IT Ideas

ChromeOS devices that support Android Apps from the Play Store are starting to receive Android 7.1.1. One of the main features is better windows sizing. Brief video on how to enable this feature:

I've been using the Dell 3189 for a couple of weeks now and have become quite fond of it. It terms of specs, its the same as the Acer R11 and Viglen 360 so: N3060 processor 4Gb RAM 32Gb SSD IPS screen Touch flip design So don't expect amazing performance - just a solid workhorse. So the figures are: Octane (now depreciated): 8821 BrowserBench: 21.5 The Dell has a reassuringly solid feel to it. There is no case flex, the devices has a pleasing texture to it and the edges are rubberised. I've not dropped it - but I'm guessing it will survive a few knocks. The charger port is an large circular connector and looks hard to break. So no fancy USB-C. In terms of connectivity there is just two USB ports, headphone, SD card and HDMI. The screen is a pleasing IPS display and has good brightness and viewing angles. The Dell activity light is still there as on earlier Dell Chromebooks - did anyone every use it? I've been using it on ChromeOS 58 - Stable Channe...

Yesterday I received a new touch/flip Chromebook, the Asus C213N. This is a device that I first saw at BETT 2017 and its just getting to the point of release. The example I have is a pre-release sample and there is still a little work to do ChromeOS wise - but it's looking good. Specifications Intel N3350 dual core processor. A fair step up from the N3060/50 found on cheaper Chromebooks. 4Gb DDR3 32Gb SSD - some space for those Android apps. Matt 11" touchscreen Full 360 degree rotation Two cameras - one one above the screen (the normal position) and one at the top of the keyboard to use in tablet mode. 2 USB C ports - for all those fun USB C devices and charging. 2 USB2 ports SD card slot (micro) Headphone jack Power and volume control 1.25kg - about the same as an Acer R11 Aesthetics Its black (with a little grey) and plastic. However, it does have rubberised edges to absorb those student induced impacts. The screen hinge is very similar t...

We have been using Papercut to offer managed Cloud Printing for our ChromeOS users for many years now. The most recent v17 release of Papercut introduces Mobility Print  which allows direct printing to your networked devices. From the end users point of view, it's almost the same as using Cloud Print, however, there are a few important differences. Mobility Print does not require your print server to talk to the internet. For Cloud Printing, this can be tricky as for Cloud Print to work you really need to bypass any ssl inspection you do for that server. Its faster - doesn't need to send jobs to the cloud and back. Will work even if Google Cloud Printing has one of its moments - rare - but they do happen! You need to push the Mobility Print Chrome App . The printer is deployed to anyone with the app installed - not shared to groups or individuals as in Cloud Printing. You need to do a little DNS work for it to function across vlans. This is what it looks like as a...

You might want to block ads across your entire network. There are various approaches to doing this. Ad Blocking Extensions You can push these to Chrome via Chrome Management and Group Policy. While these work well, users can configure then and they do have an impact on performance. It only applies to the browsers on managed devices and one browser. You cannot easily configure what is blocked centrally. Content Filter Your content filter/firewall may have an option to configure this. Manually adding to your hosts file.  This is what we do. You can download a hosts file that will block most ads here . This can be added to your gateways hosts file and this will block ads for all devices and browsers with no configuration required on client devices. This will apply to all devices and browsers. You can also manually tweak what is blocked for everyone. Video of how to do this on a Linux gateway below:

We have been deploying Android Apps to our managed R11 Chromebooks for a while now. Every Circuit caught my eye as we have been looking for a nice way of simulating electric circuits for a while. Seems to work rather well on a Chromebook - see video below:

I've just been trying out two of the latest touch/flip 11" Chromebooks - the Acer R11 (2017 model) and the Viglen 360. On paper these are very similar devices: Processor: N3060 RAM: 4Gb Storage: 32Gb SSD Both touch/flip - IPS 1366x768 displays Keyboards - identical Both around the £200 ext VAT price range. Features that differ: Viglen 360 Has a removable battery - not convinced of the point of this in a Chromebook. 3 USB3 ports Ruggedized design - built like a tank. Heavy Screen - slight movement when touched. R11 (2107 model) Has Android Apps available now on the stable channel. Lighter Screen - little movement when touched - feels more solid. Only one USB3 + one USB2 Which would I buy? Well as a private buyer, the R11 without a doubt (the Viglen is Edu only...) - Android Apps and its a much nicer looking device. If I was looking for a trolley device, I might consider the Viglen for the warranty (3 years) and the tank like build (its weight does not ma...