Is it possible to install QZ Tray on Chromebook?

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dim...@eventpartners.eu

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May 3, 2018, 11:59:20 AM5/3/18
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Hello all,

I am planning to buy a Chromebook and i was wondering if it is possible to install QZ Tray on it since is part of my working process?

Tres Finocchiaro

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May 3, 2018, 12:52:57 PM5/3/18
to dim...@eventpartners.eu, qz-print
No, unfortunately Chromebook doesn't allow any 3rd party applications to be installed that originate from outsize of the Google Play store.

There are ways to get the software force-installed, but they requiring jailbreaking ChromeOS and are limited to the x86/x86_64 flavors.

At this time, you would need to run QZ Tray in print-server mode with a trusted SSL certificate and have a dedicated PC/Server machine for facilitating print requests.


If we add support for ChromeOS it would be through a Google-Play-only plugin which we do not have in the roadmap at this time.





On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 11:59 AM <dim...@eventpartners.eu> wrote:
Hello all,

I am planning to buy a Chromebook and i was wondering if it is possible to install QZ Tray on it since is part of my working process?

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dim...@eventpartners.eu

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May 3, 2018, 12:56:10 PM5/3/18
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I understand. Thank you very much for the clear explanation.

Tres Finocchiaro

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May 4, 2018, 2:31:19 AM5/4/18
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According to this article, this may eventually be possible... 

Tres Finocchiaro

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May 9, 2018, 2:05:37 AM5/9/18
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Alex

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Jan 19, 2022, 11:12:16 AM1/19/22
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Interested has anyone tried this ?

Tres Finocchiaro

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Jan 19, 2022, 11:17:35 AM1/19/22
to Alex, qz-print
Yes, QZ Tray will run in Crostini, but it's mostly unusable for a few reasons.
  • QZ Tray attempts to bind to port 8181, but Crostini hides this behind a randomly assigned port, which the native Chrome browser (by design) can't guess.  This requires the browser to be in Crostini too, defeating the purpose of the Chrome book to begin with.
  • USB/HID support has not matured and requires special flags
  • System Tray support is missing.  The popups will appear, but no way to get to the rest of the UI
It's been a while since we tested, if any of this information is outdated please feel free to update it here or in the bug report:


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Tres Finocchiaro

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Jan 19, 2022, 11:24:01 AM1/19/22
to Alex, qz-print
Hmm... Ok, it appears port forwarding is a thing now... reference:


... also the USB bug reports state that the features have been completed, reference:


Unfortunately, I can't find reference to a CUPS wrapper meaning printing is still very egregious to setup (CUPS must be installed and configured manually in the Crostini VM).

This is progress though!

Alex

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Jan 19, 2022, 11:46:23 AM1/19/22
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Thanks Tres ok will keep an eye out :)

🐱

Amanda Coox

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Apr 24, 2023, 6:38:58 PM4/24/23
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Is there any update to being able to install QZ tray on a chromebook in the Crostini container? 

Tres Finocchiaro

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Apr 24, 2023, 9:32:10 PM4/24/23
to Amanda Coox, qz-print
Amanda,

I'll do some research and let you know.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qz-print/6e0d3c62-2e02-442c-9666-af6ac9950a17n%40googlegroups.com.

Tres Finocchiaro

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Apr 25, 2023, 4:54:42 PM4/25/23
to Amanda Coox, qz-print
Amanda,

Some things are improving.  I'll list them below as well as update the bug report.
  • QZ Tray now comes bundled with Java, so the following command will install QZ Tray rather seamlessly (this was even tested on an ARM-based Chromebook).

    From Terminal:
    curl qz.io | bash

  • QZ Tray has no problems loading USB/HID and Serial ports now.

  • Crostini now -- by default -- forwards port 8181/8182, which QZ Tray uses for communication.
Some things that still are lacking:
  • QZ Tray's "menu" system is broken on ChromeOS.    This should be drastically improved once "kiosk" support is merged: https://github.com/qzind/tray/issues/1043.  I'd be happy to provide an experimental build with this feature.

  • Connections to localhost:8181 won't succeed unless a security exception is added for https://localhost:8181.  I don't think there will ever be a way to fix this (strict security sandboxing), but it would be trivial to add instructions to users for this security exception.

  • There's still no straightforward way of adding printers.  Printers added in Settings won't be reachable by QZ.  The CUPS web interface from within the Crostini VM is a viable alternative, but setting up printers this way is not easy or intuitive.

If any of the above can be improved upon, please reply here or in the bug report.

Roberto Casagrande

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Jul 3, 2023, 9:43:49 PM7/3/23
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Any update on this? Thanks.

Tres Finocchiaro

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Jul 4, 2023, 11:43:51 AM7/4/23
to Roberto Casagrande, qz-print
Any update on this? Thanks.

You're free to test, but the listed workarounds/limitations still exist:

Mark Shaddix, Jr.

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Nov 27, 2023, 10:40:22 AM11/27/23
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So I'm working to install QZ Tray on a new Chromebook I purchased for kiosk purposes for my church. Is there a way to install QZ Tray on the Chromebook? I've read through this thread and I'm still not quite sure what the answer is. 

Thank you.

Tres Finocchiaro

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Nov 27, 2023, 10:42:57 AM11/27/23
to Mark Shaddix, Jr., qz-print
No.  There's too much is still broken to consider it usable. 

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Mark Shaddix, Jr.

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Nov 27, 2023, 10:44:29 AM11/27/23
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Thank you. 

Tres Finocchiaro

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Nov 27, 2023, 10:46:22 AM11/27/23
to Mark Shaddix, Jr., qz-print
You're very welcome.  If you're interested in any of the details, I'm happy to elaborate, but from a high-level, it won't work out of the box (so to speak) like it will on a PC.

Tres Finocchiaro

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Nov 27, 2023, 10:52:05 AM11/27/23
to Mark Shaddix, Jr., qz-print
Here's the formal write up:

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