A chrultrabook is a modified Chromebook designed to run Windows, Linux, or even macOS by utilizing MrChromebox coreboot firmware. The purpose of this site is to provide comprehensive and user-friendly documentation on hardware, firmware, and operating systems.
This is a cool project to make it easy to run Windows, regular desktop Linux, or even macOS on your Chromebook. Excellent documentation, too.
I always enjoy laughing at the fact that I can dig a Core 2 Duo laptop out of the garbage and run latest Debian on it with a modern browser and software suite, yet the commercial device makers can’t provide updates for the software on their hardware that isn’t even a third as old.
But I guess when web integrity gets adopted, they’ll have the last laugh, because I won’t be permitted to browse the Internet on such machines anymore, as they will not pass attestation. At least they will still run mountains of classic games which have no concept of, or need for an Internet connection.
kbd,
Hardware was more open back in the day, and most of the modern worries were not a thing before. Like having access to latest firmware and drivers for nvidia or other proprietary chips.
And even old hardware is only “partially” supported. Intel and AMD don’t provide microcode fixes for the latest attacks for them, making using it as a server or even browsing a javascript based webpage open to potential attacks. (thanks to threading, cache, and other bugs).
Anyway, it was good while it lasted, but unfortunately this round seems to be won by the closed ecosystem agains the open one.
> Intel and AMD don’t provide microcode fixes for the latest attacks for them, making using it as a server or even browsing a javascript based webpage open to potential attacks.
AND?
What exactly do I usually have in memory that is worth stealing. Nothing that’s right nothing. It is just an overblown paranoia by fools.
I do not want to know the sort of websites you are browing that would do this. I less want to know why you are not doing it in a different environment. Only people this will catch out are simpletons who do not look at what they are typing and miss-spell. Of course most of these targets would not do it that way anyway.
Coming to you from an old Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro 5,4 that I happen to be using as my daily driver today. It is running Arch instead of Debian but I hear ya.
I think we underestimate the value that has come to us from how open and standardized the PC ecosystem has been. The ARM chips that many of these newer devices are built on just do not offer that yet. This means that it is easy to launch products but not so easy to maintain them. It is not just harder for the “commercial device makers” but for the Open Source ecosystems that you and I rely on.
The SBC market seems like a really great example of this right now. Support for the Raspberry Pi has built up in Linux for example but even very similar competing products have much poorer support. When the Pi supply-chain seized up, there was tremendous demand for alternatives ( and still is ). Many competing products emerged and I have seen a lot of excitement around them ( OrangePi just to name one ). Sadly, these alternatives are highly non-standard and rely on code to support them that has not, and may never, get into the mainstream Linux ecosystem. This is true even of boards that look very similar to the Pi. It may be totally impossible to upgrade the software on these systems over time ( even though many run Debian when they ship ). Many Chromebooks suffer from the same problems as do most Android phones.
Even the RISC-V world, touted as the most open of all, suffers from this. Sure the ISA is open but any given chip and any given board contains a bunch of non-standard stuff for which there is no open software support. It is not just specialty hardware that I am talking about but the core architecture. In your Core 2 Duo laptop, you can rely on the BIOS or UEFI for example which is why you can say that x86-64 is a supported architecture for your distro of choice wheres the same distro perhaps says that it supports the Visionfive 2 or HiFive Unmatched ( specific RISC-V boards ) instead of just saying that they generically support RISC-V or ARM64 ( architectures ).
The notable thing about the hardware in the Chrultrabook is the firmware which is why it can tout this more mainstream software support. We really need to figure this out beyond the x86 world or people like you and I will not have such an easy time pulling old hardware out of the garbage and making use of it.
tanishaj,
I don’t underestimate this personally, this has been bumped up to the top of my list when purchasing stuff. I’m so tired of my hands being tied by products that aren’t user serviceable. I really want to vote with my wallet, but the truth is I usually fail because, with the exception of x86 computers, the computing industry have mostly decided against standardization 🙁
This is exactly my experience as well!
I don’t have any hands on experience with RISC-V yet, but I would be very saddened if it ends up following in the footsteps of ARM in terms of basic standardization to support cross vendor operating systems.
Another alternative is Google’s own ChromeOS Flex:
https://www.androidpolice.com/install-chromeos-flex-chromebook-explainer/
(Previously Cloud Ready).
It is normally designed to convert old PC laptops into Chrome, but it can also work on older Chromebooks after you unlock the bootloader. Not an easy process, but possible.
Been running Linux on my little c720 chrombook since day 1, I guess must be close to 10 years !! (it came out in 2013) First I had Linux stuff running inside chromeOS which wasn’t good enough for me, then got the default jank legancy boot working (it gives you annoying warning every power cycle), later flashed a real replacement firmware thanks to all the work people put into projects like this!
it is starting to show it’s age a little, replaced battery because the old one had bulged, replaced the ssd 16 gb worked but was not enough, soldered on 2 gb ram is a bummer but its fine with a low ram xfce based desktop at light web browsing, consuming multimedia and still sees a lot of use! has nice battery life (6 hours) and is a great form factor, small but not small enough that it’s hard to use.
can’t help but admire the little box, still going strong!