Issues connecting tablet to Chromebook but no issues connecting tablet to Win 10

[Evan Sullivan]

Over the last several months our teacher\students have been having issues connecting their tablet to their Chromebook to test the code they made.  They have tried Windows 10 laptops and it went super smooth and fast.  What would the difference be between using a Chromebook and a Windows 10 laptop?

This is the report from the teacher:

"Things were OK at the beginning of the year.

Things were definitely worse after the update App Inventor put out and the "Use Legacy Connection" checkbox appeared on the connection screen.

Our kids check the "Use Legacy Connection" checkbox when they use the tablets too. It is hard to tell if that even helps. 

Sometimes it will connect when it is checked, sometimes not.

Sometimes it will connect just fine, but if kids reset the connection between their chromebook and the device, then it hangs up at 75% or 90% or 95% completion and will not finish downloading/emulating."

[SteveJG]

Chromebooks sometimes have issues with Chromebooks Evan especially in a school environment..   You discussed this with MIT in late 2018 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!profile/mitappinventortest/APn2wQcHAQlRoINk8r43CbUkTwyrt1QB0z8huWPD4p3cDrw-joQq8VdrTzft7K2my8a8BriYxBm2/mitappinventortest/bLghx97VPHQ/pTNT_330CQAJ 

You are still experiencing issues with Chromebooks.  Glad Win10 is working fine unfortunately Chromesbooks do not have all the bells and whistles inherent in Windows PCs; they are under powered and work differently..  A note was sent to MIT, someone should join this Forum discussion from there and they might be able to provide some insight as to whether relief is possible with Chromebooks.

Regards,

Steve

[Evan Sullivan]

That post was about the Android app RUNNING on the chromebook.

This post is about connecting Android TABLETS to Chromebook running MIT in Chrome.  Which worked until (according to the teacher) the legacy was added (for a reason I am sure).

That post is different.

[SteveJG]

That post is different.  Ok.   How about some more information about what is happening.   These seem to be related to using the Legacy option Evan.

You quoted "Our kids check the "Use Legacy Connection" checkbox when they use the tablets too. It is hard to tell if that even helps. 

Sometimes it will connect when it is checked, sometimes not. Sometimes it will connect just fine, but if kids reset the connection between their Chromebook and the device, then it hangs up at 75% or 90% or 95% completion and will not finish downloading/emulating."

It" connects just fine" --so the issue happens  when the students attempt to develop live using the Companion.   Or are they having issues compiling (creating an apk) or possibly both circumstances?  Knowing might help to understand the issue.   What is happening might be a local school network issue or something else.   What happens if someone takes home one of the Chromebooks and uses it on a home or different WIFI network?   Is the loading issues ameliorated?  We can't test your equipment, you need to run some test that could help us understand what is going on.

The apps that hang up, do they have lots of sound files and/or images?  Apps with lots of those 'tend to hang up' especially if they cannot load completely withing 60 seconds.  Does the same Project work fine if the student loads it on a Win10 device?  It might help if you post an aia here in the Forum of an app that exhibits that behavior.    If the students try a simple app (perhaps just a Button on the designer), does that always load OK?

Regards,

Steve

[Evan Sullivan]

I can pass this along to the teacher and let you know, I am in IT I can only relay what I am being told as I don't use it.

"What is happening might be a local school network issue or something else" if it was a school network issue one would "assume" the Windows 10 laptops would not work well either.  They are on the same network.

Thanks!

[Evan Sullivan]

Here is the response.  Looks like his response is in yellow:

Hello. The compiling/emulation problems we have are from Chromebooks to Acer/Digiland tablets running version 2.51a of App Inventor. We have one Acer tablet running version 2.48 of App Inventor and it works almost EVERY time on any of our chromebooks. The version 2.51 and 2.51a versions are on all of the other tablets and those are the ones we have hangups with.  

His post

You quoted "Our kids check the "Use Legacy Connection" checkbox when they use the tablets too. It is hard to tell if that even helps. 

Sometimes it will connect when it is checked, sometimes not. Sometimes it will connect just fine, but if kids reset the connection between their Chromebook and the device, then it hangs up at 75% or 90% or 95% completion and will not finish downloading/emulating."

It" connects just fine" --so the issue happens  when the students attempt to develop live using the Companion.   No. I am referring to compiling and emulating using the QR or six digit code--sometimes the tablets will compile and emulate just fine, sometimes not. Sometimes the tablet maintains the connection and it will work fine for them to update the app live, but sometimes app inventor unexpectedly quits too.

Or are they having issues compiling (creating an apk) or possibly both circumstances?  Knowing might help to understand the issue.   What is happening might be a local school network issue or something else. The issues are mainly compiling issues. I am not as concerned about dropping the live connection as I am about not getting one in the first place.

What happens if someone takes home one of the Chromebooks and uses it on a home or different WIFI network?   Is the loading issues ameliorated?  We can't test your equipment, you need to run some test that could help us understand what is going on. Unknown. No way to test this today. Not sure if the Chromebook will connect better on a different wifi network.

The apps that hang up, do they have lots of sound files and/or images?  No. The actual app being emulated doesn't make a huge difference. I know what the questioner is referring too, however. We have had apps with many sound/image/video files or multiple screens (5-10) that don't emulate well. That problem I can comprehend--it's a lot of data going from one place to another. 

Apps with lots of those 'tend to hang up' especially if they cannot load completely withing 60 seconds.  Does the same Project work fine if the student loads it on a Win10 device?  Yes. It works almost instantly every time with no errors. The screen doesn't even show the bar filling up the percent compiled--it just goes from the QR code screen to being on the tablet.

It might help if you post an aia here in the Forum of an app that exhibits that behavior.    We are using files from the PLTW curriculum. I cannot post their content on a public forum. However, the size and content of their apps are comparable to many of the tutorial apps on the App Inventor sites in terms of amount of graphics or sound files. The app being compiled doesn't make a difference. I could have a room of kids using 15 tablets to emulate the same app, and 50% of them would get it to work and 50% wouldn't. Then, if the same kids closed the app and reset the connection to the device, some of them who had connected wouldn't be able to anymore. We usually tell the kids to #1 close/reopen the app, #2 restart the tablet, #3 try a different tablet, #4 restart their chromebook, #5 use the Acer tablet running version 2.48 of App Inventor because it works almost EVERY time on our chromebooks. The version 2.51 and 2.51a versions are on all of the other tablets and those are the ones we have hangups with.

If the students try a simple app (perhaps just a Button on the designer), does that always load OK? No.

[SteveJG]

Thanks for the additional information Evan.  That one of your Chromebook tablets seems to work properly with Companion 2.48  while other Chromebooks using 2.51 does not respond properly seems to point to a potential issue.

A potential temporary solution might be to use Companion 2.48 on the other Tablets until MIT is able to determine what the issue might be.   MIT can provide a link to download 2.48 (older versions of Companion ... sorry, I do not have that link).   

The other information you provided might help too... the info regarding 'reconnecting"   .   What do you mean "to emulate the same app" and 'reset the connection"?

MIT has been informed; it might take a while for someone to provide some comments.

--Steve

[Evan Sullivan]

1. What do you mean "to emulate the same app"

I mean if every student had the same app open in app inventor on their chromebook and then all of them tried to connect their app to a tablet, some of the kids would be able to successfully do it and some would not. I am not sure why they don't all work all the time, or what causes them to hang up when they are compiling. My point is that 15 kids with the same app could try connecting their 15 chromebooks to 15 different tablets and they would not all experience the same result every time.

By reset the connection he means going to Connect then Reset Connection

[Evan Sullivan]

After talking to him further the one tablet he says works everytime is the only tablet still on 2.48.  All the other tablets are on 2.51a.  So it appears to potentially be an issue with 2.51a

[SteveJG]

Thanks for the clarification.   15 students simultaneously attempting to compile might stress the school network for a short period.  Some students will be successful, others not.  Or the protocol that connects to the Web App Inventor 2 application might be stressed when using 2.51a.   Something MIT will probably consider.

A 'tempory' fix might be to load 2.48 on one of the 2.51a Chromebooks.  Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of 2.48 so we need to wait until MIT responds but they certainly would know how to provide a copy if that is something you would want to test.

Using 2.48 will work for most Projects.  2.51 is required to use the MIT Map component but most other components/features should work with 2.48 .  What is affected by the Companion version is discussed here > http://appinventor.mit.edu/ai2/ReleaseNotes.html for the various nb versions of App Inventor and discusses what Companion version is required to realize the features in the released AI version.

--Steve

[Evan Sullivan]

I found the APK for 2.48 we are planning on putting it on them tomorrow morning to see what happens