Chromebook installation

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The_BoredPrinter
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Chromebook installation

Post by The_BoredPrinter »

Hello!
I'm currently trying to download FreeCAD on my Chormebook. The computer is for school, and the OS is kind of special so the usuall file types isn't avaliable in standard. I sure CAN install some file readers, which I have. I downloaded the FreeCAD software file - or at least I think I have - but something in my OS doesn't support FreeCAD in it's current state. I don't even know if I have 32 or 64 bits on this computer. Chrome OS is built on Linux but that doesn't say it works by downloading for Linux.
Anyone out there know how I should do? Is it even possible to do this without hacking-knowledge? :-D

Thank you
// Richard
chrisb
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by chrisb »

Would you mind telling us what you downloaded? I recommend to use the Appimage.
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NormandC
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by NormandC »

Chris, a Chromebook typically runs ChromeOS, a simplified Linux-based OS made by Google which uses Google Chrome as its UI. By design you basically couldn't install anything apart from web applications. Apparently, it's been possible to install Linux apps recently, according to Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_OS#Linux_Apps

The_BoredPrinter wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:58 am Is it even possible to do this without hacking-knowledge? :-D
It looks like it requires quite some technical knowledge.
thejollinator
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by thejollinator »

All the "hacking" you need is to enable Linux (Beta) on you Chromebook (if allowed) and open the command prompt via the "Terminal" app. From there, you can follow the standard Linux installation instructions. All you should need to do is type in "sudo apt-get install freecad" and hit enter. I did this yesterday and have FreeCAD version 0.16 running on my Samsung Chromebook Plus right now.
jmaustpc
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by jmaustpc »

thejollinator wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:22 pm and have FreeCAD version 0.16 running on my Samsung Chromebook Plus right now.
Interesting. That version is very obsolete though. Something like 6000 updates behind. FreeCAD 0.18.1 is now the "release version" and development is in version 0.19dev i.e. master.

Chrome books, at least at one time, used very low end and low power hardware so that might effect FreeCAD's usefulness, at least for any complex model.

Although having said that, I run FreeCAD on a about 10 year old computer I got for free. But this laptop was rather high end when new.
thejollinator
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by thejollinator »

jmaustpc wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:33 pm
Interesting. That version is very obsolete though. Something like 6000 updates behind. FreeCAD 0.18.1 is now the "release version" and development is in version 0.19dev i.e. master.

Chrome books, at least at one time, used very low end and low power hardware so that might effect FreeCAD's usefulness, at least for any complex model.
I have the latest stable version on my main laptop, but its nice to have some ability to work on models/sketches with the portability of the chromebook. I just need to see if there will be any compatibility issues if I save a part on dropbox and try to edit the same part on both machines.

It seems like 0.16 is the most recent version that has the Ubuntu repository's seal of approval. I can't seem to download via the PPA on the chromebook. Not sure why. Keep getting a GPG error when I try to add the PPA: "gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found." Until I can figure that out, its 0.16 for me.
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kkremitzki
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by kkremitzki »

thejollinator wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:54 pm It seems like 0.16 is the most recent version that has the Ubuntu repository's seal of approval. I can't seem to download via the PPA on the chromebook. Not sure why. Keep getting a GPG error when I try to add the PPA: "gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found." Until I can figure that out, its 0.16 for me.
What commands did you run? Should just be sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freecad-maintainers/freecad-stable, then sudo apt update and sudo apt install freecad.
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jmaustpc
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by jmaustpc »

Does your Chromebook have an ARM cpu?

Yes, you will have compatibility problems trying to use 0.16 and newer FreeCAD files.
thejollinator
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by thejollinator »

kkremitzki wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 11:06 pm
thejollinator wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:54 pm It seems like 0.16 is the most recent version that has the Ubuntu repository's seal of approval. I can't seem to download via the PPA on the chromebook. Not sure why. Keep getting a GPG error when I try to add the PPA: "gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found." Until I can figure that out, its 0.16 for me.
What commands did you run? Should just be sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freecad-maintainers/freecad-stable, then sudo apt update and sudo apt install freecad.
Yes, those are the commands I used. I am looking into it more. Looks like chromebooks need to manually add the repo/ppa credentials. I'll try again next week and let you know if I find success.
jmaustpc wrote: Sun Apr 28, 2019 1:01 am Does your Chromebook have an ARM cpu?

Yes, you will have compatibility problems trying to use 0.16 and newer FreeCAD files.
I am running a V1 Chromebook Plus, so yes it is the ARM chip. I have run into other limitations because of that. Do you know of other issues running FreeCAD on the ARM chip?
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Re: Chromebook installation

Post by jmaustpc »

thejollinator wrote: Sun Apr 28, 2019 4:31 am Do you know of other issues running FreeCAD on the ARM chip?
It doesn't work. :)

The ppa doesn't compile an arm version. At one time the main problem was a lack of arm support in some of the libs, but I expect that will change over time as arm is getting more powerful and hence more useful.
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