[HN Gopher] Chrultrabook - Modify a Chromebook to Run Windows/Li... ___________________________________________________________________ Chrultrabook - Modify a Chromebook to Run Windows/Linux/macOS Author : fragmede Score : 78 points Date : 2023-08-03 18:13 UTC (4 hours ago) (HTM) web link (chrultrabook.github.io) (TXT) w3m dump (chrultrabook.github.io) | ConanRus wrote: | [dead] | cactusplant7374 wrote: | Can it handle running OSX? | lizknope wrote: | Follow the link. Then this link on the left sidebar | | https://chrultrabook.github.io/docs/docs/installing-macos.ht... | alchemist1e9 wrote: | And any chance apple ID sign in works? I know on VMs it's | blocked. | tedunangst wrote: | The hard part is figuring out whether stuff like keyboard | backlight will work. Even for popular developer models like the | pixelbook, you google around and find two or three conflicting | reddit posts that tell you it doesn't work but there's a fix in | this link to a tweet that's been deleted. | | Does audio work? Does the headphone jack work? Does headphone | jack auto sense work? | bqmjjx0kac wrote: | I use MrChromebox firmware on a Pixelbook (Eve) and many things | work fine, like Wi-Fi, suspend, brightness, and keyboard | backlight. Annoyingly, audio doesn't work. I can't remember | whether camera/microphone work. | CameronNemo wrote: | I know that a lot of Chromebooks with Intel IPUs are not | going to work with a mainline kernel for a couple years at | least. | spansoa wrote: | > A chrultrabook is a modified Chromebook designed to run | Windows, Linux, or even macOS by utilizing MrChromebox coreboot | firmware | | Why should I trust 'MrChromebox' firmware? I trust Google more | than some rando side project on GitHub. | jamesnorden wrote: | You're free to read the code and compile it yourself, I don't | understand this question. | fabrice_d wrote: | To trust the code you need to understand it, or trust someone | else that understand it. I would not claim I can do that | without spending a lot of time since I'm unfamiliar with the | coreboot code base in the first place. Saying "you can just | recompile yourself" is as useful as "you can cook deadly | mushrooms yourself" instead of getting food poisoning from a | 3rd party. | zacmps wrote: | You say that like you or anyone else on the planet | understands and trusts all the software they have running | on their (phone/laptop/desktop). | | That ship sailed a long time ago. | yjftsjthsd-h wrote: | How would a person go from the sources posted on github to | the binaries that get flashed? I don't see anything in | https://github.com/MrChromebox that seems to be actual build | scripts, without which the numerous other repos are less than | useful | theodric wrote: | Switch on developer mode on a supported device, pop a | shell, and run 'cd; curl mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh | --output firmware-util.sh; sudo bash firmware-util.sh' | | For more detail, I point you toward the fine documentation | carlosjobim wrote: | I don't think the project is aimed at you personally as an | individual. It seems to be aimed at whoever think it's neat. | jprd wrote: | I donated monthly to MrChromebox for more than a bit. | | Before COVID hit, I used his firmware and ~20 1st Gen Asus/HP | Chromeboxen (upgraded RAM to 16G and 128/256GB SSD | replacements, i7-4600U Haswell, cases stripped off and | heatsinks added to the new SSDs) to create a physical K8s | lab. | | I no longer need to run that kind of lab, but I still use | those a few of those nodes for running services at home. | Proxmox/Docker/K8s/Win Server/etc, a bit more power draw, but | x86-64 and since they "expire", you'll see a periodic flood | of devices to places like eBay. | lizknope wrote: | You don't have to but I used MrChromebox's firmware on a C710, | C720, and 2 Asus Chromeboxes. | | The project has been around about 10 years. I think it if was | not trustworthy we probably would have heard something by now. | | I remember using the SeaBIOS firmware from them around 2014. | Since then I've updated all machines to the UEFI firmware and | now they can even boot Windows. I run the latest Fedora | distribution on all of them and they work fine. | traverseda wrote: | Well it's coreboot, you can compile it yourself if that's | something you're worried about. | alchemist1e9 wrote: | Does anyone happen to know what is the cheapest mass produced and | typically available used or otherwise dirt cheap chromebook that | this works on. Yes I know there is a supported list and I just | need to spend a few hours researching but this is the kind of | knowledge that certain people might just know and be willing to | share. | | How low can we go? | suprjami wrote: | Not sure why this page says Ubuntu won't work. MrChromebox's | firmware just turned it into a regular UEFI computer. I've had | Ubuntu Mate 22.04 working on a Chromebook just fine. | [deleted] | Octoth0rpe wrote: | A chromebook requires no modification to run linux. They all run | linux out of the box by definition. | bqmjjx0kac wrote: | Sure, technically true, but it's not the same experience as | running Debian (for example) on bare metal. | | For one thing, ChromeOS refuses to pass through certain USB | devices to the Linux container. So if you wanted to customize | the settings in your gaming mouse or control a 3D printer, | you're out of luck. | jeffbee wrote: | I control a 2-axis plotter on a Chromebook without issue. | What is the particular problem with 3D printers? | | As for the mouse thing, the inability to install persistent | malware in your pointing device may be viewed as a feature, | frankly. | bqmjjx0kac wrote: | Interesting! I just guessed that might be an issue. I had | trouble using a Razer mouse configuration tool because it | was unable to see the USB device. | westurner wrote: | On Chromebooks, there is now a "Turn on Linux" button that's | only for non-student, non-family accounts. | | Can the SecureBoot keys and Serial be overwritten, or are they | e-waste after supported updates end and school districts are | holding the bag for computers that the kids can't run `git | --help` on? | fragmede wrote: | If they can turn on developer mode, they can run sudo | dev_install, which will bring up a gentoo environment on | which ChromeOS is based on, and then they have access to | portage, and git --help. Outside of that, GalliumOS runs | pretty well on most of them. | ForOldHack wrote: | I have been working on school locked cbooks for a few weeks. | We decided to jtag them rather than wait for the unlocks..a. | stock Linux rus poorly, and Zorin seems to be the best | choice. Alpine is light as a feather. | | You cannot access anything ot change anything until you pill | the write protect screw. I.e you have no access until you | remove this screw. After you remove screw, a $17 jtag kit and | a good image... ( First few images where 'cloud free' which I | would rather consider it bricked .. ) then you can wipe the | drive and start experimenting with Linux, and see just how | awful the field is, of simply follow my recommendations. For | these dell chrome books, Linux would be Zorin, windows would | be win7 Mini, and now I can start with Mac os. I would start | with lion or sierra. | | In our case, the school district was holding the bag, but | also it's a low priority to help hackers vs educating the | students for which I would have loved to show the students | how to do all those stuff, and the school district would | rather not. Be a great education. ) | | Just so you know, both Zorin and Win7 run git --help. Let's | see if I can get MacOS... | yjftsjthsd-h wrote: | Worse, ChromeOS is actually GNU/Linux, so it's hard to | distinguish technically (unlike Android/Linux). I personally | lean towards "user-controlled Linux" or such. | qbasic_forever wrote: | You have to be able to put the device in developer mode to load | non-google signed OS images. I'm not sure it's mandated that | this be possible for every device so I would absolutely do some | research to make sure the device I'm about to buy allows | developer mode. On old/early chromebooks you had to physically | open them (voiding the warranty) and remove a special screw to | enable developer mode for example. | | Also even when you have developer mode enabled the stock | chromebook firmware is a little annoying and won't boot until | you press ctrl-d on the keyboard to confirm you agree to | booting an unsigned image. There is no way to disable this | behavior and it happens every single boot whether you want it | or not. The Mr. Chromebox firmware this article mentions has to | be flashed to a device to remove this annoyance and make the | device boot like regular laptops. | NoZebra120vClip wrote: | Will my touchpad still malfunction? | | "Dave, will I dream?" | em3rgent0rdr wrote: | Separate but relevant news[1] is that Google seems to be | separating "ChromeOS" from the Linux portion and using Wayland | rather than the ChromeOS-specific "Freon" graphics stack. | | [1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/google-is-finally- | se... | resoluteteeth wrote: | I'm not sure this will affect that much for users except that | EOL devices will still get browser updates (which I think was | the main goal) | | I guess it will probably also slightly simplify development of | both chromeos (because it won't have a bespoke graphics stack) | and chrome (because there will be one less version) for google, | too. | iforgotpassword wrote: | Tried it on my Samsung Chromebook that ran out of support last | month. The system is stuck on 114 but the browser is now 115. | But, the device not being the fastest anymore, has gotten | notably laggy with this, because I guess now I really have two | different versions of chrome running simultaneously. | [deleted] | johnvaluk wrote: | This is a nice guide. | | In my experience, it isn't necessary to configure ChromeOS by | logging into a Google account after enabling Developer Mode, if | you simply want to ditch ChromeOS and flash the UEFI firmware. | Just press ctrl+alt+F2 to get a shell, login as chronos (no | password), then type `sudo bash` or `sudo -s` to get a root | shell. | | In addition to the other recommended distros, NixOS runs well on | all my converted ChromeOS devices. | | It's a great way to get continued use out of hardware that no | longer receives ChromeOS updates. Even underpowered devices can | be appealing for some tasks because they're lightweight and | fanless. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-08-03 23:00 UTC)