I just love it when a problem has so many good solutions from which to
choose!  Thanks so much to all who responded.  I think I'll try a couple of
the suggestions.  Eventually, I'd like to develop an "OPAC on a stick," so
to speak, a flash drive with a minimal Linux distro on it.  Boot from it,
it takes you through a series of questions about your network, your catalog
URL, etc, and when finished, you have a working OPAC.  For remote
management, there's always SSH, but I'd throw in Ajenti and kill the extra
TTY logins to prevent possible patron mayhem.

I had looked into Porteus long ago but I seem to recall having an issue
that caused me to abandon it.  While I'm sure that's no longer the case, I
prefer not to have to set up another server.  I also like the idea of
having a proxy server return custom messages, but again, if I can achieve
the desired result without an additional system to maintain, that's my goal.

I'll report back on what my machinations yield.

Thanks again.  Have a most excellent weekend, all!

John Lolis
Coordinator of Computer Systems

100 Martine Avenue
White Plains, NY  10601
tel: 1.914.422.1497
fax: 1.914.422.1452

https://whiteplainslibrary.org/

*“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that
can’t be questioned.”*
— Richard Feynman
<https://click.fourhourmail.com/5qure95xkf7hvvo93wh2/7qh7h8h05vr4zrtz/aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvUmljaGFyZF9GZXlubWFu>,
theoretical physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965


On Thu, 8 Feb 2024 at 17:39, Sove67 <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> Barring a more elegant solution, you could edit the .xhtml file that
> Firefox redirects to when it reaches a net error (you can view this by
> visiting the following "url" using firefox:
> *about:neterror?e=dnsNotFound*).
>
> The accepted answer here
> <
> https://superuser.com/questions/1792996/customize-file-not-found-page-in-firefox-114
> >
> explains where to find that .xhtml file, inside the omni.ja archive.
>
> I've attached a custom omni.ja archive you could inject, and examples of
> how it displays now vs how it used to display. If you plan to use this,
> please save a copy of the original omni.ja file that you need to overwrite!
>  omni.ja
> <
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aExDyrFxdE0svkRZELAA2Zg03PHXtnwo/view?usp=drive_web
> >
> [image: Example.PNG]
> [image: image.png]
>
> Best of luck,
> Kaleb A. (Langara LIT Student)
>
> On Thu, Feb 8, 2024 at 1:10 PM Lolis, John <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Prithee, might one of you be able to point me in the right direction with
> > regard to modifying a browser error message, specifically a DNS
> error/site
> > not found message?
> >
> > Here's the rub... in an effort to prevent use of our OPACs as public
> access
> > computers, I've modified their DNS settings so that they only look to
> > themselves for DNS queries.  In their hosts file, I only added entries
> for
> > our catalog, our website and our museum pass reservation site.
> >
> > So this effectively prevents access to all other sites (unless of course
> > someone happens to know the IP address of another site).
> >
> > The problem is that the browser returns the DNS error/site not found
> > message, and there are no browser controls to go back since it's in kiosk
> > mode.  We have a label advising patrons to press ALT← to go back to the
> > previous page, but what I'd like to do is use a hex editor to modify the
> > default browser error to communicate the same thing.
> >
> > So my question is, does anyone know where I can find those messages so I
> > can edit them?  I've searched all sorts of Firefox files to no avail so
> > far.  I'm not completely averse to using a different browser, although my
> > preference is to *not* use Chrome or Edge.
> >
> > I also realize that whatever string I replace the error message with, it
> > must be the same length (this brings back memories of working at Prodigy
> > and editing command.com in MS-DOS so that it would return Bad command,
> you
> > idiot!!).
> >
> > hmmm... as I write this, now I'm thinking of utilizing a redirect page of
> > some sort, one that displays advice to the patron, then returns to
> > wherever.
> >
> > Thanks much!
> >
> > John Lolis
> > Coordinator of Computer Systems
> >
> > 100 Martine Avenue
> > White Plains, NY  10601
> > tel: 1.914.422.1497
> > fax: 1.914.422.1452
> >
> > https://whiteplainslibrary.org/
> >
> > *“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that
> > can’t be questioned.”*
> > — Richard Feynman
> > <
> >
> https://click.fourhourmail.com/5qure95xkf7hvvo93wh2/7qh7h8h05vr4zrtz/aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvUmljaGFyZF9GZXlubWFu
> > >,
> > theoretical physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965
> >
>