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Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
#1
Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
My old laptop got to the point it wouldn't start.  I bought this new chromebook.  Seems good so far.  I know this is a stupid question but, do I need to start over and download Oscar on this computer like I did back in the day?  I think I know the answer, but any guidance will be welcome.
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#2
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
(03-04-2020, 09:43 PM)chronic Wrote: My old laptop got to the point it wouldn't start.  I bought this new chromebook.  Seems good so far.  I know this is a stupid question but, do I need to start over and download Oscar on this computer like I did back in the day?  I think I know the answer, but any guidance will be welcome.

Yes, you will have to re-install Oscar on the Chromebook. In fact Oscar does not run directly under Chrome OS, rather inside a "container" running the Debian Linux environment. which all recent Chromebooks have.

Once you have it all installed, it will appear like it is running directly on the Chromebook though.

Which model of Chromebook do you have. Please be specific as to the manufacturer and the full model name. We will need this to select the correct Oscar package for you to install.
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#3
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
Thanks for the reply and the great spirit!!  I was thinking there might be a complication that might get the best of me.  OK, here is what I see so far
Acer Chromebook 15, CB3-532.  If you need more just let me know.  Thanks again for what you are doing!
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#4
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
Thanks.  The good news is that your Chromebook is new enough to run the Linux subsystem, and so we will be able to get Oscar running for you.

The not quite so good news is that while one of the best features of Chromebooks is their security due to Google's updates, one of the less known features is that these updates end after about 6 years. And the one you have is scheduled to get its last update in June of 2022. The latest models on sale now will get their last update some time in 2026. Of course, it will keep working long after 2022, it's just unfortunate to buy anew one that was brought to market in 2016, and so will only get updates for 2 years or so. I don't know if you have any ability to change it for a later model; if so I can give you a link to where you can see the last updates for all Chromebooks.

Anyway, the first thing to do is to make sure your Chromebook is up to date. If it is left on and connected to the Internet, it will update itself, and then ask you to restart it so it uses the latest version. The way you would find out which version it is on would be to go to the settings page (which is accessed by clicking on the little toothed gear symbol) and then finding the legend "About Chrome OS" over to the left and clicking on that. Then you should see a box up towards the top that says "Check for Updates". Click on that, and it will either tell you that you are up to date, or else start updating your system.

The next release of Oscar will support Chromebooks and Chromeboxes which can run the Linux subsystem, but the existing version already works. I will be writing the installation instructions for the next release, which I expect to be slightly easier to install, so I'm expecting to learn a lot from your installation experience.

Let me know when you have updated your chromebook to the latest version, which should be a number like 80.0.3987.128 and we'll get to installation.
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#5
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
Wow, mine has the exact same number which you just gave me.  I'll be around.
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#6
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
That's good. I suspected it might have updated to that level, but I wanted to be certain.

Let's just check that you can run the Linux subsystem. The google page says your model can, but Acer's page shows
a few different models with that number.

Please go back to the Settings page, and look on the left hand column for an entry labelled "Linux (Beta)"
Click on that, and the right hand side will show a box that says
Code:
Linux                                                                                                                   Turn On
Run Linux tools,............

Click in the "Turn On" box, and another windows will pop up saying "Install Linux (Beta) on your ChromeBook".
Click on the Install button, and after the progress bar finishes, a window with a black background will come up, looking a bit like a neater version of the ols MS-DOS window.
If it didn't go well, let us know what did happen.

If all that goes well, we'll leave that as it is, and go back to your Chrome web browser to get Oscar.
Go to the Oscar downloads page; there's a link to that close to the middle of the black horizontal bar
not far from the top of this page.

Go to that page on your Chromebook, and over on the right side, you'll see the installation package labelled OSCAR_1.0.1_Debian9_amd64

This is the one you want to download. Your Chrome browser will probably ask you to save it, probably in your Downloads folder, so go ahead and do that.

More to come.
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#7
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
It didn't go well, I found it just as you described and after several minutes it  told me that it failed, gave me a chance to try again.  I did twice.  No go.  So, I am stuck for now.
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#8
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
Well, I took the dog for a drive, tried to think, I came back sat down and tried to do the Linux beta again.  Funny thing, it went to a page that made me think it might have downloaded or part of it or it thinks it downloaded it.

There never has been a window with a black background.
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#9
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
On a hunch I decided to go look at the, well I don't know what to call it, but, I call it the apps page.  Lo and behold, there was an app for the Linux!!!!!
Ok, I will read more instructions.

Ok, it is done the download is done for Oscar and waiting on further instructions.
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#10
RE: Installing Oscar to new Chromebook
(03-05-2020, 06:28 PM)chronic Wrote: On a hunch I decided to go look at the, well I don't know what to call it, but, I call it the apps page.  Lo and behold, there was an app for the Linux!!!!!
Ok, I will read more instructions.

Ok, it is done the download is done for Oscar and waiting on further instructions.

Ok, I must admit that although I first looked up your Acer CB3-532 and found that it was a codename banon in this page

https://cros-updates-serving.appspot.com/
and then I looked up banon in this page
Which Chromebook platforms support Linux
and it said it was supported, so then I went to this page that tells you when the end of updates are
Chromebook end of updates
and it said mid 2022. Then I went to the Acer page and it seemed to me you might have an Intel Celeron 3060 processor, and I thought they didn't support Linux on Chromebooks.

That's why I gave you the staged instructions; I thought there was a real possibility that Linux wouldn't install, because your Chromebook has too old a processor.

And although it's a good sign if you've found an icon for Linux apps in one of the screens that the Launcher button shows, it's also not a good sign that you don't get the black background text window. Without the Linux subsystem working, Oscar is not supported and can't be run on chromebooks.

I'll include one more link that tells you how to take a screenshot on a Chromebook, so you can post a screenshot of any difficulty you have. It is
How to take a screenshot on a Chromebook

Let's be optimistic, and assume that maybe the black window appeared, but went under another window.

What you need to do now is to install the .deb file that you downloaded. We don't need to do this in Linux, it's simpler to do it from Chrome.
Do you know where the file was saved? You may have had your browser set to save it in your Downloads folder, or you may have had it set to ask you where to save anything (in which case, you probably know). Either way, now open the Chrome Files App, and go to the folder with the .deb file that you downloaded.

When you find it, we can open it and install it from the files App. If you are using a mouse, you should right click on the downloaded .deb file name, or if you are using the Chromebook touchpad, you will need to hold down the alt key while you click once anywhere in the touchpad. This will bring up a submenu, and the first item on that menu should be

Install with Linux (Beta)

left click (or click without the Alt key) on that item and it will start to install, I think it may ask you to confirm you want to install, so go ahead and do that.

It will then tell you that is has successfully started to install, and quite quickly, it will probably tell you that there has been an error with the installation. Do not be too concerned with this, it just is complaining because this package was built without an icon for Chrome.

After you get this error message, you can dismiss the little window it came in.

Now we will need the black window, because to run Oscar, we will need to type in the black backgrounded window, and we'll type

OSCAR<Enter>

where <Enter> just means press the enter key. OSCAR must be typed just like that, in all upper case.

If we are successful, we will be given a small square window that asks us to select our language as English.

If you get that, that's great, but don't be too eager and click on it's OK button just yet, because 2 or 3 questions later, Oscar will be asking if you want to download from an SD Card, and that works a little differently.

So leave that window for the moment, and let me know if your Chromebook has a full size SD Card slot like your CPAP machine has, or whether it has a micro SD Card slot. It's almost certain it will have one or the other.

If it has a full size slot, all is well. If not, you will either have to get a full size SD Card to USB adapter to use with your existing card, or you will have to get another micro SD Card of the kind that comes with an adapter from micro to full-size.

If we assume that your Chromebook has a full size SD Card slot, then put the card from your CPAP machine in the Chromebook slot. It's probably a good idea to set the write protect first, (and remember to unset it again before you put it back in the CPAP, although I will verify for you that it should not be required.

The Chrome OS will put up a small window asking if you want to open the SD Card in the files App or to Open Settings. We do want to Open in the Files App, and we have to do this, because it is part of Google's extra security for Chromebooks that removable devices must be specifically allowed to be "shared with Linux". You only have to do this part once.

So when the files App opens, you will see your SD Card listed towards the bottom of the left half of the app, as SD Card. Again, we want to select this legend "SD Card" by clicking once on the touchpad on "SD Card" and then holding down the alt key while clicking once anywhere on the touchpad (or right clicking if you are using a mouse). We will then see a submenu which has as its 4th and bottom choice "Share with Linux". We will select this choice, and we'll have to confirm it in another popup.

Now the Linux subsystem will be able to see the SD Card with all your CPAP data (although we haven't told Oscar where it is yet).
When you are done with Oscar, you will need to use the files App again to safely eject the SD Card.

So now go to the window we got from Oscar, and we can accept the language choice (or an alternative). It will then ask where to store it's data, and offer a default choice, which would be safe to accept on a new system. then it will want to know if you want to import any Sleepyhead data, and I think the answer should be no at least for the moment. It's thinking there may be Sleepyhead data on the machine already, and in your case there won't be. If you wanted to import Sleepyhead data from your old machine, it could probably be done, but I haven't tried it yet, and we would have to work out how you would transfer from your old system, and how Linux would see the files.

So after you've declined the Sleepyhead Import, you will be at the Welcome screen, and you will have to create a new profile. I'll assume you know how to do that already. It's a new machine, you can use any name you like, and the name is all that is required in the four boxes of setting up a new profile.

After that, you'll want to import from your SD Card, which we already have on the Chromebook. You may be used to using the F12 key on the keyboard, but as you can see the Chromebook doesn't have those function keys. The rightmost key above the numbers might work, but I don't think I've tried that yet, so let's just use either the "File" menu of the "CPAP Importer" data button on the welcome page.

When you click on that, you will see a box with a progress bar in it and 2 buttons marked "choose a folder and Cancel. The progress bar runs for 20 seconds and it doesn't matter which button you press, I believe the installation you have will always wait for 20 seconds before it gives you a bigger box in which you can tell it how the Linux subsystem knows the SD card.
So o suggest you just wait out the 20 seconds until the File Dialog Box appears. We know about this bug and it may get fixed by the next release.

When you get that box, unlike windows, there are no C: or D: or any drives with a colon in them.

The SD Card is know to Linux as
Code:
/mnt/chromeos/MyFiles/removable/SD Card

and how we get that into the dialog box is to go to the left panel (titled "Places") and click on "File System"
Then go to the panel slightly to the right titled "Name" and double click on "mnt"
Then in the same panel titled "Name" we double click on "chromeos"
Then in the same panel titled "Name" we double click on "removable"
Then in the same panel titled "Name" we single click on "SD Card", and then we click on the "Open" button in the bottom right of that box.

That should start Oscar importing from the SD Card, and when it is done, you should be able to use Oscar as you did before.

I'm still a bit concerned as to whether your machine can run Linux, but if it is offering you the choice, then it should work.

If it is possible for you to return your Chromebook and get a similar model that is newer, and will continue to get updates for more years, then I should seriously consider it. It doesn't seem fair that you should buy an older model that has been out for 4 years already, and so you will only get 2.5 more years of updates, just because the sore didn't know this or
bother to tell you.

I don't know what you had to pay for it, but for reference, I am using a Lenovo 100e Chromebook that I bought just over a week ago in Best Buy for $119, new.
It runs Oscar just fine (although it does only have an 11 inch screen unlike your 15"). Like yours though it has an HDMI slot and I could use it on my TV or monitor if I wanted to make my graphs big.

If it all works, you can just shut down Oscar normally, and then the Linux subsystem will be shut down when you shut down your Chromebook.
It will not automatically start again when you start up your Chromebook again, you will need to find it in the Launcher set of windows and click on it there. Once the Linux subsystem is running, there will be an icon on what Google calls the "shelf" which will be the black bar running across the bottom of the screen (unless you moved it to the left or right edge). If you see it there, you can alt-click (or mouse right click) on it and a submenu choice will be to "Pin" the icon to the shelf. This will be an easier way to start it. (This icon will also allow you to stop the Linux subsystem, but remember that Oscar needs this to run.)

Remember also to use the Chrome OS Files App to eject your SD Card, and remember also that although your data may be backed up to your Google Drive under Chrome OS, your Linux data will not be, and so you should separately, on your own take regular backups of your Linux data, because that is your Oscar data.

Best of luck; if you get stuck, see if you can post a screenshot.
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