[SOLVED] HP thin client t510 and Chrome browser

SillerSoliloquy · 09-06-2014, 10:19 AM

Hi everyone,

I installed Chrome and can run it as the administrator on the thin client. However, I can't get it to run as a user, nor can I get it to auto load.

We as a company are developing a back end that will be running on the Chromium core and simply need a front end for it. So, getting it to load Chrome on boot up would be ideal.

At the moment it has the standard ThinOS but I am considering Damn Small Linux (DSL) as an option then strip it down, if I can't get Chrome to load. Perfect would be getting it to open in Kiosk mode.

Thanks in advance.

The process for installing Chrome if anyone wants to play around with this is:

Open up the terminal
Type:

Code:

fsunlock / fslock to toggle write ability

sudo apt-get purge firefox

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

cd /etc/apt
vi sources.list
Delete the first #comment on the repository.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable

cd /usr/bin
vi google-chrome
add "--user-data-dir" to the end of the file
Example: exec-a "$0" "$HERE/chrome" "$@" --user-data-dir

Run with: google-chrome

The following does not work:

Code:

ln -s  /usr/bin/google-chrome /etc/init.d/google-chrome

sudo chmod +x /etc/initi.d/google-chrome

sudo update-rc.d google-chrome defaults

qlue · 09-08-2014, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SillerSoliloquy

At the moment it has the standard ThinOS but I am considering Damn Small Linux (DSL) as an option

By, "standard ThinOS" do you mean HP's ThinPro OS?
When I do an Internet search for ThinOs I get results for Dell, not HP. However, when I search for,"HP thin client t510," I get references to ThinPro being the default OS.

Since ThinPro is debian, you should be able to set the default browser using the following;

Code:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

If that works, just setting the thin client to kiosk mode should use the default browser as set by you.

As for running an alternative Linux distro, I would advise against DSL for any future or current project as it's based on a really old and obsolete kernel.

Rather use a customised version of Debian. Start with the minimal Debian headless image and add Xorg, a window manager and software that will be needed. (Openbox and a web browser appears to be all you really need as far as I can tell)

Crunchbang is also worth considering as it provides an easy way to install either Chrome, Chromium or both without too much difficulty.

SillerSoliloquy · 09-09-2014, 07:43 AM

Yes it is ThinPro.

Code:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

Does not work, already tested that.

Thank you for the response and the advice on the Linux operating systems.

SillerSoliloquy · 09-10-2014, 03:04 PM

We found a solution that satisfies us:

Create a Custom Connection with the following:
xterm -hold - "chromium-browser"

Terminal command:
chown –R user ~/.config/chromium

famewolf · 06-08-2018, 01:26 AM

Sorry for reviving an old thread. I've had an hp T510 thin client given to me and I'd like to see about making it more usable. I've upped the memory to 4GB and have both the 16GB sata module it comes with as well as a 120GB SSD which could also be used. I've tried booting up kde neon but had issues with it as it would only do 640x480. I'm told it uses the openchrome driver but trying to install that on kde neon resulting in it hanging on reboot. I wouldn't mind having bodhi running on the little module because I could always insert a flashdrive for storage. Basically I just need more info on what I need to do to get the hardware acccepted. Currently it's booting up into "Windows 7 Starter" which doesn't really seem to let you do much of anything.

Any feedback is appreciated.

jjpi · 08-30-2018, 06:12 AM

@Famewolf:

Interestingly enough, at about the same time, I've got the same system, without the SSD. There seemed to be a lot of thin clients on ebay, with companies replacing them for ones that can run Win10.

And I'm having the same problem: either 640x480 resolution, or black screen once it's booted up. There were problems with the graphics, and apparently it may be due to this:

"the T510 uses the VX900 chipset, which is related enough to the VX800/VX855 chipsets that I know what the problem is. You've got version 0.3.3 of the openchrome driver, which has broken support for your chipset."

That's in a Puppy Linux discussion forum, under the heading "Xorg fails w/ openchrome (VIA eden x2) (solved)". There's also a solution there (using Puppy Linux). (I can't post the link, as this is my first post on here.)

I tried Lubuntu, which couldn't do the graphics and only offered 640x480; I found a post about installing a (newer?) version of Openchrome, and I tried that and a couple of other things, with the result that I got a black screen once it had booted. I may not have exhausted all possibilities with Lubuntu, but I moved on.

I tried TinyCore, but TC's version of Chromium was too out of date to install extensions, which meant I couldn't do with the T510 what I wanted to. Apparently, TinyCore has been somewhat superseded by DCore, which combines it with Ubuntu repositories etc., which makes it much more useful.

So further things I might try are:
- looking into Openchrome to see if a newer version of that would solve the problem;
- if so, I might try Lubuntu again;
- Puppy Linux (Tahrpup) with the solution given on the forum I mentioned above;
- DCore;
- Debian (haven't looked into that yet);
- HP ThinPro (based on Ubuntu/Debian) if I can find a way to install a compatible version that's still supported (It would have run version 5, I think, but it looks like you maybe can't get that version any more. I think you use the ThinUpdate software to install it). This ought to work, one would think, but it depends if the T510 is still supported in terms of having an OS with drivers which support the chipset.

Let me know if you get anywhere, and I'll do the same.

jjpi · 08-30-2018, 06:17 AM

The forum post I mentioned is here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107198