Chromebook/ARM: is there anything I can replace/reflash ChromeOS with Linux?

[DiTBho]

I am looking for something really cheap and ARM-based.
I don't care about the GPU/graphics.

Usually on some ChromeOS laptops you can
- reboot in debug-mode
- chroot from Android to Linux

I'd like to replace the OS entirely, from the bootlooder up.

Let me know if it's possible on some model.

Thanks 

[ejeffrey]

I don't believe there is any Chromebook where you can completely replace the bootloader.  Most if not all of them allow you to install a custom OS by putting it in developer mode but it's a requirement that if you disable debug mode it resumes booting in trusted execution mode from a clean factory image.

I'm not familiar enough with the boot process to know which state checks the debug state and switches to untrusted execution mode but as I understand you can't replace anything before that. 

[Marco]

Why not buy a second hand x86 one? They will have much better support ... as usual just follow the Arch wiki even if you don't use Arch.

[DC1MC]

Pinebook/PinebookPro $100/$220

 Huawei Qingyun L410

[DiTBho]

Why not buy a second hand x86 one?

I hate x86.

[DiTBho]

Pinebook/PinebookPro $100/$220
Huawei Qingyun L410

At the moment I'm still developing tons of hacks for Olimex's TERES laptop.

Typing on the keyboard feels like touching chewing gum, the LCD isn't any better. It sucks so much outdoors that you're perpetually looking for the dark to avoid unscrewing the eyes and immersing in a can of eye drops; and if this sucks, at the software side things are even worse to the point I have done tons of hacks to support Gentoo's stages and vanilla Linux kernels.

I've literally hacked everything from the bootloader up, but still no good news since kernel support (after kernel v4) seems to have fallen into limbo and its SoC is nowhere near as good documented (forget it, they promised nothing, they will release nothing), plus the quality of the laptop is pretty toy.

Made as challange, 200 euro paid, after a year, I finally made it usable as a ramrootfs machine with jwm and very light stuff running on it.

There's not enough RAM for anything else. Finally the last hack made the battery life decent, but the power manager still sucks and there's no hope to fix it once and for all, so I'm forcing the PLL to the lowest possible frequency.

Pretty wild hack, not elegant, not clean, very dirty, but it works, so it's good.

You get the idea: everything is a perpetual challenge not to throw your laptop out the window or throw it in a hydraulic press.

You can? Develop on it? Really?

I've held out for 1 year, but I'm a little tired of all these hacks and I'm tempted to park the laptop on eBay 

---

The PineBook is no better.
I will check out the Huawei Qingyun L410

At least the ChromeBooks are/seem to be of better quality.

[SiliconWizard]

It's cheap but it definitely sucks.

[langwadt]

Why not buy a second hand x86 one?

I hate x86.

unless you are intentionally check what cpu it is using, how would you know in normal operation?

[DC1MC]

Why not buy a second hand x86 one?

I hate x86.

unless you are intentionally check what cpu it is using, how would you know in normal operation?

It works crappier and slower this is how you see it, most of the programs are not compatible and the HW is even less integrated. but hey, if one wants Arm AND hi-quality, there is always the Mac M1/M2 option, the Linux fuquetards jumped on like sharks on blood, to make it run, to be meta-hipsters with ARM Macs running (crippled) Linux. But hey, is not Intel, x86  bad mmkay 

[james_s]

It works crappier and slower this is how you see it, most of the programs are not compatible and the HW is even less integrated. but hey, if one wants Arm AND hi-quality, there is always the Mac M1/M2 option, the Linux fuquetards jumped on like sharks on blood, to make it run, to be meta-hipsters with ARM Macs running (crippled) Linux. But hey, is not Intel, x86  bad mmkay 

I have a mix of Arm and x86 stuff and I can't tell the difference, except that x86 has a wider range of supported software.

[DiTBho]

unless you are intentionally check what cpu it is using, how would you know in normal operation?

It consumes more energy.
and I hate when I have to write x86-assembly.
I don't want x86, that's it.

[DiTBho]

if one wants Arm AND hi-quality, there is always the Mac M1/M2 option

I opened a specific topic about it a few days ago, and I will support Gentoo on Linux/M1.

There is also the new Lenovo X13, based on Arm; I tried one with Windows11: it's a fantastic piece of hardware with a high quality finish, kind of like the Lamborghini of laptops.

Unfortunately, it's too expensive.

[DiTBho]

(I am hacking, just right now, a Windows CE-1 MIPS-PDA; kind of shell-something made in the 2000, before they invented smartphones.

The LCD resolution sucks, they touchscreen is very noisy, but the keyboard is decent  and - for my pleasure - I can plug a PCMCIA 10Mbps lan, so it's really enjoyable since it can stay attached to the network, and - love that, there is also an IrDA port!

In this particular case, hacking MIPS(R3K/NEC) is better than hacking ARM(PXA-intel))

[DiTBho]

but, let me understand ... for this PDA-hack I somehow reprogrammed the flash, put a new bootloader on it, so I can load whatever I want.
(and it's likely what I am going to do with my CASIO CP400)

Isn't there a ChromeOS laptop with friendly flash that can be ... unsoldered/reprogrammed?
With ... umm ... u-boot?

is it too hack-ish? 

[DC1MC]

but, let me understand ... for this PDA-hack I somehow reprogrammed the flash, put a new bootloader on it, so I can load whatever I want.
(and it's likely what I am going to do with my CASIO CP400)

Isn't there a ChromeOS laptop with friendly flash that can be ... unsoldered/reprogrammed?
With ... umm ... u-boot?

is it too hack-ish? 

Sure it is, like... all of them!!!, just take your pick and start doing it !!!

But I recommend first this one:
https://www.waveshare.com/pilaptop-cm3-plus-package-a.htm

[Marco]

I hate x86.

AMD/Intel have been really bad at high integration SoCs with good powermanagement down to sub-Watt, but for laptops and nowadays even tablets you don't need that. They aren't always on devices like phones with significant background processing when the screen is off, when the screen is on you're generally doing something. It has different priorities.

For powerscaling down to a couple of Watts, especially the modern Ryzen's are highly competitive.

PCs just tend to have terrible system design for low power, the fault of the integrator, not the CPU. Chromebooks tend to be pretty good at it, I was browsing around 12 hours on a single charge on a 13" Chromebook 7 years ago (Dell, metal case, full-HD ... unfortunately not soda resistant).

[DiTBho]

browsing around 12 hours on a single charge on a 13" Chromebook 7 years ago

20 hours on my Apple M1 laptop 

[magic]

Last time I looked into those things, ARM CBs used a customized u-boot build which would only boot signed OS images and which was signed itself. The signature could be replaced, but it was necessary to override HW write protection. In many CBs it was a matter of just shorting a PCB jumper footprint.

In theory, chances are you could even undo some of their mods and install a more vanilla u-boot.

I don't think many people ever bothered with it.

[Marco]

M1 advantage is mostly a combination of buying out 2-3 years worth of processing nodes advances and being able to do higher integration because they aren't forced by integrators into offering configuration flexibility (ie. they can do memory on MCM, helps a fair bit). Arm vs x86 is a sideshow.

You won't get 20 hours on a Qualcomm Chromebook either, so what's the point of suffering? For its flaws, x86 is the premier platform for open source desktop operating systems.

[DiTBho]

Last time I looked into those things, ARM CBs used a customized u-boot build which would only boot signed OS images and which was signed itself. The signature could be replaced, but it was necessary to override HW write protection. In many CBs it was a matter of just shorting a PCB jumper footprint.
In theory, chances are you could even undo some of their mods and install a more vanilla u-boot.

that's *very* interesting