4 ms·

Would it run an actual Linux OS?

neverminder 9y ago
I hope it does. I have a 2015 Pixel LS (last gen) running vanilla Ubuntu without any major issues. The disk size was always a nuisance (64GB only), so this new one looks perfect in that regard. I just wish Intel stopped their bullshit malicious behavior and started supporting LPDDR4 at last and lift the 16 GB RAM cap that LPDDR3 has.
sethrin 9y ago
Crouton[0] is one option for that, but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook. My current laptop is an Acer C720, purchased for $110 and running GalliumOS. It's not shiny or new, but it gets the job done, and it's practically cheap enough to be disposable. There are admittedly times when I wish I could justify the cost of a Pixel or an XPS 13, but I can't really get past the idea of being able to buy a half-dozen other machines for the same price. [0] https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton [1] http://galliumos.org/ http://galliumos.org/
- acangiano 9y ago
  > but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook Just make sure the spacebar is never pressed at boot. That's all it takes to screw up your nice dual boot setup.
  - isr 9y ago
    If you: * resize the (unused) root-c partition (use the chrx script to do it for you, if you like) * mount it somewhere under /mnt/stateful_partition * use that for your chroots, etc Then you can safely use chromeos in dev mode, and not worry about the "deadly spacebar at bootup" problem. Pressing the spacebar takes you out of dev mode, which will involve rewriting the contents of the rootfs partition currently in use. It will NOT repartition the entire drive, so your separate partition will be safe. Just revert back to dev mode, and you'll see its still there. Or ... put everything on a mini usb stick :)
    - acangiano 9y ago
      Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
  - sethrin 9y ago
    Steps for installing GalliumOS would involve replacing the firmware and bootloader, so the behavior you describe would not be an issue. Overwriting the firmware is of course something to undertake with great care.
IntelMiner 9y ago
From what has been seen, all Chromebooks (from Google and other vendors)run the open source "Coreboot" BIOS, which they allow to be user-flashable Beyond that, they seem to mandate a strict policy of no binary blobs, and code seems to get merged into the mainline kernel pretty quickly My Chromebook 13 worked OOTB with Linux after I flashed the BIOS. The only piece of hardware that didn't work was the keyboard backlight control, which was added in Kernel 4.9

I hope it does. I have a 2015 Pixel LS (last gen) running vanilla Ubuntu without any major issues. The disk size was always a nuisance (64GB only), so this new one looks perfect in that regard. I just wish Intel stopped their bullshit malicious behavior and started supporting LPDDR4 at last and lift the 16 GB RAM cap that LPDDR3 has.

sethrin 9y ago

Crouton[0] is one option for that, but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook. My current laptop is an Acer C720, purchased for $110 and running GalliumOS. It's not shiny or new, but it gets the job done, and it's practically cheap enough to be disposable. There are admittedly times when I wish I could justify the cost of a Pixel or an XPS 13, but I can't really get past the idea of being able to buy a half-dozen other machines for the same price. [0] https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton [1] http://galliumos.org/ http://galliumos.org/

acangiano 9y ago
> but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook Just make sure the spacebar is never pressed at boot. That's all it takes to screw up your nice dual boot setup.
- isr 9y ago
  If you: * resize the (unused) root-c partition (use the chrx script to do it for you, if you like) * mount it somewhere under /mnt/stateful_partition * use that for your chroots, etc Then you can safely use chromeos in dev mode, and not worry about the "deadly spacebar at bootup" problem. Pressing the spacebar takes you out of dev mode, which will involve rewriting the contents of the rootfs partition currently in use. It will NOT repartition the entire drive, so your separate partition will be safe. Just revert back to dev mode, and you'll see its still there. Or ... put everything on a mini usb stick :)
  - acangiano 9y ago
    Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
- sethrin 9y ago
  Steps for installing GalliumOS would involve replacing the firmware and bootloader, so the behavior you describe would not be an issue. Overwriting the firmware is of course something to undertake with great care.

IntelMiner 9y ago

From what has been seen, all Chromebooks (from Google and other vendors)run the open source "Coreboot" BIOS, which they allow to be user-flashable Beyond that, they seem to mandate a strict policy of no binary blobs, and code seems to get merged into the mainline kernel pretty quickly My Chromebook 13 worked OOTB with Linux after I flashed the BIOS. The only piece of hardware that didn't work was the keyboard backlight control, which was added in Kernel 4.9