[HN Gopher] Chrultrabook - Modify a Chromebook to Run Windows/Li...
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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.
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(page generated 2023-08-03 23:00 UTC)