Google support

googlefan · October 15, 2015, 1:53am

So i bought the 2tb My live book because i though it was an amazing idea. The sales rep warned me about it prob not working. Working on what? My Google tv, Google Chrome book, even on my Google Android (i have to set it up on a pc or mac first.) Love the idea but i have to returtn this product witch really **bleep**.

I only have 30 days from day of purchase and im sure nothing will be out by then. Until then WD.

WDTony · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

Is there a question here? If the products you mentioned support DLNA or typical Samba mounts, then yes they should work.

mildenhall · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

MBL works fine on all three of my android devices. MBL is also basically a linux machine, so should work ok with a chrome book which is basically a linux machine too.

WDTony · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

That is not a supported OS though (Linux is not either).

mildenhall · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

They may not be a supported OSs (shame on WD!), however the MBL still works on these OSs!! WD are just being lazy saying “they are not supported”. Incredible since the MBL has a linux OS inside the case,

cman548 · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

perhaps he meant that you have to go to the dashboard and set up your shares and streaming preferences, and create your mobile access accounts, etc, from a local PC in your network before you can access the stuff from a mobile device.

WDTony · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

Lazy? um no.

Windows and Mac have 95% market share. Linux is less than 2%. How many variants of Linux are there? For us to try to support it would be a nightmare for testing. Chrome OS is probably not even .01 percent market share. If that share percentage starts to rise, we would look to invest in developing our apps and software to support it. As an FYI, Our Apps support Android, iOS, Windows 7 Phone and Blackberry, so it is not like we are not developing for different environments!

mildenhall · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

No PC configuration is required. Fortunately I do not own a Windows PC.

On Android and Linux you can browse to the IP address of the MBL to conifugure it.

In linux, you need to install SAMBA, and then the MBL appears in the file manager as a network share.

In android you need to install one of the many file managers. I use “ES File Explorer”. You select to view “Lan” rather than “Local”, and the MBL will appear. WD2GO for android is just bloatware, and not worth installing - use ES File Explorer instead. The Twonky Android app is however good for your streaming music.

With Chrome OS you just install a SAMBA app, and you will be able to view the MBL.

It doesn’t matter if Linux has 0.0000001% of the market share. The MBL firmware has been written in Linux, so WD have linux developers, so there is no reason why WD cannot support Linux. Google “MBL hack” and you will find how you can connect to the linux computer within the MBL.

Chaos311 · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

I don’t understand what the complaint is about “Linux” not being supported. Which flavor is being talked about? R.H., Ubuntu, CentOS, Mint, … which shell is being talked about… or what version of X? … a whole page could be created just naming the types of Linux available.

Linux is supported. Like most things in it, you just have to figure out how.

Linux support is from a huge and highly talented community. It does not need to be supported by major organizations. It morphes to fit the need.

The day a version of Linux becomes “supported” will be the day strings are attached to a dollar sign.

mildenhall · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

I never said it didn’t work under Linux be in Mint, Suse, Debian, Ubuntu, XUbuntu etc. If you read the messages above you will see that officially Linux is not supported. I quote from WDTony…

"That is not a supported OS though (Linux is not either)."

WD do NOT support Linux of any flavour for some lazy reason considering the MBL is built around a Linux machine. According to WDTony Linux is NOT supported. From my experience it does work under Linux, but WD refuse to support it. Silly I know.

If HP can officially support Linux for a vast number of their printers, why can’t WD officlally support their linux based NAS drives - their MBLs?

Chaos311 · October 15, 2015, 3:38am

I probably came off a little too assaultive with my response.

In my opinion, the problem with any major company supporting “Linux” as a whole has to do with how huge and varied Linux is.

You mentioned HP officially supporting them. I believe that is just a marketing scheme to some extent. I have tried HP drivers for my current printer using Fedora, and drivers for my video card… WOW talk about leaving a lot to be desired.

They are loaded with missing package links and caveats that required a lot of forum searching and footwork to make work correctly.

Although comparing a device that requires specific drivers to a network attached storage device is like comparing apples to oranges. The NAS is using network standards to communicate, not custom coding.

At the end of the day, I agree. I would love to see Linux supported by all the major manufactures. I just don’t think that it is something to be expected at this point.