Hi Folks,
We are using the Centipede to enroll our Chromebooks. With the newer versions of Chrome OS there is a bug where sometimes a user is asked to enter their email twice. So with this being the case, we are running into a problem with our code where if this happens the automation is halted because the script looks to enter a password but due to the bug the email field will sometimes come back up. I was posting here to see if anyone has run into this and can suggest a fix for this.
Hi @rhspower.
For the benefit of the forum helpers, I'll share a link to the website for the "Centipede" project @rhspower referred to:
Are you able to reproduce the fault when performing the enrollment manually?
I ask because a common problem encountered when emulating a keyboard as is done in the Centipede project is typing faster than the host can handle. The Arduino board can send keystrokes at a far higher rate than any human. If you find you are unable to reproduce the fault when performing the enrollment manually, this would indicate that it might be caused by the Arduino typing too fast.
If this is the cause, you could solve the problem by simply adding a delay at the appropriate place in the Centipede Arduino sketch, or increasing the duration of the delay if one is already present in the code.
An alternate workaround would be to connect a couple of buttons to the Arduino board, then modify the code of the Centipede sketch so that it waits for a button press after the email step. If the human operator sees that ChromeOS requested the email once again, they would press one button, which would cause the Arduino board to perform the email step again. If the human operator instead sees that ChromeOS accepted the email, they would press the other button, which would cause the Arduino board to continue the process as usual.
Thanks for bringing this up I've encountered the same issue during enrollment. It definitely seems tied to Chrome OS updates. Adding a delay or using button-based confirmation sounds like a smart workaround. Curious to hear if anyone's found a more permanent fix.
I see there is a built-in setting for doing this:
slowMode
Line 39 - default is 0; change to 1 if needed
Occasionally, Centipede will be just too efficient, and a Chromebook can struggle to keep up. If Centipede is skipping around or behaving oddly, you should slow it down by changing this from a 0 to a 1.