4 ms·

GalliumOS is a wonderful project. It has turned my $150 chromebook into a fully-fledged dev machine that works perfectly including all the fiddly things like sl

by adwhit 11y ago

GalliumOS is a wonderful project. It has turned my $150 chromebook into a fully-fledged dev machine that works perfectly including all the fiddly things like sleep/wake, screen brightness, volume keys and secondary displays. And I get around 9 hours battery. The 11GB hard drive space I had left after installation was plenty big enough for all the tools and libraries I need, and I added a 64GB SD card for archiving and media. Since the chromebook (a CB3-131) is so cheap and compact, I take it everywhere, and I wouldn't really care if I lost it or dropped it down the stairs. This confirms my belief that when it comes to buying laptops, one should either go really cheap (<$250) or really expensive ($1000+). There is a no-mans-land between the two where the quality is generally poor but the price is still too high to be blase about your kit.

epylar 11y ago
I see the CB3-131 is on the GalliumOS hardware compatibility list (https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility) now, under Intel Bay Trail, and supposedly works with ChromeOS as a dual boot option. However, the installation guide (https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing) links to https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing/Preparing https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing/Preparing as a first step, which says "On Bay Trail Chromebooks, you will have to flash your firmware. Luckily, John Lewis' script makes it a very straight forward process. Unfortuantely, you'll have to open up your Chromebook. Also note that after completing this process, you will no longer be able to run Chrome OS on your Chromebook, so no dualbooting for this one I'm afraid." This contradicts the entry in the HCL. Is this true? Were you able to get your CB3-131 to dual boot?
- adwhit 11y ago
  I did not try to dual-boot, I just flashed the BIOS and nuked the hard drive as per the instructions (which were clear and accurate). From the links you provide, it seems there may be a way to use chrx to get dual boot working. Perhaps ask on the reddit? [0] Honestly though, the limited hard drive space is better given to Linux than ChromeOs. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/galliumos/ https://www.reddit.com/r/galliumos/
  - rollinDyno 11y ago
    Please share the link to these instructions. Specifically for hard drive nuking. I installed Arch Linux on my CB3-111 last night and am using an external USB drive while I figure out how to wipe the internal disk clean.
    - anonbanker 11y ago
      once you've diabled write protection (often just a screw), fdisk/cfdisk/parted will wipe the drive.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- reynhout 11y ago
  Dual-boot on Bay Trail is a very recent development and not all of the docs have been updated yet. https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility is correct. https://wiki.galliumos.org/Firmware https://wiki.galliumos.org/Firmware and https://chrx.org/ https://chrx.org/ have more detailed information.
ruffrey 11y ago
Specifically which chromebook?
- anonbanker 11y ago
  I've had good results with GalliumOS on a Chromebook C720P. if you want better graphics, upgrade to a C740 with a Core i3. Otherwise, C710 can take 16GB of RAM, if you're okay with the weak CPU. Make sure you get an Intel chipset chromebook. That's most of them. You won't find much difference in them, other than that.
andersen1488 11y ago
>There is a no-mans-land between the two where the quality is generally poor but the price is still too high to be blase about your kit. Here's a life pro tip: This applies to pretty much every product.
grobolom 11y ago
Did you have any issues with Wifi/Display Brightness/Keybindings when setting up your chromebook? I haven't seen many posts by CB3-131 users and I've been having some issues (posted about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GalliumOS/comments/4colnc/keybinding_wifi_and_display_dimming_issues/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GalliumOS/comments/4colnc/keybindin...)

by adwhit 11y ago

epylar 11y ago

I see the CB3-131 is on the GalliumOS hardware compatibility list (https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility) now, under Intel Bay Trail, and supposedly works with ChromeOS as a dual boot option. However, the installation guide (https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing) links to https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing/Preparing https://wiki.galliumos.org/Installing/Preparing as a first step, which says "On Bay Trail Chromebooks, you will have to flash your firmware. Luckily, John Lewis' script makes it a very straight forward process. Unfortuantely, you'll have to open up your Chromebook. Also note that after completing this process, you will no longer be able to run Chrome OS on your Chromebook, so no dualbooting for this one I'm afraid." This contradicts the entry in the HCL. Is this true? Were you able to get your CB3-131 to dual boot?

adwhit 11y ago
I did not try to dual-boot, I just flashed the BIOS and nuked the hard drive as per the instructions (which were clear and accurate). From the links you provide, it seems there may be a way to use chrx to get dual boot working. Perhaps ask on the reddit? [0] Honestly though, the limited hard drive space is better given to Linux than ChromeOs. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/galliumos/ https://www.reddit.com/r/galliumos/
- rollinDyno 11y ago
  Please share the link to these instructions. Specifically for hard drive nuking. I installed Arch Linux on my CB3-111 last night and am using an external USB drive while I figure out how to wipe the internal disk clean.
  - anonbanker 11y ago
    once you've diabled write protection (often just a screw), fdisk/cfdisk/parted will wipe the drive.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
reynhout 11y ago
Dual-boot on Bay Trail is a very recent development and not all of the docs have been updated yet. https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility is correct. https://wiki.galliumos.org/Firmware https://wiki.galliumos.org/Firmware and https://chrx.org/ https://chrx.org/ have more detailed information.

ruffrey 11y ago

Specifically which chromebook?

anonbanker 11y ago
I've had good results with GalliumOS on a Chromebook C720P. if you want better graphics, upgrade to a C740 with a Core i3. Otherwise, C710 can take 16GB of RAM, if you're okay with the weak CPU. Make sure you get an Intel chipset chromebook. That's most of them. You won't find much difference in them, other than that.

andersen1488 11y ago

>There is a no-mans-land between the two where the quality is generally poor but the price is still too high to be blase about your kit. Here's a life pro tip: This applies to pretty much every product.

grobolom 11y ago

Did you have any issues with Wifi/Display Brightness/Keybindings when setting up your chromebook? I haven't seen many posts by CB3-131 users and I've been having some issues (posted about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GalliumOS/comments/4colnc/keybinding_wifi_and_display_dimming_issues/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GalliumOS/comments/4colnc/keybindin...)