pc boots to proprietary software desktop

[truthsayer2]

Hello all,

Super newby here... The company I work for is using ubuntu now as their operating system on our proprietary equipment. We use small Giada computers to run our programs. My question is: is there a way to break out of our proprietary program and get to the ubuntu command line or user interface? Im trying to learn more about this system as it seems we are going with it in the future.

Many thanks for any input,

[ajgreeny]

Presumably your company has someone who knows all about using Ubuntu in place of the proprietary software; what is that software?
What hardware do those small Giada computers contain as that may make a big difference to what we suggest.
Do you want to use command-line servers or do you need full GUI desktop machines for all your office work etc etc?

It is possible, and in fact very common, to dual boot, ie have both Windows and Ubuntu, or Mac and Ubuntu, or even all three OSs, installed on the same computer so you can chose the OS to use at boot.

Please explain more and I'm sure we can give you much more useful information than we can simply from what you've told us so far.

[Raffles727]

I looked up Giada computers with DuckDuckGo, they appear to be of European origin, compact PCs https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Giada+computer

[jwbrase]

Presumably your company has someone who knows all about using Ubuntu in place of the proprietary software; what is that software?

I think what's actually going on here is that the machines are set up as kiosks for a specific company-internal application or a small set of internal applications, and are explicitly not meant to be general-purpose workstations, likely because of corporate security requirements. The OP is trying to break out of the kiosk environment, which the local IT department will obviously not be happy with.

@OP: Unless I've misunderstood, you are asking us to help you do something that will almost certainly get you written up, if not fired, if your company catches you trying to do it, will very likely get you fired if you succeed, and, when you get fired, may very well lead to the company filing criminal charges against you. If you want to learn more about Ubuntu, try it on a computer that you own. The person or company that owns a computer sets the rules for using it, and trying to escape a restricted environment on a computer that someone else owns is likely to be seen as an attempt to gain access to things like trade secrets or other people's personal information, or to introduce malware into their network.

[CelticWarrior]

I think what's actually going on here is that the machines are set up as kiosks for a specific company-internal application or a small set of internal applications, and are explicitly not meant to be general-purpose workstations, likely because of corporate security requirements. The OP is trying to break out of the kiosk environment, which the local IT department will obviously not be happy with.

I have a feeling this is spot on.
The brand or form factor are red herrings. The Giada miniPCs work pretty much like any other desktop PC. That said, this specific form factor with very low energy requirements and silent due to its passive cooling is particularly sough after for Kiosk mode (I use them as cheap yet very versatile living room media players and "downloaders").