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I'll just throw this out there - GalliumOS works fairly well to convert a Chromebook into a full-fat Linux laptop. I've only installed it on one, but the proce

by maicro 4y ago

I'll just throw this out there - GalliumOS works fairly well to convert a Chromebook into a full-fat Linux laptop. I've only installed it on one, but the process wasn't too hard. The end result is kinda hacky, and from what I recall there's not much development being done on Gallium of late, but it's still an option.

TheCycoONE 4y ago
GalliumOS works for the x86 chromebooks. For a handful of arm chromebooks archlinuxarm works reasonably well. I bought a Samsung Chromebook Plus (1st gen) before covid when I was taking the train every day. I find it to be a great carry with me device for note taking, web browsing, coding, and light gaming when combined with a tiling window manager. It certainly feels like the netbook promise of the late 2000s. I have to caution that for that particular device the stock kernel in archlinuxarm no longer boots because there are limits on the boot partition size. The workaround I'm aware of is to build out your disk on an sd card / usb stick on another computer, cross compiling the kernel with a reduced set of drivers, and installing it using binfmt-qemu-static/chroot.
- squarefoot 4y ago
  I wonder what's the purpose of GalliumOS. After the usual unlocking, I've installed Manjaro on several 1st and 2nd generation Chromeboxes with no problems whatsoever; everything supported out of the box, and I would expect Debian or Ubuntu to work as well. Are there any incompatibilities with newer generation models so that a dedicated distro is needed?
  - bubblethink 4y ago
    Google doesn't upstream chromebook code. Chromebooks run hacked up downstream kernels. GalliumOS incorporates those hacks. Over time, some things make it upstream.
bluesquared 4y ago
Still pretty hacky on my Acer Chromebook Flip C302, could never get audio working quite right. I'd agree and say GalliumOS on most Chromebooks is like mid-2000s desktop Linux hacky.

by maicro 4y ago

TheCycoONE 4y ago

GalliumOS works for the x86 chromebooks. For a handful of arm chromebooks archlinuxarm works reasonably well. I bought a Samsung Chromebook Plus (1st gen) before covid when I was taking the train every day. I find it to be a great carry with me device for note taking, web browsing, coding, and light gaming when combined with a tiling window manager. It certainly feels like the netbook promise of the late 2000s. I have to caution that for that particular device the stock kernel in archlinuxarm no longer boots because there are limits on the boot partition size. The workaround I'm aware of is to build out your disk on an sd card / usb stick on another computer, cross compiling the kernel with a reduced set of drivers, and installing it using binfmt-qemu-static/chroot.

squarefoot 4y ago
I wonder what's the purpose of GalliumOS. After the usual unlocking, I've installed Manjaro on several 1st and 2nd generation Chromeboxes with no problems whatsoever; everything supported out of the box, and I would expect Debian or Ubuntu to work as well. Are there any incompatibilities with newer generation models so that a dedicated distro is needed?
- bubblethink 4y ago
  Google doesn't upstream chromebook code. Chromebooks run hacked up downstream kernels. GalliumOS incorporates those hacks. Over time, some things make it upstream.

bluesquared 4y ago

Still pretty hacky on my Acer Chromebook Flip C302, could never get audio working quite right. I'd agree and say GalliumOS on most Chromebooks is like mid-2000s desktop Linux hacky.