Chromebox Mini for Digital Signage

In this article we provide a step-by-step guide for setting up TelemetryTV with ChromeOS devices.


What devices does this include?

  1. CTL Chromebox CBX1

  2. Chromebox-3

  3. Chromebox Mini

  4. Chromebox Commercial 2

  5. Chromebit,

  6. AOpen Touchscreen Chrome

See our hardware page for a list of all recommended devices.


What are the advantages of these devices?

  1. Great for deploying at scale with automatic provisioning through Chrome Device Management. Once set up, it is very easy to manage

  2. Most inexpensive option to deploy at scale.


What are the disadvantages of these devices?

  1. Can be complicated to set up at first.

  2. Limited support for ChromeOS devices outside of the USA.


What software is required to run TelemetryTV on these devices?

For long term use, devices need to be provisioned using Chrome Device Management. You will need to set this up via Google Admin and purchase a Google Enterprise license for each device (annual fee of $24 USD). 


Setting up ChromeOS devices for use with TelemetryTV


Ensure your Chrome device is up-to-date

ChromeOS will automatically update itself once it has been connected to the internet for a while, but newly purchased devices can have older versions. 

  1. Turn on your device
  2. Open the browser and go to chrome://settings/help
  3. Click Update Google Chrome. If you don't see this button, you're on the latest version.
  4. Click Relaunch.

The next step is either Pairing or Provisioning your ChromeOS device(s). 
Pairing should only be used for testing and very simple use cases. Skip the pairing section and start at Provisioning for detailed instructions on setting up automatic provisioning.

Pairing
  1. Turn on your device
  2. Open your Chrome browser on your device and search for TelemetryTV. Install the media player.
  3. Once the media player is running, a pairing code will appear. On your computer, navigate to the "Devices" page in TelemetryTV, click the "Pair" button, and type in the code. 


Your device is now paired with TelemetryTV.


Provisioning

We recommend using Chrome Enterprise and Single App Kiosk Mode. This allows a managed Chrome device to boot directly into the TelemetryTV application without user intervention.  You can use this to deploy Telemetry to many devices without needing to interact with each device any time there's a power failure or device software update. 


The set up can be complicated, but we've broken it down into a step-by-step checklist for you to follow:


1. Purchase your Google Enterprise Single App Kiosk Licenses 

Chrome Enterprise is Google's management system that lets you manage multiple Chrome devices through a single interface.  It provides policies that allow IT departments to deploy and manage at scale.  For more information, including how to purchase licenses please see the Chrome Enterprise website. 


There is a special license designed for digital signage that is less expensive ($24 USD per year) than the general license called Single App Kiosk.  Talk to your Chrome reseller for more details. 


You must purchase an annual Chrome Enterprise license from a Google reseller for each of your ChromeOS devices you want to use with TelemetryTV and automatic device provisioning.


2. Enroll your ChromeOS Devices

Click here for Google Enterprise instructions to enroll your devices.


3. Add TelemetryTV to your Google Admin Site

  1. Go to Google Admin and log in to your Google account

  2. Click Device Management



3. Chrome Management  



4. Device Settings


5. Scroll down to the "Kiosk Settings" section on that page. There is a subsection titled "Kiosk Apps". Beside it, click "Manage Kiosk Applications"


6. Once the modal is open, click the "Chrome Web Store" tab and enter the following ID in the field: nnegimaehopiaikjnpdpokceckcbdoef
Hit Enter, and you'll see the TelemetryTV Media Player App appear. Press Add,then press Save.


You should see that there is 1 Kiosk App in your account. 

4. Enable Google's API to Connect to TelemetryTV
  1. Go back to the Admin dashboard by clicking the Google Admin logo in the top left.
  2. Click Security (If you do not see Security listed, select More controls and then Security from the options shown)


3. Select API reference, then select the checkbox to Enable API access.


4. Save your changes

5. Set up a new project in the Google APIs Console
  2. Click "Create Project"
  3. Give your project a name, like "Digital Signage" or "TelemetryTV" and click Create
Once your new project has been created, search for "Admin SDK" in the search bar at the top of the page. It should appear like this:



5. Click to go to the Admin SDK page. With your project selected (the project name should be visible to the right of the Google APIs logo in the top left), you can then enable Admin SDK for this project. Click "overview" on the left side of the page, then click "enable".



If you'd like to read more information about why this is necessary, click here.


6. Tie the TelemetryTV Media Player to your TelemetryTV account

  1. Return to the TelemetryTV web app and go to the Devices page.
  2. Click the Provision button on the Devices page.
  3. Download the provisioning file by clicking on the icon shown in the image below:



4. Return to Google Admin. Click Device Management > Chrome Management > App Management and select TelemetryTV Media Player

5. Click on Kiosk Settings and select the organization you want to manage.



6. Click upload configuration file and upload the provisioning file you downloaded from TelemetryTV. Your domain now has TelemetryTV configured as an available app and it is configured to point at your TelemetryTV account!


7. Configure your Devices to be a TelemetryTV Kiosk

This setting configures your devices to auto-launch the TelemetryTV app when rebooted. This allows for a seamless viewing experience.

  1. From Google Admin, go to Device Management > Chrome Management > Device Settings.
  2. Select the organization you'd like to configure, and scroll down to the Kiosk Settings section:



3. Next set it to launch under Auto-Launch Kiosk App, then click Save.



The device will now automatically launch TelemetryTV when it boots.  You may need to wait a bit before the new configuration is picked up and your device is ready.  Reboot the device and you should see it automatically provision and become available in TelemetryTV's device list.


8. Sync your Google CDM Organizations to your TelemetryTV account

This is an optional step which syncs your organizations from Google Admin to TelemetryTV. This allows you to set up organized folders of devices without having to do it manually. Please read this article to learn how it works.


Congratulations! You survived setting up Single App Kiosk Mode in Google Admin. Now, you're ready to display and manage your content seamlessly across multiple screens.


Next, check out our Devices documentation for a helpful video about using the Devices section!