)webkiosk-arm.gz \
root=/dev/ram0 console=ttySAC0
The system started and displayed the web browser as expected. The drawback to the host-based approach has become evident at this point however. Compiling the web browser on the ARM box took some seventeen minutes, preparing the cpio took another four minutes, shutting down the NFS system and booting the output took another six minutes.
From these timings it can be seen the edit, build and test cycle using this approach is over half an hour which, as we learned in the second article of the series, will have a large impact on the developer's productivity. We might make some improvement on that time by not having to rebuild the entire browser every time and by using a faster boot medium than TFTP (the ABLE boot-loader supports HTTP, for example).
Because the system was targeted at a Simtec Electronics integrated module it is possible to run the system on other baseboards in the range. To test this the image was started on a DePicture touchscreen tablet. The system started as expected and was able to navigate the web as normal with the touchscreen.
Improving the process
The primary issue with the approach illustrated here is that of development speed. The hardware system was selected for its ability to meet our project requirements, these are different to those necessary to construct the system.
The hardware selected traded CPU performance for a reduction in power consumption. The processor in PCs in general use at this time has around ten times the CPU power and five times the memory performance of the ARM SoC.
We could of course simply build on a more powerful ARM host and deploy the output on the target. This approach has the merit that it is straightforward to implement and the substantial drawback that a compatible host may not be available. Even if a compatible system is available they must be purchased for each developer which adds cost and may not shorten the development cycle by an amount large enough to justify the expense.
A commonly-used solution to this issue is to harness the power of a full PC system to generate output for the target. We have already used the QEMU emulator to test our output images, it can also emulate targets other than an x86 PC. Although some of the performance of the host processor will be lost to the emulation, the resulting system will generally still perform better than the native ARM hardware. This gives us the desired build performance without the expense of purchasing additional physical hardware. It also means we do not have to reboot the build system to test the results.
One issue worth mentioning here is that the more powerful the host PC the faster the emulation will be and the shorter the development cycle. If the host PC is not up to the task this approach might actually result in the opposite of the desired result and slow development.
Our bootstrapping article outlines how to create a disc image suitable for use with the emulator. A Debian Lenny system for the armel architecture should be prepared and started with QEMU and the system used to generate images.
The only small caveat is that the chosen target hardware system must be supported by QEMU. Unfortunately it is somewhat challenging to get new hardware support accepted into the QEMU project. At this time the Simtec Electronics boards are not supported in the pre-packaged QEMU, patches and sources necessary to create a QEMU that supports Simtec Electronics boards are available but must be compiled and installed separately.
What's next?
This fourth article outlines some of the reasons to use hardware more suited to a set of requirements. It demonstrates the relative ease with which a host-based build approach can be used to generate a working system for a small ARM system. Finally it shows some of the drawbacks of this approach and how they might be addressed.
In the next article we shall examine more issues surrounding the completion of a project and examine an alternative approach to building systems.
About the authors
Vincent Sanders is the senior software engineer at Simtec Electronics. He has extensive experience in the computer industry, having worked on projects from large fault-tolerant systems through accounting software to programmable logic systems. He is an active developer for numerous open source projects, including the Linux kernel, and is also a Debian developer.
http://www.simtec.co.uk/
Daniel Silverstone is a software engineer at Simtec Electronics, and has experience in architecting robust systems. He develops software for a large number of open source projects, contributes to the Linux kernel, and is both an Ubuntu and Debian developer.
http://www.simtec.co.uk/
April 28, 2008
PR - Internet Kiosk Cafe With Grande ROI
Adding to a growing portfolio of successful pay-for-use Internet, Gaming, and Office kiosk products, ZOOX Stations has announced the NETZOOX Self-Service Internet Cafe at the recent Self-Service Expo in Las Vegas. [photo]
LOUISVILLE, Colo., April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Adding to a growing portfolio of successful pay-for-use Internet, Gaming, and Office kiosk products, ZOOX Stations has announced the NETZOOX Self-Service Internet Cafe at the recent Self-Service Expo in Las Vegas. While similar in functionality to previous ZOOX Stations products, The NETZOOX cafe platform offers significant hardware cost advantages and very unique cafe payment management software tools.
According to Rick Malone, President of ZOOX Stations and its parent company, KIOSK Information Systems, "Accelerated ROI is the cornerstone of the NETZOOX solution design. In the pay-for-use Internet ROI equation, initial hardware costs are traditionally the toughest hurdle to clear. ZOOX Stations has developed an innovative modular solution architecture, which dramatically drops the per-terminal investment -- paving the way for much faster location profitability." The platform leverages single payment and output stations across multiple user terminals, eliminating duplicate investment in more costly items like bill acceptors and laser printers.
NETZOOX has a full complement of profitable turnkey packages including Internet / E-mail, office services, casual gaming, and laser printing to help customers manage their busy lives on the road. ZOOX Stations offers unique payment management tools enabling customers to "carry forward" account balances and utilize time on machines at deferred times and alternate locations. "This functionality is not only unique to ZOOX Stations, but very valuable to the operators in terms of building repeat traffic and customer loyalty," added Malone. Additional solution elements include sophisticated remote monitoring, complete installation and field service packages, and consumer help lines to round out a completely turnkey offering.
The modular kiosk booth design can transform beyond just a "one trick pony" added Tom Weaver, Chief Marketing Officer for KIOSK Information Systems. "KIOSK has customers in a number of vertical markets that will jump at the cost benefits of this architecture for their applications. We see a great fit in a number of profitable markets including Education, DMVs, Corrections Facilities, Retailers, and Corporate HR."
To learn more visit ,http://www.zooxstations.com, or call 1-888-661-1697.
About ZOOX Stations, Inc.:
ZOOX Stations manufactures & designs cutting edge business, entertainment, and gaming platforms. The library of games includes titles from Microsoft, EA, Valve, Ubisoft and other leading developers. Products are completely turnkey, but are available in custom branded configurations. Complete installation, service, remote monitoring and activity tracking is provided. Call 1-888-661-1697 for more information or visit http://www.zooxstations.com/.
ZOOX Stations, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of KIOSK Information Systems. Kiosk is the world leader in design, manufacturing, service and support of indoor and outdoor kiosks, public Internet stations and other electronic self-service informational terminals. KIOSK is the OEM manufacturer of self-service terminals for Wal-Mart, Hewlett Packard, AT&T, Sony Photo, US Transportation Security Administration, and many others. http://www.kiosk.com/.
ZOOX Stations, Inc.
January 18, 2008
Kiosk Case Study: Multiuser Stations for Internet access
 Multistation or Multi-user stations and kiosks are beginning to emerge as significant market particularly with advances in thin client services. Included here is nice picture of multi-user stations installed at Denver International Airport. |
Louisville, CO – January 21, 2008
The Procrastinator’s Dream - Denver International Airport (DIA) Now Offers Self-Service Business Centers in Main Terminal
Waiting to board a flight in Denver has never been so productive. Catering to the stringent time demands of today’s road warriors, Denver International Airport (DIA) is expanding services designed specifically for business travelers. ZOOX Stations, Inc. and RMES Communications, the prime contractor, have recently teamed up on self-service kiosk installations that provide passengers a full complement of office services throughout all concourses and the main terminal.
Armed with nothing more than ideas and a credit card, passengers can now sit down to state of the art office terminals with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications. High-speed laser printers, media drives, USB ports, and laptop charging equipment provide a turnkey self-service business center on the road. The kiosks are designed for comfortable extended use; featuring a seated station, traditional office keyboard & mouse, and a 17” flat panel monitor. The enclosed booth design and privacy filters on the screens provide passengers all the necessary security to confidently tackle even the most confidential content.
In addition to the full application suite, clients can readily access high-speed Internet to efficiently manage email or distribute their work. And for those that really work best under pressure, there are also popular gaming options on these machines. While not as fully loaded at the neighboring ZOOX Stations PC Game Cafes, a complete range of casual user games are available on the business center machines as well.
The business center kiosk (commercially branded as ZOOX WORX) is the creation of ZOOX Stations, a Louisville based division of KIOSK Information Systems, the largest manufacturer of self-serve terminals in the world. ZOOX Stations was incorporated in 2006 as a subsidiary dedicated to development of cutting edge new products in the pay-for-use environment. According to Rick Malone, President of KIOSK and ZOOX Stations, “RMES Communications and DIA have beautifully equipped Denver passengers with a full range of self-service business and entertainment options. It’s consistent with the high-end passenger focus DIA is known for. The profitability and quick adoption of the equipment is a natural extension of a well-developed service offering.”
There are currently 64 ZOOX Stations Game Cafes and four business center kiosks located in the concourses and main terminal. RMES Communications and KIOSK Information Systems are currently evaluating expanding services in other selected airport locations.
About ZOOX Stations, Inc.:
ZOOX Stations manufactures & designs cutting edge business, entertainment and gaming platforms. The library of games includes titles from Microsoft, EA, Valve, Ubisoft and other prime leading developers. The products are completely turnkey, but are available in custom branded configurations. Complete installation, service, remote monitoring and activity tracking is provided. Call 1-888-661-1697 for more information or visit www.zooxstations.com.
ZOOX Stations, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of KIOSK Information Systems. Kiosk is the world leader in design, manufacturing, service and support of indoor and outdoor kiosks, public Internet stations and other electronic self-service informational terminals. KIOSK is the OEM manufacturer of self-service terminals for WalMart, Hewlett Packard, AT&T, Sony Photo, US Transportation Security Administration, and many others. www.kiosk.com.
For more information on multi-user multi-station thin clients visit http://www.thinclient.org