ChromiumOS Special Build – R55-8777

Update: 12/11/16: The Update Servers are now available. To update from older builds (post version R46-7323), just go to ‘About Chromium OS’ and click on ‘Check for and apply updates’.


New Special Builds out today!

Download 64 bit build from https://chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk/special/Camd64OS_R55-8777.0-Special.7z

SHA1: 85f76ad132be7674e0d4a310075062310cfecec9

Download 32 bit build from https://chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk/special/Cx86OS_R55-8777.0-Special.7z

SHA1: 8feabfa588ddd67205796f2efaf886677f5e3d50

Fixes:

  • Sierra wireless EM7355 WiFi added
  • Marvell Yukon 88E8040 NIC added
  • Altheros AR8152 NIC added
  • Realtek RTL8192E WiFi added
  • Realtek RTL8723BS WiFi added
  • Fix for the lack of space when booting from USB. This means a minimum 8GB USB stick is now required.

Enhancements

Known Issues: https://github.com/arnoldthebat/chromiumos/issues


Download 64 bit Vanilla build from https://chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk/special/Camd64OS_R55-8777.0-Vanilla.7z

SHA1: c7a5828cdd7c6fd533e22e128a15014c72324960

Download 32 bit Vanilla build from https://chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk/special/Cx86OS_R55-8777.0-Vanilla.7z

SHA1: c670d95265b14917a8315a9194d2bbe332d91c31


Please note: there is a new behaviour with the chronos user password. The password has been removed from this build and will continue to be removed for better overall security.
This means you need to use ‘chromeos-setdevpasswd’ from either shell or console to set your own password from this build onwards.

By default, this also disables SSH access so if you also need this level of access, you will need to set a separate password using ‘sudo passwd chronos’. This allows the password for dev access and SSH access to remain separate if needed.

You can also just set a password using ‘sudo passwd chronos’ and this will allow for both dev and SSH access if you need to keep the passwords the same. Do not use ‘chromeos-setdevpasswd’ if you want to keep the passwords the same.




54 thoughts on “ChromiumOS Special Build – R55-8777”

  1. Arnold – I’ve been quietly monitoring your work and testing some builds here and there. Just wanted to say that I’m really impressed with your continued investment in this! Well done!

    An almost flawless continued contribution to something that brings old devices back to life. Well done! I look forward to testing out this build later this week.

      1. Arnold, I have just installed your latest x64 version of Chromium OS (daily build) as of now. But I am facing a problem with my usb sound card. I plug it and it works just like it should(It’s name which appears in this OS is “USB PnP Sound Device”). However the problem occurs when I unplug it from the USB port. Somehow, the screen turns blank for few seconds and then Chromium reopens asking to restore the lost work. This happens every time I unplug my USB sound card. Please offer a solution for this no matter how complicated it is.

        IMG used – Camd64OS-20170121010101.img.7z

  2. Hi Arnold,

    I have been trying booting with your 64 bit images on my Asus 1215b netbook, with various results (hang at boot, hang at splash screen, blank screen with mouse pointer) but never arriving at the graphic login screen. Perhaps is that hardware not compatible at all? On my PC, on the other hand, the same daily (or weekly, I can’t recall) image worked out of the box.
    Thanks for advice and congratulations for your work!

    Lorenzo

    1. Here’s how I fixed it. Just need to turn on variations and connect to Google’s finch server to receive the new certificate transparency policy. Add the following command line flags to the bottom of /etc/chrome_dev.conf and restart ui:

      –variations-server-url=https://clients4.google.com/chrome-variations/seed
      –fake-variations-channel=stable
      –reset-variation-state

      (This should be resolved automatically in the next special build.)

      1. Thanks. I can see that it does add that command to the command line options of chrome when I check ps. However, it does not work.

  3. Ok, I am game, and Google is no help. As I can tell the “general” chromebook is a hardware limited pc. Memory and storage. So I am somewhat confused as why the Chrome OS can not just be installed on any notebook that has the right memory, wifi, etc.
    What is the secret that keeps good notebooks from just running Chrome OS? Why is there limits on, say your software, that is not auto updated by Google? Thanks

    1. I’ll try to answer this, to the best of my ability and understanding…

      The code for ChromeOS is provided by Google as-is. No drivers for video cards, network cards, or other devices beyond the basics. Computer hardware in actual computers is much more complex than the hardware in Chromebooks. So, the operating system needs drivers (usually at kernel-level) to understand those hardware devices and to speak to them.

      Google does not send out updates with those drivers, just updates to the underlying pieces of ChromeOS. Arnold is tinkering with the operating system to inject appropriate drivers for common hardware so that people can install the OS on laptops/desktops with those devices.

      Whenever Google sends out a new version of ChromeOS (Chromium OS?), Arnold has to update HIS source code including the changes he has made. Then, the kernel gets compiled (no small thing) and the OS needs to be tested on the different hardware configurations.

      Laptops and other PC’s with very specific or tweaked hardware do not always work with the drivers being injected into Arnold’s version of the OS. Furthermore, not all manufacturers release Linux-based drivers for their hardware. Throw in the different types of architectures, chipsets, and hardware revisions and you have a very complicated setup.

      This is exactly why Windows 7, 8, 10 are several Gb in size. The sheer number of device combinations the OS needs to handle is astronomical. If the PC you are trying with ChromiumOS doesn’t boot or you have a device (wifi, for example) that doesn’t work it’s because the hardware is not being recognized by the OS. The system has no way to speak to that hardware in a way that they both understand. So things go wrong (like a hung system, black screen, etc).

      I hope this makes sense…

  4. Well, I’m almost there.
    I have a Nextbook 10.1 (nxw10qc32g) that this build FINALLY allowed me to boot. Been waiting for the wifi driver. 🙂

    So, I managed to get it installed to the internal HD (clearing the stupid Win10 install that kept wanting to update, with no room on the internal drive to do so) and I can boot into the device, but now I have a different problem.

    Two things: first and more simple, how do I get a battery life indicator on this thing?

    Second, show stopper:

    It freezes.
    Running from either the USB or the internal drive, it boots into the OS, give me a completely working sys for as long as I am actively doing something. As soon as I leave it for a couple mins it just… stops.

    Screen doesn’t shut down if I close the unit, no keys are registered, no mouse movement.
    Power button for 10 seconds to turn it off.
    Power it up again, and it comes right up without a problem… until I leave it for about 2 mins again.

    Some sort of sleep function that’s failing?

    1. Hmm, sounds like resume is dying. Can you try a couple of boots before leaving alone to go to sleep? Also, is it dead on the network as well? Can you connect via SSH for example so we can get the logs?

    2. Re freezing after inactivity – I have similar issues (ThinkPad Edge 13) – the suspend state won’t resume (just ‘freezes’), with the only option to power off. However you can disable the idle suspend by adding the following file:

      /var/lib/power_manger/disable_idle_suspend
      with the contents of the file, without quotes: “1”

      I also added the file below to disable suspend when the lid is closed:

      /var/lib/power_manager/use_lid
      with the contents of file, without quotes: “0”

      My system does not ‘sleep’, but that’s a better result than ‘freezing’.

      More details from here: http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/packages/power_manager

      Hope it helps.

  5. I just downloaded and installed to a USB the 32bit version of the R55 Special build. And Realtek RTL8192E is still not working. It is showing no Wifi whatsoever. But when I stick in my Wifi dongle. I then get Wifi. So it seems RTL8192E support is not working. I went into Windows device manager and have confirmed it is definitely this wireless card I have installed. Any suggestions, please?

  6. The other thing to mention. I am not getting the SHA1 you have posted for it. I am getting: B223DA0673DB98802939872AA3FC05C596056102 and as the MD5: E893056748A82D59E2D848755AA1A6AD. I downloaded it two times and both times get the above. But you have said the 32bit version should be 8feabfa588ddd67205796f2efaf886677f5e3d50

  7. Hi

    I’ve installed your Special builds on two different HP laptops, ProBook 4510s and ProBook 4520s. Overall they both work pretty well, but there’s a couple of issues with both of them.

    First issue is printing from Google Drive. The printing works well from Google Docs, which gives me the proper print prompt which allows me to switch to desired printer. But trying to print from Sheets or Slides just saves the file as PDF, which I can then proceed to print.

    Another issue comes from using Spotify Web Player, which just tells me to enable Flash Player, which the adobe site informs I already have installed.

    I have the 8777 build in use on both.

  8. Hi,
    thank you for the wonderful easy to use usbimages (special), which i discovered today. They work flaweless on my dell latitude e6330 (brightness, sound, displayresolution, touchpad, trackpoint, keyboard, wifi 2,4hz and 5ghz and even my simcard-mobile-network slot is recognized, even if i haven’t tried to make connections with it.

    But i’ve one question: if i look at chromium os wiki there is something about api-keys ( http://www.chromium.org/developers/how-tos/api-keys ) can i include my own at runtime in /etc/chrome_dev.conf or are your current images overwriting them at runtime?

    Best regards and greetings from Germany,
    David-Lee

  9. Using the 8777 build
    I have been trying to find a working flash player for this build or even any of the r5x series builds but have been unable, so far, to find one that actually functions. I need flash capability due to some web apps that require it to function properly. Has anyone managed to find a way to get it to install and work in this series of builds?

      1. I’ve learned that these are independent files. One installs flash v.24 and one fixes some trackpad issues.

  10. Whenever I try to create a supervised user the following message appears: “Oops … Something went wrong. Due to an error, the supervised user was not created, please try again later,” could you give me some information on how to solve it?

  11. No matter what I try I’m getting this GNU GRUB screen when I try to boot. It says

    local image a
    local image b
    verified image a
    verified image b
    alternate boot

    And none of those options seem to work.
    This is through UEFI. Legacy doesn’t even boot at all.
    Machine is Intel NUC DN2820FYK. Any suggestions at all appreciated!

  12. Hi! I really like your build and work on the cOS, i installed on my uncle netbook and works perfectly!
    But… On my granpa notebook seems that doesn’t. The chromium OS boot logo appears and quickly disappears freezing on a black screen (but the USB blinking sometimes).
    Notebook model: SAMSUNG NP-RV415-BD5BR

    HWINFO:
    cpu:
    AMD E-300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, 1114 MHz
    AMD E-300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, 1114 MHz
    keyboard:
    Microsoft Nano Transceiver v1.0 for Bluetooth
    /dev/input/event4 AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
    mouse:
    Microsoft Nano Transceiver v1.0 for Bluetooth
    /dev/input/mice ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad
    monitor:
    SAMSUNG LCD Monitor
    graphics card:
    ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6310]
    sound:
    ATI Wrestler HDMI Audio
    ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
    storage:
    ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
    network:
    wlp3s0 Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
    enp5s0 Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
    network interface:
    lo Loopback network interface
    enp5s0 Ethernet network interface
    wlp3s0 Ethernet network interface
    disk:
    /dev/sda HGST HTS545050A7
    cdrom:
    /dev/sr0 TSSTcorp CDDVDW SN-208BB
    usb controller:
    ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
    ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
    ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
    ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
    ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
    bridge:
    AMD Family 14h Processor Root Complex
    AMD Family 14h Processor Root Port
    ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
    ATI SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
    ATI SB700/SB800/SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
    ATI SB700/SB800/SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
    ATI SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
    ATI SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 3)
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 0
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 1
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 2
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 3
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 4
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 6
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 5
    AMD Family 12h/14h Processor Function 7

    unknown:
    FPU
    DMA controller
    PIC
    Keyboard controller
    ATI SBx00 SMBus Controller
    Microsoft Nano Transceiver v1.0 for Bluetooth
    /dev/input/event11 Silicon Motion WebCam SC-0311139N

  13. Hi Arnold.
    I’ve now began to investigate Chromium OS and I am impressed with your job. I’m a botanist and I don’t have much idea of computing, although I’m trying.
    I’ve a question and I’d like some of support. When I try to log in outlook, from the official app or from the website, I never get the page for log in, I always get a blank page. The same issue occur log in Spotify.
    Do you have (or somebody) idea what is happening?
    Thank you for your help and sorry for my horrible English!
    Regards!

  14. I would like to mention that for no apparent reason the r55-8877 build boots to a blank(black) screen (after showing chromium logo) then reboots, on hp 11-r004nf with Intel HD graphics.

    1. the latest daily build works in that regard. The only problem is now with the wifi river. on linux, i use the rtl8723be driver from rtlwifi_new github repo from lwfinger with the options ant_sel=2. I need to build my own chromiumOS to get that into it ? ??

        1. I have done it. I am made my own build and found how to build the module from within the chroot, and then load them on the running build \o/. I only have to run “stop apmananager” to get the systray ion to show the wifi SSIDs;

  15. Does anyone have any idea with the blank pages issue doing log in that I reported last january 18th?
    I was googling a lot before asking here. I supposed it was a issue some ussual but it isn’t.
    If a don’t get fix this I’ll have to uninstall it and I wouldn’t like because I like a lot this compilation.
    I have a Samsung N130 and I have tried, daily, weekly, vanilla and special compilations. Special was the only one that the wifi works.
    Any idea with blank pages?
    Thanks!

  16. Hey Arnold, I know this is a question that everyone’s asking but… uh: Still no Google Play Store? I would love a true desktop with Android support.

  17. arnoldthebat,
    Oh, cmon, the internet is a mess – could you give a link how to compile and inject the drivers in chromium os? My head hurts I can’t really understand how to do it.

  18. Hi Arnold, do you have any idea on changing the storage size? I installed chromium OS on a 16 GB USB drive, but the “Capacity” showing in the settings is only 2.9 GB.

  19. Hello!

    New to Chromium here, I have a few old laptops that i would like to distribute out across out site.

    I tried the Cx86OS-20170210010101 release which seems ok. However there doesn’t seem to be any support of the Wireless NIC. Neither is there full support for the track pad. I can move the cursor about but i cant scroll pages.

    I have also notices that in the command line some keys don’t match up. For example in when i hit the Caps Lock key it enter a “?” (excluding quote marks) the same thing happens to the “\” the console enters a “?”. I have found the the “\” has moved to the “#” key. When in normal Chromium use (browsing web) its fine…. Is this a known issue?

    I then tried the Cx86OS_R55-8777.0-Special release as i understand that it has better driver support….. still no joy.

    I still had no driver for Wireless NIC. The track pad also lost further functionality. I cant tap the track pad to click. i can use the mouse buttons on the track pad though.

    The laptop is a Toshiba Satelite Pro C850-10U the NIC in question is –
    Realtek RTL8723AE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC

    Do you happen to have any ideas? The would be greatly appreciated.

    Regards
    Pete

    1. Hi Pete

      Looks like you have US keyboard settings for the 1st answer.

      Re RTL8723AE. Ill add it to the list of missing drivers. If you have spare devices, you could always lend me one than I can test!

  20. I have tried multiple “special builds” that I have converted using the VirtualBox VBmanage with no success.

    What settings for VirtualBox worked in the past?

  21. Hello,
    I have just installed your 32 bit x86 build on a Samsung N130 netbook. I am very impressed with how it runs but there is no wifi as the card on this old netbook isn’t supported out of the box. What are my first steps towards getting it working. I’ve messed around with Debian-based OSs but haven’t tried this universe before?

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