[Netix]

Thanks, guys. Good to know - I have a Samsung TV also and just ordered a Pulse-Eight USB-CEC adapter the other day. Can't wait to test it out on my HTPC.

Any Steam users try in-home streaming on the Chromebox? A $180 satellite for streaming XBMC and Steam from my HTPC mothership would be awesome. Looking for a computer to stream all my movies, music and games to any room in the house, and I hope the Chromebox is it.

I'm running Ubuntu 14.04 on the Chromebox and I installed the steam client for Ubuntu and I'm able to use Steam in-home streaming flawlessly. I'm streaming them from my Window 7 PC ( i5 3470, GTX 670, 16gb ram)

[guttermonk]

Thanks, guys. Good to know - I have a Samsung TV also and just ordered a Pulse-Eight USB-CEC adapter the other day. Can't wait to test it out on my HTPC.

Any Steam users try in-home streaming on the Chromebox? A $180 satellite for streaming XBMC and Steam from my HTPC mothership would be awesome. Looking for a computer to stream all my movies, music and games to any room in the house, and I hope the Chromebox is it.

I'm running Ubuntu 14.04 on the Chromebox and I installed the steam client for Ubuntu and I'm able to use Steam in-home streaming flawlessly. I'm streaming them from my Window 7 PC ( i5 3470, GTX 670, 16gb ram)

Netix, nice setup! I've got 12.04 on my HTPC that automatically goes from full-screen XBMC to Steam big picture mode by using Cuttlefish. Planning on a similar setup on the Chromebox, except that I want to use XBMCbuntu. After testing out OpenELEC and XBMCbuntu by booting with a USB drive, I really liked the flexibility of XBMCbuntu and it's low use of system resources. It also boots just as fast. You can only install Steam on OpenELEC's 32 bit version (according to their wiki), so that was a deal breaker. I've heard good reviews about the Chromebox with XBMCbuntu and it sounds like Steam works well... hoping Valve releases in-home streaming for linux-to-linux soon and ordering the Chromebox right meow.

[deathtical]

SteamOS ran fine from what I tested, and a cursory search shows others using lesser hardware for the client. You might want to just run SteamOS and install XBMC there: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamun...742587380/

Or you can install SteamOS and OpenELEC and use a plugin to have OE reboot to SteamOS:
http://openelec.tv/forum/128-addons/6235...mitstart=0

But that will likely require some advanced partition setup and editing

The last time I tried to install SteamOS on anything with less than 500Gb of disc space it refused to install. I think that is a primary requirement. That was a few months back though. May be different now.

[busbeepbeep]

Great, thanks Matt... jumped on newegg's $169.99 shipped deal .

figures it would finally go on sale, just bought my 2nd chromebox for $178 a few days ago

[Matt Devo]

The last time I tried to install SteamOS on anything with less than 500Gb of disc space it refused to install. I think that is a primary requirement. That was a few months back though. May be different now.

as noted in the OP, I've personally run SteamOS on the (celeron) ChromeBox and it works just fine. Played some Half-Life2: Episode 2 with an xbox 360 controller (using a PC USB receiver) and everything worked as expected.

I think originally Valve restricted the SteamOS install to a UEFI BIOS and a large HDD, but newer versions support legacy BIOSes and relaxed the HDD requirement. Plus, there 3rd party installers as well.

[levendis]

as noted in the OP, I've personally run SteamOS on the (celeron) ChromeBox and it works just fine.

How difficult would it be to set up the Chromebox to dual-boot between OpenElec and SteamOS? Can you point to a guide on how to partition the drive to accomplish that?

I'm running standalone OpenElec from your script and it's running beautifully, but I'd love to find some way to play some games on the system, and it seems there's no simple solution for running emulators on OE yet. Any suggestions?

[Matt Devo]

How difficult would it be to set up the Chromebox to dual-boot between OpenElec and SteamOS? Can you point to a guide on how to partition the drive to accomplish that?

I'm running standalone OpenElec from your script and it's running beautifully, but I'd love to find some way to play some games on the system, and it seems there's no simple solution for running emulators on OE yet. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure, I'd have to google and do the research just the same as you. I assume it would involve resizing the OE 'Storage' partition, which on a standalone setup is going to be about 14GB, then installing SteamOS, then installing/configuring GRUB to allow for booting to both.

[levendis]

I'm not sure, I'd have to google and do the research just the same as you. I assume it would involve resizing the OE 'Storage' partition, which on a standalone setup is going to be about 14GB, then installing SteamOS, then installing/configuring GRUB to allow for booting to both.

Okay, thanks. It sounds like it's not worth it yet, but I may look into figuring this out at some point.

[thePCisDead]

Does anyone know yet if Matt Devo's script, OpenELEC, Ubuntu, drivers, etc. will all work with the new HP Chromebox? I am thinking about getting the 4 GB model.

Thanks

[Matt Devo]

Does anyone know yet if Matt Devo's script, OpenELEC, Ubuntu, drivers, etc. will all work with the new HP Chromebox? I am thinking about getting the 4 GB model.

Thanks

it should. Hardware-wise, the HP ChromeBox (zako) and the Asus (panther) are nearly identical. And if you're going the dual-boot route, everything can be reversed easily enough.

The only thing I'll need to update is the part of the script which checks the device type/name before updating the legacy BIOS, since right now it only checks for 'PANTHER.' I suppose it's possible the HP ChromeBox doesn't have a broken legacy BIOS out of the box and won't need the update. But if it does, you can always flash the updated legacy BIOS manually if I haven't updated the script yet.

[thePCisDead]

Does anyone know yet if Matt Devo's script, OpenELEC, Ubuntu, drivers, etc. will all work with the new HP Chromebox? I am thinking about getting the 4 GB model.

Thanks

it should. Hardware-wise, the HP ChromeBox (zako) and the Asus (panther) are nearly identical. And if you're going the dual-boot route, everything can be reversed easily enough.

The only thing I'll need to update is the part of the script which checks the device type/name before updating the legacy BIOS, since right now it only checks for 'PANTHER.' I suppose it's possible the HP ChromeBox doesn't have a broken legacy BIOS out of the box and won't need the update. But if it does, you can always flash the updated legacy BIOS manually if I haven't updated the script yet.

Thanks Matt! I think it's time for me to buy a new device

[DocG]

I actually wondered the same thing. It's a shame the HP Chromebox only has 10/100 Ethernet, as opposed to the Gigabit on the Asus. I do very much like the look of the color options though.

Edit: Hmm, now I've looked at a different specs page and it actually does say Gigabit?

[Matt Devo]

I actually wondered the same thing. It's a shame the HP Chromebox only has 10/100 Ethernet, as opposed to the Gigabit on the Asus. I do very much like the look of the color options though.

Edit: Hmm, now I've looked at a different specs page and it actually does say Gigabit?

it's the same hardware on both the Asus/HP, I'd be highly surprised if it's not a misprint.

[Topken]

Oh HP. It looks like they have 4 different boxes on amazon that all have the same specs at different prices.

[thePCisDead]

Oh HP. It looks like they have 4 different boxes on amazon that all have the same specs at different prices.

Just buy direct

http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP...=OfferList

http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP...=OfferList

http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP...=OfferList