{"id":21388,"date":"2022-12-25T18:47:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T16:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/?p=21388"},"modified":"2023-02-15T11:53:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T09:53:45","slug":"how-to-revamp-an-outdated-chromebook-into-an-up-to-date-multimedia-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/sciencesurf\/2022\/12\/how-to-revamp-an-outdated-chromebook-into-an-up-to-date-multimedia-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"How to revamp an outdated chromebook into an up to date multimedia machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have here a left over 4 year old Acer Chromebook 14 (CB3-431) here that nobody wanted to buy even for 20\u20ac on the flea market. It was running under Chrome OS Edgar 2016 Intel Braswell where software support expired recently. So I decided to refresh it with a modern Ubuntu\/Debian version as there are many positive reports out there, that it will run even even better<\/a> than before.<\/p>\n

As recommended I installed Gallium OS<\/a> 3.1. Bismuth as a dual boot system with 22 GB of 24 GB for the new operating system (Gallium takes about 3,5 GB while my 1 TB external SSD works flawless with this setup). https:\/\/chrx.org<\/a> has step by step instructions\u00a0 for a dual boot system.<\/p>\n

This takes about 2 hours as this is a long and complicated process: resetting the Chromebook to developer mode (ESC + F3\/circle + power), followed by\u00a0 firmware update<\/a> and fresh\u00a0 partitioning.<\/p>\n

Now the machine boots into a white OS verification screen from where CTRL+D goes into ChromeOS (as before) while\u00a0CTRL+L leads to Gallium (user chrx, password chrx). Sounds perfect but on the second day I accidentally hit a wrong key deleting everything. So I removed now also the hardware boot lock<\/a> and restarted the firmware utility script<\/a> a second time for setting the GBB flag to boot directly to Gallium OS without delay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
removing the Acer Chromebook hardware lock, screwdriver pointing to it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next I installed OBS to connecting my DSLR\u00a0 cameras for streaming a Christmas service. Took me some time to figure out which OBS version<\/a> was working with NDI. I can recommend NDI Plugin 4.9.1<\/a> and\u00a0 PTZ Plugin 0.10.2<\/a> that work with OBS 25.0.8. (OBS 28 had issues with NDI).<\/p>\n

\r\n# system\r\nsudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0 gparted ufw gufw\r\n\r\n# php\r\nsudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej\/php\r\nsudo apt-get update\r\nsudo apt-get install php7.4-cli php7.4-fpm php7.4-opcache php7.4-sqlite3 php7.0-gd\r\nsudo php -S 0.0.0.0:80 -t \/home\/chrx\/Downloads\/phpserver\r\n\r\n# camera control\r\nsudo apt-get install exiftool gphoto2 v4l2loopback-dkms\r\n\r\n# streaming\r\ngit clone https:\/\/github.com\/puhitaku\/mtplvcap.git\r\nsudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject\/obs-studio\r\nsudo apt-get update\r\nsudo apt-get install obs-studio\r\n\r\n# selphy printer\r\nsudo apt-get install printer-driver-gutenprint cheese photoprint\r\n\r\n# nextcloud\r\nsudo add-apt-repository ppa:nextcloud-devs\/client\r\nsudo apt install nextcloud-client\r\n<\/pre>\n
Connecting to an iPhone Wifi Hotspot running the EpoCam App works with NDI. Also the Atem Mini<\/a> is recognized in the LAN as a video source. Tested also Millumin 2<\/a> as NDI feed while Magic Music Visuals<\/a> needs NDISyphon<\/a> as MMV has no native NDI output…<\/p>\n
The USB connection of Nikon Z cameraw was a bit more difficult, so I went back to a trusted D.<\/p>\n
Gphoto2 sees the camera, but unfortunately FFMPEG has no more NDI support since 2019 – fresh compile, patches or downgrading did not work for me. v4l2loopback recommended elsewhere also failed due to some kernel issues. The only strategy that worked is mtplvcap<\/a>. It provides an output that can be accessed via a web URL in OBS.<\/p>\n
As USB was frozen from time to time, I wrote a shell script that could quickly resetting the port<\/a> when necessary. Finally I added also PHP 7 as a server (and nextcloud<\/a> as online backup) for my photobooth. And well, also the trusted Selphy 800 is working after fiddling around<\/a> with CUPS.<\/p>\n
The old chromebook is now a great multimedia machine, it can stream from various sources and can also run a photobooth with image download and printing.<\/p>\n
So far it is running stable with many hours of low power consumption. At 20\u20ac, I believe it is now worth\u00a0 the twentyfold price competing even with a Macbook in this price range.<\/p>\n
Postscriptum: Unintentional disabling of the developer mode results in a complete system loss but can be prevented with<\/p>\n
\r\n# https:\/\/wiki.archlinux.org\/title\/Chrome_OS_devices\r\n\/usr\/share\/vboot\/bin\/set_gbb_flags.sh 0x489\r\n<\/pre>\n\n
 <\/p>\n
\n  CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 11.04.2026<\/span>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have here a left over 4 year old Acer Chromebook 14 (CB3-431) here that nobody wanted to buy even for 20\u20ac on the flea market. It was running under Chrome OS Edgar 2016 Intel Braswell where software support expired recently. So I decided to refresh it with a modern Ubuntu\/Debian version as there are … Continue reading How to revamp an outdated chromebook into an up to date multimedia machine<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4031,4028,4026,4029,3998,3558,2881,4030,3559],"class_list":["post-21388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-software","tag-acer","tag-atem-mini","tag-chromeos","tag-gallium","tag-ndi","tag-obs","tag-ubuntu","tag-flea-market","tag-streaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21388"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21691,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21388\/revisions\/21691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}