Google Play on Chromebit Instructions (I promise this is not spam!)
Starhawk wrote 02/26/2018 at 18:32 • -1 pointInstructions here --> https://pastebin.com/cp9hWWCk
This is in case the tip line ignores me (which is quite likely -- I'm not one of the "cool" kids...). I just want to get this out there, because it works... I compiled these instructions and I will all but guarantee them. They are written at a "what's a right click?" level, so anyone and everyone should be able to follow them. I actually pieced this stuff together from several different bits of info out there... and I can confidently say that, at least for me, these instructions are "known good" -- tested and working. YMMV, no warranty, and all that -- you know the drill. But it /should/ work, if you follow the steps exactly.
For those not necessarily familiar with the hardware -- the CS10 Chromebit is ASUS' slightly ersatz Chrome OS answer to the Intel Compute Stick. (They make a more traditional effort with something called a "Vivo Stick" PC.) It's cheap enough -- I picked mine up on eBay for $65 or so, IIRC, and current prices start at around that and climb steeply from there (there are some on eBay for $150 or so! Most are about $100-125, though, it looks like).
It's a surprisingly large "USB stick" form factor ARM-basded device, with a male HDMI port on one end (it's intended to "smartify" --if that's a word-- a "dumb" TV, or the like... it comes with a little HDMI extension cord, too), a single USB host port on the other, and a power port (for 12v, oddly enough -- an 18w power supply is included) somewhere down the side in between. It's nifty, and has sufficient 'zip' to avoid annoying you (although it's nowhere near the fastest car in the Pinewood Derby -- it's about on par with other Compute Stick clones, the Z3735F ones...), but it really needs a powered hub to go with it, unless you're using a unified wireless keyboard and mouse (i.e. something like the Logitech K400r I have, where there's only one receiver for both peripherals) and you know for absolute forever certain that you'll never ever want to plug anything else into it. (ASUS specifically warns you in the Quick Start Guide that the USB port can only source 500mA, BTW.)
Sound is through HDMI with no analog fallback -- so if, like me, you only have DVI monitors and you use passive/"just wires" adapters (the electrical protocol is /almost/ the same -- DVI is deaf/mute -- despite the different connectors) you don't get any sound at all. Boo hiss. I'll note that I'm trying to get one of those eBay HDMI audio splitters to work... no luck so far -- if anyone has any suggestions, PM me please! (If there were an audio config utility in there somewhere, and I thought I'd have driver support, I'd try my Plantronics USB audio dongle -- alas...)
Despite the limitations, it's actually not a bad little gadget, and being able to run the Play Store (and /some/ -- not all! -- Android apps, therefore) easily elevates it from "hey, nice toy" to something reasonably practical. If I was more comfortable with cloud storage and printing, I'd consider using a Play Store-enabled Chromebit as my main system. No, seriously... I do a lot of stuff in a browser, and what I don't do there, I can do with eg WPS Office or the like. That, and I know enough Linux shell commands (and how to pull one up) to get around certain roadblocks that Chrome OS puts in the way (such as font installation -- I know how to do it via Terminal, I *think* -- but don't ask me otherwise).
Anyways, I hope all this helps someone out in some way... if it works for you, let me know and I'll smile. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll try to help. In either case... good luck!
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It seems to no longer work.
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That is unfortunate. Should I take this down, then...?
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Has anybody gotten this to work recently. I went through the process on my Chromebit and no joy. No play store and it does not recognize an apk.
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Hey Starhawk, thanks for taking the time to write this up. I'm going to give it a try.
I have my CS10 on a wall mounted arm in the kitchen behind a touch screen monitor, it works great, like a giant tablet! For sound (even though the monitor has speakers) I have connected a Jabra USB speakerphone through a teeny tiny powered USB hub I strapped to the CS10. It all does the job nicely
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I have a CS10 sitting around but never thought of using touch screen monitor, it sounds brilliant idea. How did you get our touch screen working with CS10? Is it via USB? How does your CS10 takes touch screen feed as input?
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The screen I have (HaansG) takes an HDMI and USB input. It was plug and play. Since version 70 chromeOS has a tablet mode but I had to force it on for the CS10 via a settings flag.
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Im stuck here "Step 3 Closee both browser and file manager. 'CTRL'+'SHIFT'+'T' again to bring up a Terminal. "shell" 'ENTER' "sudo su" 'ENTER', exactly like before. Once at the red prompt, type (no quotes) "cd /home/user" and press 'ENTER'." I have one user and getting path does not exist. Any help out there? Thanks in advance.
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CRTL+ALT+T
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I did all the steps without errors.
But its not working.
I dont know if it was caused by a patch in the newest chrome Os version.
Are you having the same problems??
Regards.
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Sorry... I broke my install about two weeks after writing this. I don't know if it still works. I think it ought to -- but I can't be certain.
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I have the same problem. I did the full process (and yes, I know vi without even thinking). All seemed to work, but no play store
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vi / vim is not antique - tho I doubt anyone will read this.
https://twobithistory.org/2018/08/05/where-vim-came-from.html?utm_source=hackernewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=fav
It's used daily by millions of people :D Mostly unix/linux admins, devops, coders, but this is hackaday! Embrace vi(m)! At least it isn't emacs...
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Antique meaning old. Not obsolete meaning superseded to the point of no longer being extant. Although, one could argue about /obsolescence/ -- which is being superseded while still extant / in use...
Really the problem with it is that it's a truly phenomenal pain in the *** to use... my personal favorite console editor is actually any of the later versions of EDIT from MS-DOS... the closest I've found in Linux is an oddball called Minimum Profit. It works beautifully -- if you can compile it!
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It is hardly a pain to use.
I do hope you are joking about EDIT.
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I'm absolutely serious. Later EDIT.COMs and the eventual EDIT.EXE have a menu based control system, invoked either with ALT by itself or by an ALT+first_letter_of_command combo (okay, there are some exceptions), that makes as much sense as you can get without a true GUI. It even has support for mice, if you want that.
vi, in contrast, uses colon+some_random_character for most of its commands, none of which are simple to understand or use. They're certainly too arcane to memorize reliably unless you have a remarkably exceptional memory to begin with... or a penchant for masochism... oh, and you /certainly/ can't just open a new empty file and start typing.
But, of course, REAL coding demands incredible feats of mental weariness and self-inflicted gore, so vi reigns supreme, at least for those that don't write their own coding editors...
...all sarcasm aside, dude, vi is old and it's weird and, quite honestly, it's crap. There is simply no excuse for anything new enough to not say TANDY on the side to be stuck using either vi or EMACS as a text editor, unless the sole purpose of that system is inflicting pain on its user(s) through the console. Period, end of line.
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If you use it a bunch, it is intuitive. Fast, no need to deal with stupid mouse. Years on HP UX and Apollo taught me. Hadn't used it for 10 years. Logged into it on my chromebit and didn't even have to think - just typed.
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This tutorial looks great - thanks for it! I'm trying it all out now and have two things.
1) When you're giving us directions to access the terminal, you meant to tell us to type "ctrl - alt - t" not "ctrl - shift - t" Just wanted you to know so you could update the pastebin page
2) On step 2 for changing the channel, I go through all those steps and it seems like it's working fine, but after a while I finally get an error: "Update failed, current operation is UPDATE_STATUS_IDLE, last error code is ErrorCode: :kPostinstallRunnerError(5)" Any idea what's up?
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Sorry, I don't know enough to help :(
I can tell you that if you "Stop Google Play Services" once you *get* it enabled, you lose the Play Store and you basically can't get it back again... I, er, found that out the hard way...
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Addendum -- I now know how to get my Plantronics audio dongle working under Chrome OS, sort of -- if it's supported (should be) then clicking the volume icon will allow a selection of audio outputs, in the event that there's more than one available. Way cool.
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Wait a minute here.... I decided to visit your page here because, it is a great hack with a device that's barely getting any notice. So I have no plans to do what you're worried about. Besides I equate spammers with the sort of pests that are typically big cat food.
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No worries, you're fine. I'm just ticked off because someone decided to click the down arrow next to my post but wasn't brave enough to identify themselves or their reasoning.
...that said, these days, I get ticked off rather easily...
BTW, as mentioned below -- if you substitute the relevant instructions for your device into Step One, instead of the provided instructions, the rest of it should then get you the Play Store on *any compatible* Chrome OS device. There's a link to a list in my comment below -- but, my understanding is, any 2017 or newer device will work with it, period.
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Who downvoted me? I'm just trying to help people with this sort of hardware. I'm not a ****ing spammer. I /hate/ spammers, and I know better than to make a hypocrite of myself.
By the way -- although this (further) voids the non-existent warranty -- with changes to Step One (getting into dev mode), /any/ Chromebook, Chromebox, or Chromebit that is compatible with the Play Store /should/ work with these instructions. (There's a list, here --> https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chrome-os-systems-supporting-android-apps)
I didn't mention it sooner because Step One is rather device-specific, and ferreting it out for other machines requires research and understanding that is at least somewhat above the level of the instructions. It's doable, but "I thought it was called a TV, not a 'monitor'" type people will have considerable difficulty dealing with that part, if they're not using a Chromebit and trying to find the relevant instructions for their device.
...I guess you folks just don't like Chrome OS and the hardware that runs it :(
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