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Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Nice to hear that it's possible to run Linux - I have a budget Acer C720p Chromebook and it's a real nuisan

Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Nice to hear that it's possible to run Linux - I have a budget Acer C720p Chromebook and it's a real nuisance to set it up with Linux. Bodhi Linux is great, but once the internal battery runs out, the device is bricked and has to be reflashed with ChromeOS.

neverminder 9y ago
> Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Might have to do with it being discontinued yet still a great piece of hardware. > once the internal battery runs out, the device is bricked and has to be reflashed with ChromeOS. Pixel 2015 does not have this problem (unlike the 1st gen one) - that was confirmed at some point on it's forum by one of the googlers involved in the project.
toast0 9y ago
Did you install a new bios? If you're only ever going to run Linux, it's probably better not to run the stock bios in legacy mode. Standard bios booting roms are here https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download/ https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download... or if you want to futz with UEFI, https://mrchromebox.tech https://mrchromebox.tech
- donquichotte 9y ago
  This is great news, I didn't know there were BIOS updates available for the C720P! I'm not going to use UEFI if it's avoidable.
  - colemickens 9y ago
    > I'm not going to use UEFI if it's avoidable. ... why? normalizing hardware quirks, better HW support from Linux, direct Linux kernel boot support, a sane, documented way for OSes to interact with the boot manager... there are a lot of good reasons to use UEFI and I've yet to hear a compelling reason not to.
  - toast0 9y ago
    Just use the johnlewis coreboot roms then. Mr. Chromebox apparently used to include legacy mode (and the pages say its there), but it's not there anymore. You should be able to flash the bios from within your existing Linux install, and things should continue to work. For FreeBSD, I did have to hack the kernel a bit, because the Manufacturer name was different in his roms than other roms, and so the keyboard driver didn't attach.
colemickens 9y ago
There's a wiki page that describes how to modify the ChromeOS installation media to reset the gbb flags that control legacy boot on the 2013 model without needing to do a full reinstall CrOS -> fix flags -> reinstall Linux. (edit, I am shocked I found my way back there... https://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices/workaround-for-battery-discharge-in-dev-mode#TOC-Change-the-chromeos-install-script-to-just-fix-the-flags https://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-f...) Also, they claimed that it was impossible to hit that condition on the 2015 model (the gbb flags are stored in a non-volatile area), yet I did have it happen to me once. Not sure if it was possibly due to a CrOS Dev-channel update, as I was dual-booting for a while to get firmware updates. (My 2015 model now runs a TianoCore UEFI payload in the main ROM slot, so I avoid any of those problems).

neverminder 9y ago

> Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Might have to do with it being discontinued yet still a great piece of hardware. > once the internal battery runs out, the device is bricked and has to be reflashed with ChromeOS. Pixel 2015 does not have this problem (unlike the 1st gen one) - that was confirmed at some point on it's forum by one of the googlers involved in the project.

toast0 9y ago

Did you install a new bios? If you're only ever going to run Linux, it's probably better not to run the stock bios in legacy mode. Standard bios booting roms are here https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download/ https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download... or if you want to futz with UEFI, https://mrchromebox.tech https://mrchromebox.tech

donquichotte 9y ago
This is great news, I didn't know there were BIOS updates available for the C720P! I'm not going to use UEFI if it's avoidable.
- colemickens 9y ago
  > I'm not going to use UEFI if it's avoidable. ... why? normalizing hardware quirks, better HW support from Linux, direct Linux kernel boot support, a sane, documented way for OSes to interact with the boot manager... there are a lot of good reasons to use UEFI and I've yet to hear a compelling reason not to.
- toast0 9y ago
  Just use the johnlewis coreboot roms then. Mr. Chromebox apparently used to include legacy mode (and the pages say its there), but it's not there anymore. You should be able to flash the bios from within your existing Linux install, and things should continue to work. For FreeBSD, I did have to hack the kernel a bit, because the Manufacturer name was different in his roms than other roms, and so the keyboard driver didn't attach.

colemickens 9y ago

There's a wiki page that describes how to modify the ChromeOS installation media to reset the gbb flags that control legacy boot on the 2013 model without needing to do a full reinstall CrOS -> fix flags -> reinstall Linux. (edit, I am shocked I found my way back there... https://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices/workaround-for-battery-discharge-in-dev-mode#TOC-Change-the-chromeos-install-script-to-just-fix-the-flags https://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-f...) Also, they claimed that it was impossible to hit that condition on the 2015 model (the gbb flags are stored in a non-volatile area), yet I did have it happen to me once. Not sure if it was possibly due to a CrOS Dev-channel update, as I was dual-booting for a while to get firmware updates. (My 2015 model now runs a TianoCore UEFI payload in the main ROM slot, so I avoid any of those problems).