How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support  

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

I understand it is possible to just double click to run .deb packages but it doesn't appear that Prusa Research produce .deb packages for PrusaSlicer

https://www.fossmint.com/install-linux-apps-on-chromebook

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

My mistake, to run it again you have to do steps 6+7, just running step 7 will lead to a permission denied message if you restart your computer

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

I recently got an error saying '/tmp/.mount_PrusaSr9xlJx/usr/bin/bin/prusa-slicer: error while loading shared libraries: libGLU.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory'

sudo apt-get install libglu1

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

What does this error mean and how would I fix it?

iawendt2003@penguin:~$ ./PrusaSlicer-2.2.0+linux-x64-202003211856.AppImage
/tmp/.mount_PrusaSZUMJfd/usr/bin/bin/prusa-slicer: error while loading shared libraries: libGLU.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

> What does this error mean and how would I fix it?

> sudo apt-get install libglu1

> fixed it

you need to execute the line starting with "sudo" in your Linux terminal to install the missing dependency.

We are currently evaluating PrusaSlicer on chromebooks, we collected three different units for testing. We will hopefully remove the dependency to libglu1 and we are going to implement detection of removable media in a similar way to the other operating systems. Unfortunately we will not be able to eject the removable media from PrusaSlicer on Chrome OS.

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

Thanks so much for exploring supporting Chromebooks, there are a huge amount of them in the world, especially in education.

One piece of information that might be useful, you current cannot write to external media from inside a Linux app on a Chromebook because ChromeOS doesn't provide access to SD cards or USB ports.

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

Update:

I found a much much simpler way of installing and using PrusaSlicer on Chromebooks using Flatpak, they even link to a maintained list of compatible devices.

1. Follow https://flatpak.org/setup/Chrome%20OS/

2. Run the install command line instruction here https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.prusa3d.PrusaSlicer

It just installs like a normal app and you don't have to mess around with command lines once it has installed, just click on the icon and it runs

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

@gadgetman

See the much simpler installation method using Flatpak I've used more recently in my comment

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

> One piece of information that might be useful, you current cannot write to external media from inside a Linux app on a Chromebook because ChromeOS doesn't provide access to SD cards or USB ports.

Actually it does. Once you plug your device, open a context menu over it in the Files and enable access to it from linux. Then it will get mounted through 9p network sharing to /mnt/chromeos/removable/YOURREMOVABLEDEVICE.

PrusaSlicer currently fails to save G-code there. Actually it stores the file there, but then it tries to do something to the file, likely changing ownership, and that fails.

> It just installs like a normal app and you don't have to mess around with command lines once it has installed, just click on the icon and it runs

We are looking into flatpack as well. I am not sure whether it would be such a win compared to the AppImage. We just need to update our program to install desktop integration files (desktop file and icon). Then the PrusaSlicer icon will pop up in the Chrome launcher.

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

We would certainly be thankful for reports on how PrusaSlicer is usable on various chromebooks. We know the US educational institutions use chromebooks a lot, however they are often quite low on budget, so they buy the lowest end $200 devices with 4GB RAM and 16GB eMMC.

Linux / Crostini is not available on all Chromebooks and I bet the following table is not up to date.

Chrome OS Systems Supporting Linux (Beta) - The Chromium Projects

Also we experienced a weird issue with PrusaSlicer on our two Chromebooks: The red and blue color channels were swapped in the 3D scene if the hardware OpenGL rendering was piped through virgl driver and multi-sample anti-aliasing was enabled, which is the default. With swapped red and blue channels the picking in 3D scene does not work. I wonder why nobody reported such a problem. I think both of our chromebooks run on build 87. I will just update to build 88, let's see whether that helps.

4GB RAM is very low for full print bed prints, PrusaSlicer will allocate too much RAM for rendering the print paths in G-code view. It is quite easy to crash PrusaSlicer after slicing a bigger object and switching to G-code viewer due to running out of RAM, and the Crostini environment just hangs in a weird way - the shells in the Terminal application die and the shell cannot be restarted, PrusaSlicer window hangs. Again, maybe it will improve with ChromeOS build 88.

8GB RAM should be quite enough for most 3D prints.

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

I opened two tickets on the Chromium project, which will fix issues and improve PrusaSlicer experience.

https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1187517&q=prusa&can=2

https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1187819&q=prusa&can=2

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

@vojtech-bubnik

I found a couple of issues for appimage compared to flatpak which really raise the barrier considerably to using it, my guess is Chromebooks will be more often be non technical people because its marketed to kids, schools and as 'more simple' than a Windows or Apple laptop.

1. You have to install several dependencies and several times I've got error messages which I could only get rid of by powerwashing my Chromebook (which you also have to learn is a thing and how to do).
2. You have to run multiple command line commands to get it to start every time.
3. You have to learn quite a lot of command line stuff to make it work, not just copying and pasting, you have to learn about file structure to make the commands for your laptop.

My understanding from the page is all 2019-2021 Chromebooks are compatible with Linux, this is just a list of pre 2019 ones that are.

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

> I opened two tickets on the Chromium project, which will fix issues and improve PrusaSlicer experience.

Another one, quite a bummer on ARM Chromebooks

https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id%3D1190038&source=gmail&ust=1616227884273000&usg=AFQjCNH2xCffOCaAb_Ki3jTqNisOf0-9Q A"> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1190038

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

The upcoming PrusaSlicer 2.3.1-rc (to be released today) will contain some improvements in regard to Chrome OS. Please check the upcoming release log.

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

Posted by: @vojtech-bubnik

> One piece of information that might be useful, you current cannot write to external media from inside a Linux app on a Chromebook because ChromeOS doesn't provide access to SD cards or USB ports.

 

Actually it does. Once you plug your device, open a context menu over it in the Files and enable access to it from linux. Then it will get mounted through 9p network sharing to /mnt/chromeos/removable/YOURREMOVABLEDEVICE.

PrusaSlicer currently fails to save G-code there. Actually it stores the file there, but then it tries to do something to the file, likely changing ownership, and that fails.

> It just installs like a normal app and you don't have to mess around with command lines once it has installed, just click on the icon and it runs

We are looking into flatpack as well. I am not sure whether it would be such a win compared to the AppImage. We just need to update our program to install desktop integration files (desktop file and icon). Then the PrusaSlicer icon will pop up in the Chrome launcher.

this is a big help to my current issue as a new chromebook owner.  what do you suggest I do for now?  save the file to the linux directory than manually copy/paste it myself from the chrome files manager?

RE: How to install and run PrusaSlicer on Chromebook with Linux support

Saving to removable media on ChromeOS is supported by PrusaSlicer 2.3.3 and the newly released PrusaSlicer 2.4.0. You just need to enable access of Linux applications to your removable media in the file manager.