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Installing Linux on low end laptops is difficult because of obscured proprietary firmware. Chromebook BIOS is an example.

• jasonvorhe 6y ago
  Chromebooks boot using coreboot. As far as I know that's pretty open.
  • nextos 6y ago
    Check latest Chromebooks, it's really hard to use native Linux on them unlike on previous iterations. For example, they use weird soundcards. This is sad, because they were easy-to-buy and inexpensive Linux machines. Pixelbook Go is very nice, and the price is reasonable.
    • yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
      How did they manage to screw that up? I mean, Chromebooks literally run Linux just with a weird userland on top, and even if they're using weird out-of-tree drivers, if they're in-kernel they still have to be released, so worst case you should be able to reuse their patches. Or has the joy of drivers running at least partially in userspace also hit ChromeOS?
      • ipnon 6y ago
        I think the hardware is sold at a loss to recoup once budget laptop users are locked into the Google ecosystem. I don't think Linux was conspired against but compatibility with Linux was an afterthought or discouraged.
        • yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
          But that's what I don't understand; "compatibility with Linux" can't be an afterthought when the stock OS uses a Linux kernel. Even on Android, it's rare for the problem to be getting drivers for hardware; the drivers might be terrible and hard to rebase onto a newer kernel, but they're at least available.