Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I've been thinking about re-purposing an unused Chromebook now running BionicPup 64 as a simple home entertainent center for our TV monitor. Mainly just for streaming video.

The Chromebook has an HDMI port, and it works fine now doing that wired, but we need to stretch the HDMI cable across the room, and keep the Chromebook on the coffee table so we can start it, navigate to what we want to stream, and shut it down with the keyboard and trackpad..

It would be nice to keep the Chromebook across the room, next to the monitor on a shelf and control it remotely. I did did think about controlling the on/off function by plugging it into the monitor's onboard switchable AC outlet. But that would mean an unclean exit for Puppy when the monitor was shut off.

I guess we could use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for navigating remotely, but I'm afraid that if we accidentally turned the monitor off (and the Chromebook's power) before shutting down Puppy it would mess it up. Likewise, it wouldn't be good to just keep the Chromebook running all the time because of the wear and tear on the SSD etc.

So, any suggestions how to make this work? Thanks in advance........

The trick is to make sure the chromebook turns off when power is disconnected, and will automatically boot when power is turned on. You may have to remove the battery to do this. Then just plug the chromebook into the monitor's power output.

I have a PC for my entertainment system that works this way, but with Mint. It's a small blackbox i5 PC. I use one of those mini keyboards to control it.

Set up puppy to use frugal install to a savefile, then turn off autosaves. Just do manual saves. That way cutting the power will not mess up your savefile, and will minimize the writes to your ssd.

Are you overthinking it?

Can you just suspend it when you're not using? Then a mouse or keyboard gesture will wake it up almost immediately. Get a wireless keyboard / mouse to control it from across the room and you'll never get up again.

Likewise, it wouldn't be good to just keep the Chromebook running all the time because of the wear and tear on the SSD etc.

That shouldn't be an issue. Two things. SSDs aren't as fragile as is made out. And, your machine won't be doing anything with the SSD if you're not using it, so it won't wear out just by sitting there "on".

p310don wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:58 am

Are you overthinking it?

Are you asking a rhetorical question?

Thanks for your answer p310don! I'll have to see whether it's possible to suspend and wake on that Chromebook via the bluetooth mini-keyboard I sent for, at Jafadmin's suggestion.

I do thank you both for your help and clarifications. I figured pup mates would clarify the problem towards some simple possible solutions.