Over the last two weeks I’ve been playing with Chromium OS and the idea of bringing new life to older computers. Chromium OS is a lightweight open source operating system which is based around using a web browser for everything. Instead of opening up Word or Pages, you’d open up Google Docs. Instead of saving to a thumb drive, you save to the cloud – Google Drive in this case. Chromebooks run Chrome OS and Chrome OS is based off Chromium OS. The main difference between the two is that Chrome OS contains Flash, PDF and MP3 support out of the box. Chromium OS does not contain this software out of the box due to licensing. Chrome OS is also not publicly available. It is only available on official Chromebooks sold by Google partners.

During discussion with the IT Team at my school, the idea of Chromebooks came up. Last year Digital Education Revolution (DER) laptops started getting unlocked for the leaving Year 12s. Some left their laptops behind and probably won’t come back to get them. These older machines, as you can imagine aren’t the quickest. We have a few of these sitting around collecting dust serving no useful purpose. I suggested putting Chromium OS on one and seeing how it would run. It ran well and was much faster however there were quite a few problems.

Chromderium refers to a DER Laptop running Chromium OS.

I thought I’d share these problems just in case anyone was considering purchasing Chromebooks for use at school. I’m not sure if an official Chromebook shares the same problems as the ones I describe below. Maybe there is solution to these problems.

Problem 1

When you start up Chromium OS for the first time a setup screen will appear. The very first thing it asks you to do is connect to the internet. You can’t proceed without connecting to the internet. Connecting to the DER wireless was successful. Entering the proxy details is where we ran into trouble. We could successfully enter the proxy address however there was no option to enter a username and password. I assumed we would be prompted for our credentials when they were needed. That was not the case. We were not prompted and couldn’t proceed with setup while connected to that network. Using the PAC file and changing over to ethernet also produced the same results. Our solution was to share our mobile phone data over WiFi to complete setup.

After successfully signing in, connecting to the DER wireless and entering the proxy details, everything seemed to work. Entering a username and password was not an option in the settings menu. Instead we were prompted for credentials when the system required them.

The login screen is where everything falls over and breaks. Like above, connecting to the DER wireless and entering the proxy details is not a problem. There are two issues here. The first being credentials used to login to DER wireless are saved in some cases. That didn’t prevent usability so we weren’t worried about it, it could be an issue to consider in the future.

I’m not entirely sure about the second issue but I believe it is related to Chromium OS not liking the proxy. After entering the correct network details and clicking sign in, the system stops and the screen flashes (like when you change the resolution) back to the login screen. It’s interesting because it does this before we can enter our Google account password. In most cases the screen will continue flashing in this loop until the system is hard shutdown. At first we thought this was related to bad drivers. After switching networks the issue went away. We were able to reproduce this on other Chromderiums. In order to successfully login we needed to connect a mobile phone WiFi hotspot. Once we were logged in, we could then successfully use a school network. We came to a conclusion that Chromium OS doesn’t know how to prompt for credentials at the login screen and crashes as a result.

Problem 2

In order to get the most from your Chromebook you need to sign in using a Google account. Setting up the Chromebook also requires you to have an account. I tried to login with an @education.nsw.gov.au account and was unable to. I received a generic your username or password is wrong error. I suspect this is related to single sign-on. When I attempt to setup an @education.nsw.gov.au account on say iOS’s mail app I get the same password error. When I try and setup the account in iOS’s Gmail App I am successfully redirected to the portal login page. I can then successfully stay signed in. Like the proxy issue above, I suspect Chromium OS is not yet able to display a page which would allow single sign-on to redirect to the portal login page. There is a guest mode which would allow a proper sign in to happen temporary if you were able to connect to the internet successfully. I didn’t really test out guest mode but I believe you couldn’t edit a certain setting required to connect to the internet.

Problem 3

Despite the issues we still continued on. Our goal was to have five test Chromderiums. I had been manually installing each OS. We tried to take an image of one setup system and clone it to other hard drives. We ran into issues.here. I believe the partitions were not recognised. In the end cloning the whole disk seemed to work. When the cloned drive had been placed into a new laptop the setup screen reappeared. This shouldn’t have happened. We should have been taken to the login screen.

So instead of taking an image I manually installed Chromium on five other drives. I set them up with unique accounts. When the drives were taken from the laptop they were originally installed on and placed into other laptops the setup screen reappeared. This leads me to believe that when Chromium OS is installed it does something like take a copy of hardware serial numbers and stores them. If the hardware serial numbers don’t match what they were during original setup, the setup screen appears.

If the above issues didn’t exist, Chromium OS would be a fantastic way to bring new life to old devices. I don’t think these issues are on DEC. These are issues Google need to solve if they want to target the education market with their Chromebooks. I have seen some of these issues mentioned in the Chromium OS bug tracker. They may have already been solved in proper Chromebooks. The ideal situation for us would be

Start Up Laptop
Prompted for Username and Password for DER WiFi.
Prompted for Username and Password for proxy.
Sign in using DEC Google Apps account.
Begin Work.

In a perfect world:
Start Up Laptop
Login Once – WiFi, Proxy and Google Apps
Begin Work

The Chromderium works. twitter.com/nickpatsianas/…

— Nick Patsianas (@nickpatsianas) May 7, 2013

Thanks for the great support, today I’m releasing my guide to everyone. A special thanks to Mr Rennex for his great assistance and support.

Requirements

• iPad 1 (Jailbroken on 4.3.3 or 5.0.1)
• iPad 2 (Jailbroken on 4.3.3 or 5.0.1)
• iPhone 4 (Jailbroken on 4.3.3 or 5.0.1)
• iPhone 4S (Jailbroken on 5.0 or 5.0.1)
• iPod Touch 4 (Jailbroken on 4.3.3 or 5.0.1)
• Dock to VGA Adapter (DSE – JB-HiFi)
• Laptop connected to a Smartboard (Smartboard Software must be installed)
• iDevice and Laptop connected to the same Network

Things to Note

• Your device must be jailbroken because we will be using applications that are not available on the App Store. Jailbreaking is easy and you can revert back to the original non jailbroken state with no trouble. Your device must be jailbroken at all times for this to work.
• If you’re using Windows you will need to be allowed to run executable files on your laptop. You may also need to allow the program we will be using through your firewall.
• The iDevice and Laptop must be connected to the same network. Some larger networks using both wireless and Ethernet may cause problems. If you have a smart phone you can setup your own wireless network and connect your devices to it.
• The iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod Touch 4 have shown quite a few problems during testing. These problems are caused by the larger vertical 960 resolution. Landscape mode should work with a quick rotation of the screen in your screen resolution settings.
• The iPad 1 and iPad 2 both face similar issues with portrait mode.
• Multi touch gestures like Pinch to Zoom will not work with this. Anything that requires two fingers in one place at the same time will also cause problems.
• Some apps have a rotation issue that makes touch input line up incorrectly. Flipping the app makes this issue go away with the cost of having an upside down app. Changing the rotation in your screen resolution settings could fix this.

What to Do

• iPad 1, iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4 users can start here. Open the Cydia app on your devices and let it update. Once it has finished tap the search tab and type in “DisplayOut”. You will need to purchase this application, buying applications on Cydia is a little different. Your application purchases are tied to your Google or Facebook account, payments are made using the popular PayPal service. DisplayOut allows iPad 1, iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4 devices to mirror what’s on their display using the Dock to VGA Adapter. You do not need this application for your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 because it supports mirroring natively.
  

  The DisplayOut app on the Cydia Store.

• iPhone 4S and iPad 2 users can start here. Open the Cydia app and let it update. Once it has finished tap the search tab and type in “Veency”. Veency is a free Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server for your iDevice. It allows you to connect and control your iDevice from any computer or device that has a VNC client.
  

  The Veency app on the Cydia Store.

• On Windows download and extract TightVNC Viewer. On Mac download and install Chicken of the VNC. These are VNC clients, they allow us to connect and control our iDevices when Veency is installed. This is how mouse input will be transferred to the iDevice.

1. Locate your iDevices IP address. You can do this by going to Settings > Wi-Fi > “Your Network Arrow” > IP Address. Remember that your iDevice and laptop should be connected to the same network.
2. Open your VNC client and enter the iDevices IP Address. Before connecting make sure you select Low-bandwidth connection.
3. Press Connect. You may receive a firewall notification. If that does happen you will need to allow the connection to happen.
4. Your iDevice will now ask you if you want to accept the connection request. Press Accept. If you do not receive this prompt make sure you iDevice isn’t on standby. 3G iDevices disconnect from WiFi after a short time on standby.
5. You will now need to minimize your VNC client so that we can change your screens resolution. Set your screen resolution to 1024×768. Make sure your display is also cloned and not set to extended desktop. Extended desktop will cause problems unless you have a second monitor.
6. Calibrating your smartboard at this point may provide better results.
7. Open your VNC client back up and enter full screen. TightVNC Viewer has a button third from the left that allows you to enter full screen. You can exit full screen by pressing Control + Shift + Alt + F.
8. Disconnect the VGA cable from the laptop while leaving everything else the same. Connect it to the iDevice.

If everything worked correctly you should have lag free interaction with your iDevice from the smartboard. Good Luck!

Earlier this year I had an idea that would allow me to control my iPad from a Smart Board. Last week I got to test it out on a Smart Board for about 5 minutes. Today was my first day back at school so I decided I would test it out fully. The the video demo is below. A big thank you to Mr Rennex for recording and being extremely patient with the many mistakes I made.

How can I do this?

Right now you can’t but in the future I will release my guide explaining how to do this.

When is the guide coming out?

Right now there’s quite a few things that aren’t working correctly. I like things to be perfect so I really want to try and fix those problems before I release my guide. I have just returned to school so things are pretty busy. When everything dies down a bit I can get back to work on this project.

Can I get it now?

Maybe. I’d rather not give something away that is broken. If you really want it send me an email and we can sort something out.

Edit: http://nickstechspace.net/how-to-control-your-ipad-from-a-smart-board/

Late last year I purchased a Dock to VGA adapter for my iPad 2 so I could connect it to projectors. The iPhone 4S and iPad 2 support display mirroring just like a laptop. The iPhone 4, iPad 1 and iPod Touch 4 can support display mirroring only when jailbroken. I showed some of the PE staff who had purchased the latest iPhone. They were quite impressed with what their new devices could do and were keen to trial some apps on the big screen. I trialled some of my own apps on the big screen too. One day during music I decided to show the Garage Band app on the smartboard. Garage Band features an interactive guitar that you can play by moving your finger across the screen. Someone tried to play the guitar using the smartboard and then asked me why it didn’t work. I told them it was visuals only. After that I had a quick think about getting the touch working. I came to a conclusion that it would not be possible because of the connections on the iPad and the limitations from Apple. During the New Year I came up with some thoughts on something that may allow a smartboards touch to interact with an iPad. I did a couple of Google searches to see if anyone had any more information on my thoughts and nothing turned up. After quite a bit of tinkering and testing I think I may have the solution.

I’ve temporary removed this guide. It’ll be back soon. For this to work correctly you need a jailbroken device. You should Jailbreak ASAP or avoid updating to the latest version of iOS. Guides to jailbreak your devices are below.

iPad 1 5.0.1

iPad 2 5.0.1

iPhone 4S 5.0.1

iPhone 4 5.0.1

iPod Touch 4 5.0.1