Does anybody use a Chromebook to run MRL?

AutonomicPerfe…

6 years 11 months ago

From what I know of Chromebooks, it is theoretically possible to run MRL since the default OS is Linux-based, but you do have to jump some hurdles. The default OS, ChromeOS, is designed to be a thin client and has security features that prevent the OS from being modified. Therefore, it is difficult to install a traditional program on a standard ChromeOS computer. You will have to put the device into developer mode (WIPES ALL LOCAL DATA!) in order to install normal Linux programs or install a normal OS. Instructions for developer mode vary between models, but a quick google search should produce results. Just a warning, developer mode causes the computer to produce a very loud beep and display a warning message when starting up, and that is a feature of the BIOS and is very difficult to change. I don't know how well MRL will run on a Chromebook since they are not designed to run such computationally-intense tasks, but you can try. I, myself, would use a cheap laptop or a Raspberry Pi to run MRL so that you don't have to mess with ChromeOS's quirks. Hope that helps.

thanks for your opinion - as we have camera, kinect, IK and vinmoov the processing power will be more and more important and I consider a Raspi by far overloaded (for sure insufficient frame rate of the camera).

Unfortunately the hype with small and fast Raspi and alternates has slowed down and new and faster devices have not shown up recently. I currently use a odroid xu4 but even that is too slow in my opinion and is not sufficiently optimized for low power consumption and use with batteries.

Just thought a Chromebook might be a bit a cheaper option than a notebook but I am checking now for a good priced Yoga 510 with a i7 7500U CPU.

Yes, my own tests have shown that the Raspi 3 even is too slow for full InMoov control. I've tried to remedy that by switching to text-only mode and launching chrome in headless mode, which did provide substantial improvements, but is still too slow. I am experimenting with networking, so that the low-level services like Arduino run on the pi and higher-level services like ProgramAB and speech services on an off-board computer. So far, this has improved overall performance but consumes a considerable amount of networking resources. I don't currently have a battery connected so I can't vouch for battery life, but it sure is cheaper than buying a whole new laptop to throw in there. I'm using a Raspi 3 networked to an old Dell Inspiron (don't know the model number), and initial tests have been promising.