[Matt Devo]

I did a fresh install of ubuntu 16.04.1 (64bit) on my Panther Chromebox. I installed Kodi and ran the E-Z script to update my coreboot it installed fine... Now after Reboot I get

EFI Shell version 2.60 [1.0]
Current running mode 1.1.2

Press ESC in X seconds to skip startup.nsh, any other key to continue.
Shell>

How do i fix this?

since you changed from the older Legacy Boot firmware to the UEFI firmware, you'll need to reinstall Ubuntu from USB (do an erase/use full disk). While migrating from Legacy to UEFI is possible, it's easier just to reinstall. After reinstalling, don't click continue or reboot, but instead open a terminal and type the following commands:

sudo su
mkdir /target/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
cp /target/boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi /target/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.efi

then exit the terminal and reboot

[SandmanUT]

I've been using your script to run the Openelec/Kodi/ChromeOS configuration on my Asus (moo4u) box for quite some time now in a set it, let the kids play with it and forget it mode. It's worked great for that with kodi streaming movies from my NAS (no fingerprints on discs) and doing their homework out of the current chromeos.

However...

I now am at a point I'd like to add a gaming path (specifically Rocksmith and other music games) to that point in my home and was just considering some extended HDMI/controller options to hit that TV from a capable pc tower in my basement, but I also know that some have used the chromebox as a streaming extension for Steam.

So my question is this, I'd like to retain the functions that we already use heavily with the Kodi/ChromeOS setup, which are most important to me. What would be the ideal configuration to add the Steam streaming element to that mix? It's on a wired LAN with an Archer c9 anchoring. Is Gallium robust enough? Latest Ubuntu play nice with the current/latest configs of Matt's script? SteamOS? Run from the internal hard drive or a stubby/late generation USB3 stick with a lot more space?

What would you do if it was your box and in the control of kids under 10 years old 90% of the time? (they've got the start up keyboard commands to switch the current OS just fine)

Thanks!

[Matt Devo]

I've been using your script to run the Openelec/Kodi/ChromeOS configuration on my Asus (moo4u) box for quite some time now in a set it, let the kids play with it and forget it mode. It's worked great for that with kodi streaming movies from my NAS (no fingerprints on discs) and doing their homework out of the current chromeos.

However...

I now am at a point I'd like to add a gaming path (specifically Rocksmith and other music games) to that point in my home and was just considering some extended HDMI/controller options to hit that TV from a capable pc tower in my basement, but I also know that some have used the chromebox as a streaming extension for Steam.

So my question is this, I'd like to retain the functions that we already use heavily with the Kodi/ChromeOS setup, which are most important to me. What would be the ideal configuration to add the Steam streaming element to that mix? It's on a wired LAN with an Archer c9 anchoring. Is Gallium robust enough? Latest Ubuntu play nice with the current/latest configs of Matt's script? SteamOS? Run from the internal hard drive or a stubby/late generation USB3 stick with a lot more space?

What would you do if it was your box and in the control of kids under 10 years old 90% of the time? (they've got the start up keyboard commands to switch the current OS just fine)

Thanks!

while I haven't tested it out in a while, I think that switching to a dedicated SteamOS setup might me the way to go. I believe you can easily install Kodi from their repo now (or at least, debian's) and it gives you the BP interface that is very kid friendly. I tested this out a year or so ago, and the only stumbling block was getting HD audio to passthru correctly, but I think that's been resolved. You wouldn't be able to dual-boot it with ChromeOS (I don't think), but if you don't need to then maybe worth investigating?

You can certainly run both Steam and Kodi perfectly well from GalliumOS, even have Steam auto-start in BP mode and launch Kodi from there.

edit: one benefit you would get from switching to the latest standalone (UEFI) firmware is that the dedicated video memory is increased from 32MB to 96MB, which can help a lot with some games; adding another 2GB of RAM (so it runs in dual channel mode) helps quite a bit as well

[SandmanUT]

I've been using your script to run the Openelec/Kodi/ChromeOS configuration on my Asus (moo4u) box for quite some time now in a set it, let the kids play with it and forget it mode. It's worked great for that with kodi streaming movies from my NAS (no fingerprints on discs) and doing their homework out of the current chromeos.

However...

I now am at a point I'd like to add a gaming path (specifically Rocksmith and other music games) to that point in my home and was just considering some extended HDMI/controller options to hit that TV from a capable pc tower in my basement, but I also know that some have used the chromebox as a streaming extension for Steam.

So my question is this, I'd like to retain the functions that we already use heavily with the Kodi/ChromeOS setup, which are most important to me. What would be the ideal configuration to add the Steam streaming element to that mix? It's on a wired LAN with an Archer c9 anchoring. Is Gallium robust enough? Latest Ubuntu play nice with the current/latest configs of Matt's script? SteamOS? Run from the internal hard drive or a stubby/late generation USB3 stick with a lot more space?

What would you do if it was your box and in the control of kids under 10 years old 90% of the time? (they've got the start up keyboard commands to switch the current OS just fine)

Thanks!

while I haven't tested it out in a while, I think that switching to a dedicated SteamOS setup might me the way to go. I believe you can easily install Kodi from their repo now (or at least, debian's) and it gives you the BP interface that is very kid friendly. I tested this out a year or so ago, and the only stumbling block was getting HD audio to passthru correctly, but I think that's been resolved. You wouldn't be able to dual-boot it with ChromeOS (I don't think), but if you don't need to then maybe worth investigating?

You can certainly run both Steam and Kodi perfectly well from GalliumOS, even have Steam auto-start in BP mode and launch Kodi from there.

edit: one benefit you would get from switching to the latest standalone (UEFI) firmware is that the dedicated video memory is increased from 32MB to 96MB, which can help a lot with some games; adding another 2GB of RAM (so it runs in dual channel mode) helps quite a bit as well

That was an unexpected answer! :O

I was unaware of Kodi being available inside of Steam! I like the idea of a single stream for everything and it looks like Chrome is available inside SteamOS now instead of Iceweasel only, which helps with things like running Netflix or Hulu, etc as well as a few plugins we use. I'm pretty sure I added RAM to the box at the beginning to max it at 4, but that's an easy check/fix. When you ran your test, was there enough overhead on the machine to run Kodi on top of Steam without issues? Could I take it for a testdrive from a bootable stick?

I'm guessing that driver support would still be there for the IR receiver I have plugged in that works great with Openelec/Kodi and harmony remote.

I'll check out the UEFI update as well.

Thanks for your input Matt!

[Matt Devo]

That was an unexpected answer! :O

I was unaware of Kodi being available inside of Steam! I like the idea of a single stream for everything and it looks like Chrome is available inside SteamOS now instead of Iceweasel only, which helps with things like running Netflix or Hulu, etc as well as a few plugins we use. I'm pretty sure I added RAM to the box at the beginning to max it at 4, but that's an easy check/fix. When you ran your test, was there enough overhead on the machine to run Kodi on top of Steam without issues? Could I take it for a testdrive from a bootable stick?

I'm guessing that driver support would still be there for the IR receiver I have plugged in that works great with Openelec/Kodi and harmony remote.

I'll check out the UEFI update as well.

Thanks for your input Matt!

I'm not sure if Kodi is available "inside" Steam by default - I had to set up a shortcut manually but unsure if that's still the case. When I tested, there wasn't any performance penalty from running Kodi with Steam in the background, it was simply an issue of HD audio passthru not working due to PulseAudio or ALSA or their interaction, and so I just set up an OpenELEC/SteamOS dual boot (as this was before LibreELEC)

[SandmanUT]

ahhh..I see the path now. Thank you. So number-of-steps-wise, it's the equivalent of launching Steam from Kodi via an add-on, you're just accessing from the desktop, right?

Since launching either from Linux on startup is doable, is there a good reason to choose SteamOS for these boxes over say a Gallium install? Both say Chrome and Flash can be used, which makes them suitable for the Netflixes/Hulus/Xfinity TV of the world in addition to Kodi and Steam, right? Is it just a preference of the desktop layout or Big Picture (BP) mode or are there some underlying performance issues?

Is there any reason to keep this machine in a dual boot setup for the scenario outlined above?

[Matt Devo]

ahhh..I see the path now. Thank you. So number-of-steps-wise, it's the equivalent of launching Steam from Kodi via an add-on, you're just accessing from the desktop, right?

Since launching either from Linux on startup is doable, is there a good reason to choose SteamOS for these boxes over say a Gallium install? Both say Chrome and Flash can be used, which makes them suitable for the Netflixes/Hulus/Xfinity TV of the world in addition to Kodi and Steam, right? Is it just a preference of the desktop layout or Big Picture (BP) mode or are there some underlying performance issues?

Is there any reason to keep this machine in a dual boot setup for the scenario outlined above?

that's an answer I don't have. I'd expect that there's relatively little performance difference if any, it's just a question of if Linux running Steam/Kodi or Steam/Kodi w/Linux available better fits your needs. SteamOS will definitely have better controller support etc if gaming is a consideration. And given that it's a Chromebox, there's relatively little optimization for it in GalliumOS (relative to Chromebooks) compared to any other Linux distro.

Since I haven't used it in well over a year, I'd probably look at it as an opportunity to revisit SteamOS / play around with it some. But I also have plenty of spare boxes I can use to do so And I def would recommend ditching ChromeOS given your stated needs. As a last resort you could even run Windows + Steam/Kodi I suppose =P

[levd]

Hello Matt,

I noticed you upgraded the script to use Libreelec.
Im running Openelec on my HP Chromebox dual core celeron setup with your script and i want to use Libreelec also, do i need to change anything / rerun the script to install Libreelec? Or can i simply download the upgrade file from Libreelec for my hardware and upgrade from Openelec?

Thx,
Levd

[Matt Devo]

Or can i simply download the upgrade file from Libreelec for my hardware and upgrade from Openelec?

this works as long as your OpenELEC setup wasn't from so long ago that the 1st (system) partition is too small for what LibreELEC now requires.

If the LE upgrade fails, I'd recommend doing a back, updating to the UEFI firmware (assuming you're on a standalone setup), and doing a fresh install of LE

[levd]

Ok, is there any command i can use to check the system partition with Putty that you know off? And how large it should be minimal?
Otherwise ill do a backup, run the script and update to UEFI and install LE like you said

[Matt Devo]

Ok, is there any command i can use to check the system partition with Putty that you know off? And how large it should be minimal?
Otherwise ill do a backup, run the script and update to UEFI and install LE like you said

I think 512mb is the currently required size. you can always boot a Linux USB and resize with gparted before upgrading

[levd]

Ok thank you Matt

[Peaf]

[quote='Peaf' pid='2523934' dateline='1486912362']
Long time ago I use your (nice) script to install Openelec on my Asus...

Since openelec 7.0 is out I'm not able to update. I'm getting a size error after rebooting.

I was not able to create a usb stick with tuxboot to resize the partition (using gparted) because my asus keeps telling that its not bootable...

I'm a bit lost in what I'm must do since I'm no expert with these things.

Can someone please try and help me?

Regards,

don't use tuxboot, just dd (or cp) the ISO to the usb device. Or, use Etcher.
[/

Thank you for the help... everthing is ok now.

I was looking to this thread and it seems I should update to LibreElec instead of Openelec. Should I upgrade?
Is it simple to upgrade or I need to reinstall everything?

Thank you.

[SandmanUT]

ahhh..I see the path now. Thank you. So number-of-steps-wise, it's the equivalent of launching Steam from Kodi via an add-on, you're just accessing from the desktop, right?

Since launching either from Linux on startup is doable, is there a good reason to choose SteamOS for these boxes over say a Gallium install? Both say Chrome and Flash can be used, which makes them suitable for the Netflixes/Hulus/Xfinity TV of the world in addition to Kodi and Steam, right? Is it just a preference of the desktop layout or Big Picture (BP) mode or are there some underlying performance issues?

Is there any reason to keep this machine in a dual boot setup for the scenario outlined above?

that's an answer I don't have. I'd expect that there's relatively little performance difference if any, it's just a question of if Linux running Steam/Kodi or Steam/Kodi w/Linux available better fits your needs. SteamOS will definitely have better controller support etc if gaming is a consideration. And given that it's a Chromebox, there's relatively little optimization for it in GalliumOS (relative to Chromebooks) compared to any other Linux distro.

Since I haven't used it in well over a year, I'd probably look at it as an opportunity to revisit SteamOS / play around with it some. But I also have plenty of spare boxes I can use to do so And I def would recommend ditching ChromeOS given your stated needs. As a last resort you could even run Windows + Steam/Kodi I suppose =P

Well..waded in and got as far as the UEFI flash.

From Ubuntu 16 on a stick, all went well, made it to the end and chose "P" to power down while I went to make a Steam install stick. When I came back and restarted, it powers up but there is now no video output. Tried it with hdmi, with the DP, two different monitors, with a boot disk in, without, steam, ubuntu...just blackness. No prompt, no response to any keys.

Thought I'd stop right there before doing any additional damage and check on thoughts here. A reminder that the box is the Asus M004U, it's got 4 gigs of ram in, a wired keyboard and mouse and wired net connection. I ran the firmware utility script as outlined on your site and it looked like it did everything it was supposed to do..while I was using the terminal from Ubuntu.

** Additional info: I used the Full rom (3) option and created a backup on a separate usb stick. It was running OpenElec and Kodi under a dual boot with ChromeOS using your script until today.

[Matt Devo]

Well..waded in and got as far as the UEFI flash.

From Ubuntu 16 on a stick, all went well, made it to the end and chose "P" to power down while I went to make a Steam install stick. When I came back and restarted, it powers up but there is now no video output. Tried it with hdmi, with the DP, two different monitors, with a boot disk in, without, steam, ubuntu...just blackness. No prompt, no response to any keys.

Thought I'd stop right there before doing any additional damage and check on thoughts here. A reminder that the box is the Asus M004U, it's got 4 gigs of ram in, a wired keyboard and mouse and wired net connection. I ran the firmware utility script as outlined on your site and it looked like it did everything it was supposed to do..while I was using the terminal from Ubuntu.

** Additional info: I used the Full rom (3) option and created a backup on a separate usb stick. It was running OpenElec and Kodi under a dual boot with ChromeOS using your script until today.

some users have reported video output/handshaking issues after flashing/before an OS is installed. I'd give it a try with another HDMI cable / on a different display if you can. I can count on one hand (with digits to spare) the number of boxes actually bricked when flashing firmware over the past ~3 years