Making it targeted only for Chromebooks makes it really inaccessible for masses. I would prefer to use my Thinkpad anyway, and not to throw another few hundred

Making it targeted only for Chromebooks makes it really inaccessible for masses. I would prefer to use my Thinkpad anyway, and not to throw another few hundred bucks on a Chromebook that is technically inept. Why couldn't you provide a generic image with Linux firmwares added? Like ArnoldTheBat does (and Neverware for its CloudReady, but its a closed product) with his build: http://arnoldthebat.co.uk/wordpress/chromiumos-special-builds/ http://arnoldthebat.co.uk/wordpress/chromiumos-special-build... Things like "It was not reliable because of problems due to unsupported hardware (such as trackpad issues, ...)" will fly away and you will get a new blood of users and devs to your project. Probably you could also tweak kernel config for better hardware compatibility or set of kernel features, since all in all its a fork and you have total control over it.