SIDELOADING CSOUND ON CHROMEBOOKS (September 2023) with ADDENDA (November 2023) Art Hunkins abhunkin@uncg.edu INTRODUCTION I've been a fan of Csound on Chromebooks for some time. My enthusiasm is displayed in a previous article, Csound on Chromebooks (http://arthunkins.com/Csound on Chromebooks.txt.) I'm particularly partial to older, second-hand Chomebooks that are complete with touchscreen, power supply and access to the Google Play app. These are widely available on eBay for well under 100$ US, and should find favor with students and other Csounders on a budget. THE ISSUE Recently, however, Csound on Chromebooks has encountered a major challenge: the most recent version (currently 6.19) of Csound for Android is not available on the Google Play Store. Google Play has only the 6.15 version, which lacks newer Csound features, and is limited to 9 sliders and 5 buttons. (The most recent version sports 12 sliders and 12 buttons.) Csounders who want these expanded features must look elsewhere than the Play Store. The new version unfortunately qualifies as a third-party software and thus must be sideloaded from some other source. (By contrast, Android smartphones and tablets have little difficulty downloading third-party apps.) In a word, Chromebooks with access only to the Google Play Store would seem to be restricted to Csound 6.15. Fortunately, several procedures can modify a Chromebook to allow sideloading third-party software. One method involves enabling Linux mode; this, however, does not work on Chromebooks prior to 2020. (It is also quite complicated.) Another method *will* work on all Chromebooks that include the Google Play app. This option involves switching to Chromebook's Developer Mode. (Important note: *Chromebooks prior to 2017* may not have access to the Google Play app. All those dating from 2019 on *are* Google Play enabled.) For a complete list of pre-2019 Chromebooks that *can* sideload Android apps, see: https://www.androidauthority.com/chromebook-linux-android-apps-874984/ . Along with other recent releases, the current version of Csound for Android (v47, from Csound 6.19) is found at: https://github.com/gogins/csound-android/releases. (The latest vesion tops the list.) Downloading any of these requires Chromebook Developer Mode. The same is true for any of my "alternative csound apps" (http://arthunkins.com/Android_Csound_Apps.htm ). IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure to obtain a *touch screen* Chromebook if you plan to use Csound for Android's widgets (GUI). Touch is a requirement for interactive performance. Buttons, sliders and on-screen touchpad are your substitute for a MIDI controller. DEVELOPER MODE It is important to realize that Developer Mode involves a *complete reset* of the Chromebook. In the process, any user materials on the machine will be lost if not backed up either in the cloud or on an external device. Also, every time you turn on your Chromebook in Developer Mode, you will be presented with an "OS verification is off" message, with an option to press ENTER to return to standard operating mode. (Note that opting to return to standard mode will again *completely reset your Chromebook*, an act that includes the removal of Csound.) To continue, you can either press CTRL-D, or wait and do nothing. In the latter case, eventually two bells will beep and the system will automatically progress to the login screen. WARNING: SECURITY RISK While in Developer Mode, anyone could potentially open your Chromebook, hit ENTER and powerwash your machine. They could then gain "ownership" of your unit by logging in with their own account - shutting you out, with all your personal materials (those not saved elsewhere) long gone. THE SOLUTION: How to Enter Developer Mode Completely shut down the Chromebook. Press ESC, REFRESH and POWER buttons simultaneously (REFRESH is the third button to the right of ESC). On the following screen, press CTRL-D. Press ENTER. On the next screen, press CTRL-D again. **LONG WAIT** (the system is preparing Developer Mode; a timer is counting down in the upper left corner of screen). Press CTRL-D on the screen that follows. YOUR NEW LOGIN NOW BEGINS: follow screen prompts (create a new account or use a previous one). When completely signed in, proceed below. (You'll need to reconstitute your user preferences in Settings at some point.) If you haven't already done so, download the latest Csound for Android release from: https://github.com/gogins/csound-android/releases . Scroll down to the end of the *top-most* release listing (currently v47) to Assets, and click on it. Download the CsoundApplication-release.apk. (If you prefer, you can download the file to *any other device*, and from there copy it (via USB drive) to Chromebook's Downloads folder.) Optionally, in your Downloads folder, rename the file to something simple, like Csound.apk (this requires a two-finger click). Two-finger click on the file, then on Package Installer. Click Continue, then Install, and finally either Open (to run Csound) or Done. The first time you run Csound you will be asked to accept (Allow) various permissions. Be sure to enable *all* of them. A final comment: it is important to copy and save all your .csd's and other Csound materials to the *Music* folder, i.e., to My Files/Play Files/Music. This is where Csound can find everything it needs. P.S: Copying this single Music folder to the cloud (Google Drive) or an external device could possibly *save* your "Csound life" as well. ADDENDUM 1 (November 2023) - Text Editors for use with the "alternative" Android apps All the "alternative" Android apps require an external text editor on your Chromebook. Not all editors can deal with .csd files, but a few do. The following will are recommended: 1) *Jota* is available directly from the Play Store, or can be side-loaded from other sources. (The Jota+ enhanced editor is not required.) 2) *TED text editor* can be side-loaded from APKPure.com. (Search on the full name.) 3) *Turbo Editor* is available in two versions: a basic version can be side-loaded from f-droid.org, or an enhanced version from APKPure.com. The latter includes syntax highlighting. Search for "turbo editor" in either case. ADDENDUM 2 (November 2023) - Issues with the Chromebook Plus Google recently introduced a new hardware spec for Chromebooks accompanied by an upgraded operating system (ChromeOS 118). Together they constitute Chromebook Plus. (It proports to be the future of the Chromebook.) I recently purchased an early, but fairly recent (from 2020) Samsung Chromebook Plus (v2) that implements at least some of the OS upgrade. This upgrade presents problems for Android Csound. Happily, with side-loading, all the *"alternative"* apps and their required text editors run without incident. So does the v47 release at github, which is the *latest* version available (6.19). The same cannot be said for the Csound for Android (6.15) from the Play Store. Though it runs .csd's fine, it is of little help editing and saving files. (Even with Chromebook *not* in Developer Mode, and Csound for Android *directly* downloaded, the same limits apply.) Bottom line: for now, avoid Csound for Android at Google Play; side-load the most recent version from github - or one of the "alternative" Csound apps - instead.