feature request - graphical chroot in a tab

[tedm]

Can we get crouton so instead of hot-keying, it is just in a tab in chrome? Then we get our linux and chroot a bit more seamless, without hot-keying back and forth.

Seems like one would just need to modify the chrubuntu so it fits in a chrome window instead of the whole physical display.

[dnschneid]

I've been experimenting with a vnc target that can be used instead of X11 and Xephyr, allowing you to access the chroot's desktop through an offline VNC client. It sort of works, but I need to figure out how to launch a new Chromium tab from the shell. If you can figure that out, I can put the final pieces together and put it up for testing.

[tedm]

When I run the VNC client you linked to, it says it doesn't support ARM yet. Also, what VNC server are you running in the chroot? I installed vino, but I think it needs gnome.

To run a command from the shell, write the extension app called "tab_chroot" then

write a gcc program like this that can execute from the command line:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
int ret = system("~/Downloads/tab_chroot");

return(0);
}

I don't know how to write tab extensions yet, but I think drinkcat does ;)

Did you see the message in the unmount chroot issues thread that the two fingers on touchpad on ARM ummounts, and exits the sigkill loop?

[dnschneid]

Right, that's probably gated on PNaCl. I'm not aware of any other offline VNC apps though.

The vncserver is vnc4server, which creates a VNC server with its own X11 server included, independent from any desktop. You have to use a vnc viewer to see this desktop.

I'm afraid that C code is completely irrelevant.

If you have a comment on the unmount chroot issue, please post your comment in that issue.

[tedm]

I was thinking extension / icon, but for launching a new tab in a an open chrome window, this works for me:

$google-chrome http://localhost/test/php (or http://127.0.0.1/test.php)

[dnschneid]

The google-chrome wrapper script only exists on standalone Chrome. Running /opt/google/chrome/chrome in Chromium OS starts a new Aura window, which is bad news bears. I wish it were that simple...

[appsforartists]

Does everything else in the vnc target work? Could be worth sharing as a beta and tell people to use a VNC extension to open 0.0.0.0 manually until that last bit is figured out.

[dnschneid]

I can format it into a target and add a branch; it's currently just a proof-of-concept hack. A couple things that need to be done before it's releasable:

1. The VNC app needs to be automatically installed (or at least the Chrome store page should be opened if it's not installed already).
2. The VNC app needs to be auto-launchable. This isn't any harder than 1., so if that can be done, this can certainly be done.
3. option for enter-chroot to pass the original DISPLAY and XAUTHORITY to chroot commands #126 needs to be implemented so that this mode can be integrated in a sane way (i.e. selecting between three possible X server backends).

[sparkus71]

just started playing with this looking at how i can get a few full screen games added to my daughter's chromebook. going direct from shell and running full screen without needing to start up a separate xserver works a treat--it's just a bit manual at the moment. having the hooks to allow people to create their own private extensions which effectively scripts all the steps from enter-chroot to launching the desired application would be a really powerful enhancement to a vanilla chromebook.

[dnschneid]

Sorry for the (massive) delay. I've added a vnc branch, and you can grab the latest version of that branch here. It's extremely rough right now, but it's something to play with if you want it. Specify -t vnc before anything else (i.e, -t vnc,xfce). Then use startxfce4 or whatever as normal; it currently just prints out the display number and a link you can copy-paste into the address field if you use this vnc viewer. I do not know of any other VNC viewer that runs offline. Unfortunately it requires NaCl, so you'll have to use a different extension (one without offline support and with the privacy/performance implications of using a hosted VNC client) on Samsung's ARM Chromebook.

[tedm]

tried installing crouton-vnc but got this error:

Installing target vnc...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package vnc4server is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'vnc4server' has no installation candidate
Unmounting /usr/local/chroots/precise...
chronos@localhost / $

was going to try the html5 novnc, as the linked one above doesn't support ARM.

[dnschneid]

Argh. Looks like xtightvncserver is available on both platforms though. Try editing the /prepare.sh to install xtightvncserver instead.

[tedm]

I used apt-get in my existing xfce precise shell to install xtightvncviewer (with fonts, etc.), and the apt-get instlall xtightserver and have the install options below:

I restarted and ran /usr/bin/vncserver

which said my desktop was localhost:2

and set a password.

I hot-keyed to chromeos, and ran novnc, entering above info, but got timeouts. Does the other vncserver use port 8080 ?

Suggested packages:
tightvnc-java
The following NEW packages will be installed:
tightvncserver
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 692 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,140 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ precise/universe tightvncserver armhf 1.3.9-6.2ubuntu2 [692 kB]
Fetched 692 kB in 2s (248 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package tightvncserver.
(Reading database ... 104041 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking tightvncserver (from .../tightvncserver_1.3.9-6.2ubuntu2_armhf.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up tightvncserver (1.3.9-6.2ubuntu2) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/tightvncserver to provide /usr/bin/vncserver (vncserver) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/Xtightvnc to provide /usr/bin/Xvnc (Xvnc) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/tightvncpasswd to provide /usr/bin/vncpasswd (vncpasswd) in auto mode.
root@localhost:/home/ted# ^C

[tedm]

upon running /usr/bin/vncserver &

I get the output below.

netstat -a shows that *:5902 and *:x11-2 might be related ports to xtightvnc server, a quick search shows #125 got pretty close with a windowed only vnc connection?

root@localhost:/home/ted# ps ax | grep vnc
14403 pts/5 S+ 0:00 grep --color=auto vnc
root@localhost:/home/ted# /usr/bin/vncserver &
[1] 14550
root@localhost:/home/ted#
Warning: localhost:1 is taken because of /tmp/.X1-lock
Remove this file if there is no X server localhost:1

New 'X' desktop is localhost:2

Starting applications specified in /root/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /root/.vnc/localhost:2.log

using netc

[tedm]

looks like port is 5902:

root@localhost:/# ps ax | grep vnc
14558 pts/5 S 0:00 Xtightvnc :2 -desktop X -auth /root/.Xauthority -geometry 1024x768 -depth 24 -rfbwait 120000 -rfbauth /root/.vnc/passwd -rfbport 5902 -fp /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/ -co /etc/X11/rgb
14567 pts/5 S 0:00 /bin/sh /root/.vnc/xstartup
29632 pts/5 S+ 0:00 grep --color=auto vnc
root@localhost:/#

log file shows it got a connection from client 127.0.0.1 but not a valid RFB client ?