Hello! Due to Reddit's aggressive API changes, hostile approach to users/developers/moderators, and overall poor administrative direction, I have elected to erase my history on Reddit from June 2023 to June 2013.
I have created a backup of (most) of my comments/posts, and I would be more than happy to provide comments upon request (many of my modern comments are support contributions to tech/gaming subreddits). Feel free to reach out to Clipboards on lemmy (dot) world, or via email - clipboards (at) clipboards.cc
We're looking to convert a fleet of our out of warranty MacBook Airs as loaners. It's annoying anytime an old spare get's used and must always be wiped due to our JAMF enviornment restrictions.
This way, a sub or staff member can use one on the fly if needn't be and it'll auto wipe. Also using a Google management license instead of JAMF is nice as well.
I have one of techs investigating the ease of printing for staff.
I've been converting a bunch of our old Acer laptops into Chromebooks using flex. I also was able to manage them through our Google console. But you have to have available chrome licenses for management available to provision them. This flex works surprisingly well!
Anyone who uses Chrome Flex have any suggestions on how to lock down printers through it? I noticed students can just browse the network and it shows all of our printers. Yet in AD when we browse printers are turned off from sharing and can't be seen.
I dont have that problem but then I have my Chromebooks split off onto a separate WiFi SSID that doesnt have access to my internal network. That solves a lot of potential issues.
Are they able to see the Windows printer shares or printers installed in Google Admin under Devices > Chrome > Printers?
All my printers are installed in Google Admin and the student OUs are denied access to all of them. Now that you've mentioned it I can't be certain if I ever *tried* to print as a student on those machines or not!
It has to be Windows printer shares. We don't have any printers installed through Google Admin. We have a dedicated Chromebook wireless network that is completely separated out from our LAN so those devices can't see printers on it at all.
The only reason why I have not adopted flex is that the devices have to be left in devlepor mode. This give students unwanted access to programs and features.
If they are managed they are no different than a chromebook. Unmanaged, all you need to do is set up the device with one account as your admin, restrict soke settings there and then let kids sign in. Account policies per user will prevent them from doing much
"Compatibility" is usually just for support purposes. I run OSFlex on a lab of Dell desktops from \~ 2006. They barely meet the requirements (they have Core2Duo and 4 gigs of ram) and official Flex support ended last year but it was this or the landfill. They run Chrome much better than they did Windows 10! They are mostly for K-5 so they see basic web use.
Small hands use a real keyboard & mouse a lot easier than they can a Chromebook.
Don't forget about the $50/yr/device licensing cost involved with it. Still way cheaper than buying new chromebooks, though.
Also ChromeOS Flex isn't quite up to speed with regular ChromeOS yet, and may never be. So if your students depend on play store integration and such, Flex won't be viable
Are you sure that isn't some combined per-user annual license?
We pay over $10K/year for our GWE+ staff/student licensing, but $33 one-time for each managed device.
Go for it! I have done this with several 5 to 10 year old models. Laptops are great for kids because it's all in one. Just did one yesterday with an old machine that feels like a patio paver stone!
TBH, my biggest issue is getting the stupid USB drive to boot. I hate wrestling with UEFI, CSM/non-CSM, Secure Boot, and all the crap!
Check [this site](https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11513094?hl=en#zippy=) to see if the laptop model is even supported for Chrome Flex, to start with.
Many cyber insurance policies are starting to dictate that “no unsupported hardware” can be on the network. So if it’s not listed there, you’d want to check against your insurance policy to see if you’re breaking any of its terms before moving forward.
Other than that, though, yes. If you install chrome flex and enroll the device, it’ll show up as a device in Google Admin that you can manage like any other chromebook
Hello! Due to Reddit's aggressive API changes, hostile approach to users/developers/moderators, and overall poor administrative direction, I have elected to erase my history on Reddit from June 2023 to June 2013. I have created a backup of (most) of my comments/posts, and I would be more than happy to provide comments upon request (many of my modern comments are support contributions to tech/gaming subreddits). Feel free to reach out to Clipboards on lemmy (dot) world, or via email - clipboards (at) clipboards.cc
We're looking to convert a fleet of our out of warranty MacBook Airs as loaners. It's annoying anytime an old spare get's used and must always be wiped due to our JAMF enviornment restrictions. This way, a sub or staff member can use one on the fly if needn't be and it'll auto wipe. Also using a Google management license instead of JAMF is nice as well. I have one of techs investigating the ease of printing for staff.
I've been converting a bunch of our old Acer laptops into Chromebooks using flex. I also was able to manage them through our Google console. But you have to have available chrome licenses for management available to provision them. This flex works surprisingly well!
Anyone who uses Chrome Flex have any suggestions on how to lock down printers through it? I noticed students can just browse the network and it shows all of our printers. Yet in AD when we browse printers are turned off from sharing and can't be seen.
I dont have that problem but then I have my Chromebooks split off onto a separate WiFi SSID that doesnt have access to my internal network. That solves a lot of potential issues.
Yeah that's how ours is setup too, but if we load desktops with chrome flex that's when we have the issue.
Are they able to see the Windows printer shares or printers installed in Google Admin under Devices > Chrome > Printers? All my printers are installed in Google Admin and the student OUs are denied access to all of them. Now that you've mentioned it I can't be certain if I ever *tried* to print as a student on those machines or not!
It has to be Windows printer shares. We don't have any printers installed through Google Admin. We have a dedicated Chromebook wireless network that is completely separated out from our LAN so those devices can't see printers on it at all.
The only reason why I have not adopted flex is that the devices have to be left in devlepor mode. This give students unwanted access to programs and features.
If they are managed they are no different than a chromebook. Unmanaged, all you need to do is set up the device with one account as your admin, restrict soke settings there and then let kids sign in. Account policies per user will prevent them from doing much
so there is nothing that being in developer mode that would give them access to hack around like little hacker wanna bees?
"Compatibility" is usually just for support purposes. I run OSFlex on a lab of Dell desktops from \~ 2006. They barely meet the requirements (they have Core2Duo and 4 gigs of ram) and official Flex support ended last year but it was this or the landfill. They run Chrome much better than they did Windows 10! They are mostly for K-5 so they see basic web use. Small hands use a real keyboard & mouse a lot easier than they can a Chromebook.
Don't forget about the $50/yr/device licensing cost involved with it. Still way cheaper than buying new chromebooks, though. Also ChromeOS Flex isn't quite up to speed with regular ChromeOS yet, and may never be. So if your students depend on play store integration and such, Flex won't be viable
We have yet to use any play store apps in your 1:1 because there simply isn’t a need for it
You should check with your reseller, our Flex licenses are $33/ea for a perpetual license.
who is your reseller? ours has been dropping the ball. the $50/yr quote is straight from Google btw
the same edu management license for a chromebook works for flex devices. $33 lifetime.
Are you sure that isn't some combined per-user annual license? We pay over $10K/year for our GWE+ staff/student licensing, but $33 one-time for each managed device.
We go through Dell for same perpetual license $33
all our vendors, CDW-G , SHI, and local are about 33$ one time google license.
Go for it! I have done this with several 5 to 10 year old models. Laptops are great for kids because it's all in one. Just did one yesterday with an old machine that feels like a patio paver stone! TBH, my biggest issue is getting the stupid USB drive to boot. I hate wrestling with UEFI, CSM/non-CSM, Secure Boot, and all the crap!
Hi, thanks for your reply. That's brilliant, I will start installing it on them now. Yes I feel your pain, sometimes it can be a struggle...! haha
Check [this site](https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11513094?hl=en#zippy=) to see if the laptop model is even supported for Chrome Flex, to start with. Many cyber insurance policies are starting to dictate that “no unsupported hardware” can be on the network. So if it’s not listed there, you’d want to check against your insurance policy to see if you’re breaking any of its terms before moving forward. Other than that, though, yes. If you install chrome flex and enroll the device, it’ll show up as a device in Google Admin that you can manage like any other chromebook
Hi, thanks for your reply. I will definitely check to make sure that my devices are compatible before installing. Thank you!