There are a lot of positive aspects about Chrome OS devices. One of the biggest is the cost. A typical desktop computer replacement for us costs $1000 (rounding up) and a Chrome device costs $300 (again, rounding up). One of the other nice things is that the devices can be managed anywhere you have a connection to the web and you don't have to set-up a management server.
My predecessor with help from a colleague set-up a variety of Chromebooks for patrons to use at different locations. Her tests were successful and she set-up self registration kiosks using Chrome desktop boxes.
Recently, I ran into a bunch of problems and I think I figured out the reasons and ways to fix. We replaced 26 OPAC (online public access catalog) computers with Acer Chromebox CXI2-4GKM
DT.Z09AA.004 Vesa mounting bracket and
hardware ($250 including the Chrome management) which was an incredible value. It saved our organization about $19,000.
1. Network problems - I know this might seem obvious but it wasn't to me. The devices I was updating the setup for had old network settings that were changed. Somehow they had been connecting with the wrong information but when I made other changes to the device... they stopped connecting at all. I guess it realized it was being too easy going. I also learned that you can't add the updated settings and leave the old settings as "an option" because it won't like that. Remove the old settings and add the new ones.
2. Kiosk mode uses a simple app that you can make for free. Here is where to go https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/3316168?hl=en alot of the settings like how long before the screen refreshes or the device times out is all coded in the app. The app is relatively basic and uses Java Script so it you want to make changes to the code it isn't very hard.
3. Your kiosk mode needs to be published as public. I tried the private published app and it didn't work for me. I tried multiple times, multiple ways and it just didn't work. Pay the $5 for a developer account because most likely you will need to make it public.
4. Kiosk apps can have certain odd limitations. We created one for our OPACs (online public access catalog) boxes. It would allow patrons to access all the pages on our website but not databases. I went through all the literature on kiosk apps and all the code and could not figure out why.
5. I ended up using Public Session. The public session mode allows you to give a user a predetermined amount of time and lock down a lot of options like network settings, apps, bookmarks, background, add terms and conditions, etc. The Admin is supposed to be able to whitelist and blacklist websites... I and (from what I read) other admins have had problems with this function working correctly. I contacted our ISP because they handle our filtering. They created a proxy IP that I could point those Chrome devices to and they only allow access to a whitelist of sites.
6. When you setup the Chromeboxes make sure your take advantage of all the information you can put in the admin panel about them. I put the library location and where in the building they are located. That way if we have problems with a device in the future, we know exactly where it is. Having said that, staff need to tell you if they move a device. I had one that was not updating it's rules and it was driving me nuts. When I went to the library location I couldn't find the device. I asked the manager and they informed me that they had put it in storage while they rearrange furniture.
7. We had one device that got stuck on one setup and would not change. We ended up finding a downloading a factory build that was posted online then used a USB drive to restore back to factory. After that it was able to provision and take the build.
8. The shortest time you can have changes pushed out is 30 minutes and it can take a day for all the devices to receive updates / new changes. I learned that if you switch "organizations" with your admin panel or turn the device off for more than a few minutes or if most desperate deprovision and then provision the device again that it will accept the new setup / rules faster.
9. We haven't tried Google Cloud printing for these devices because we use PrintOn and have a link to the wireless printing option on our website. That has been working pretty well.
10. You may have to explain the limitations of Chromebooks to some patrons but most young adults and teens know the devices very well from school.
That's all I can think of right now. Any questions? Please let me know.
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