2015-07-13, 03:53
A fellow retired expat here in the mountains of Western Panama with very minimal computer skills bought a used ASUS Chromebox Model CN60 via Amazon. He bought it to use as a Chromebox to use Chrome and Chrome Apps. When turned on, it boots instantly to Kodi on OpenELEC, and it has apparently been converted and the Chrome OS was deleted. A web search found a reviewer who contacted ASUS,and they confirmed that the CN60 is identical to the M004U, but appears to have been sold in India, and not the U.S. There are apparently some shady operators in India selling used hardware to Americans via Amazon, including hard drives and mini-computer boxes, and lots of problems have been reported. My friend did not get what he ordered, but it's not broken, and returning it to Amazon in the U.S. via a freight forwarder in Miami would be expensive and complicated.
I showed my friend what Kodi is, and he likes it. Kodi means that he can cancel his local cable TV, which is all Spanish, and watch American TV via Kodi. However he wanted to use Chrome as a browser, so I found the OpenELEC/Kodi build on the Kodi unofficial channel, installed it, but it is a rooted app, totally un-secure, and therefore dangerous to use for financial transactions, including online shopping and banking. Now he also wants Skype, which OpenELEC/Kodi does not support, and I'm guessing he will want other apps in the future.
My options are to wipe the SSD and restore Chrome OS and run Kodi on Chrome - or dual boot to OpenElec/Kodi - which is complicated.
But what about installing Linux Mint 17.2 with the Cinnamon desktop shell, and running as apps, Kodi 15 RC3 plus the Chrome Browser, Skype and any other popular app he wants? Since I'm going to end up supporting this friend's Chromebox for the long term, I want it to be as simple and reliable as possible. Maximum performance is not necessary, and he does not have a hi-def TV.
I am a former contract corporate senior network administrator (Novell Netware) and have worked with Microsoft OS's since DOS 2.1. I was never as fast as my younger IT coworkers, and my professional skills are 15 years old. But I can still muddle my way through external booting, partitioning, flashing BIOS's and installing operating systems and apps.
My guess is that a Linux Mint install with the Cinnamon desktop and Linux apps including Chrome and Skype would be the easiest solution.
I showed my friend what Kodi is, and he likes it. Kodi means that he can cancel his local cable TV, which is all Spanish, and watch American TV via Kodi. However he wanted to use Chrome as a browser, so I found the OpenELEC/Kodi build on the Kodi unofficial channel, installed it, but it is a rooted app, totally un-secure, and therefore dangerous to use for financial transactions, including online shopping and banking. Now he also wants Skype, which OpenELEC/Kodi does not support, and I'm guessing he will want other apps in the future.
My options are to wipe the SSD and restore Chrome OS and run Kodi on Chrome - or dual boot to OpenElec/Kodi - which is complicated.
But what about installing Linux Mint 17.2 with the Cinnamon desktop shell, and running as apps, Kodi 15 RC3 plus the Chrome Browser, Skype and any other popular app he wants? Since I'm going to end up supporting this friend's Chromebox for the long term, I want it to be as simple and reliable as possible. Maximum performance is not necessary, and he does not have a hi-def TV.
I am a former contract corporate senior network administrator (Novell Netware) and have worked with Microsoft OS's since DOS 2.1. I was never as fast as my younger IT coworkers, and my professional skills are 15 years old. But I can still muddle my way through external booting, partitioning, flashing BIOS's and installing operating systems and apps.
My guess is that a Linux Mint install with the Cinnamon desktop and Linux apps including Chrome and Skype would be the easiest solution.