Mastodawn

Linux Mint microblog update:

Why not put Mint on a cheap Chromebook?

It's really difficult to get a modern Chromebook to boot to install media that isn't ChromeOs.

Really really difficult.

But once booted to the Linux Mint install media, things are just moving along with the usual chill simplicity...so far.

I will update again once I am finish.
(Update: No luck so far. But I will turn this into a thread with updates until my Chromebook runs some version of Linux.)

Also, I clicked past so many warranty voiding warnings.

I genuinely wouldn't bother if:

1. Google's terms of service were short enough to read.
2. Google had stayed out of my news feed for privacy concerns for, let's say, the past five years.

But lacking both of those, I'm going to continue to wipe Google's OS off of any device I use.

#ivoidwarranties #chromeos #linuxmint #chromebook #microblog

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EdTheDev

Summary:

Total cost: $40 on sale, plus about 4 hours of effort.

At my hourly rate that's...way too expensive, really.

I should have just bought a Tuxedo with Linux pre-installed. I would have saved time (and time is sometimes money) and gotten better hardware.

But it works!

Some lessons learned:

+ Google really doesn't want to allow booting a custom OS. There's lots of boot level "security". I am too annoyed to comment fairly, but considering that step one was to wipe all data, the words "security theater" come to mind for all of the crap that followed.
+ Linux Mint either doesn't work here, or got very unlucky.
+ Arch Linux stills scares me.
+ Ol' reliable: Debian brings home the win!

Of course - building great operating systems is a collaboration, not a competition. (But Debian wins, anyway, tonight.)

#google #degoogle #chromebook #linux #debian #archlinux #linuxmint

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EdTheDev 14h ago

I quick update on my Linux Chromebook, after using it for a day or so:

1. I really don't recommend this approach. It's a needlessly complicated pain in the ass to clean Google's crap out far enough to install a privacy respecting OS. I recommend spending a little more than I did on hardware that isn't so antagonistic toward software freedom.

2. Dell makes good hardware, even in their Chromebook line-up. I've happily run Linux on Dell hardware many times before, so I shouldn't be so surprised.

Anyway, this thing drives like a VW bug modified for racing. It has no right to be this good.

My eternal thanks to the communities (and some Google engineers, too) who made projects like this possible. I'll continue to do my best to pay it forward where I can.

#debian #linux #dell #chromebook