If you’re sick of Chrome OS on your Chromebook, or can find a Chromebook for cheap somewhere but don’t actually want to use Chrome OS, have you considered postmarketOS?
Since I was kind frustrated with ChromeOS, I decided to take a look at something that I knew supported my Lenovo Duet 3 for some time: postmarketOS. For those who don’t know, postmarketOS is an Alpine Linux based-distro focused in replacing the original OS from old phones (generally running Android) with a “true” Linux distro. They also seem to support some Chromebooks because of their unique architecture and, luckily, they support my device under the google-trogdor platform.
↫ kokada
PostmarketOS is aimed at smartphones primarily, but supports other formfactors just fine as well. The Duet 3 is one of the tablet-like devices it supports, and it seems most things are working quite well. In fact, judging by the postmarketOS wiki, quite a few Chromebooks have good support, and with Chromebooks being cheap and dime-a-dozen on eBay and similar auction sites, it seems like a great way to get started with what is trying to become a true Linux for smartphones.
Thom Holwerda,
Yes, very much so!
I had a chromebook secondhand. My hopes were very high of reprogramming cheap chromebook hardware using programming cables to unlock it and install a better unrestricted OS. It wasn’t until I had it in hand that I realized that I had been misinformed about the ability to flash a new OS on generic chromebooks. That’s not the case, only select chromebooks work and jailbreaking/alt OS kind of mirrors the mess we see on android – it sucks on a good day. In retrospect it was foolish of me to believe things were less locked down on typical chromebooks, but I didn’t know better at the time.
The link provides six chromebook laptops compatible with this project, and that is good to know. It still irks me though that so many chromebooks are becoming e-waste with many millions more in the coming years and not being able to make use of them because while the hardware is fine, so few models can have the OS be DIY upgraded by the owner. Ugh.
It’s just wishful thinking I know, but these tech companies need to be given a legal ultimatum: unlock devices for owners at EOL or else be forced to pay a tax for creating e-waste by means of depriving owners of the keys needed to support the product. Obviously manufacturers the world over are against this, but frankly they don’t deserve to be given another inch on the e-waste they’ve inflicting on the rest of society for decades. It’s inexcusable that these companies keep getting away with it. If the costs of e-waste were born by the companies like google and apple directly responsible for depriving owner rights, they’d suddenly see to it that the problem actually got fixed. We know with 100% certainty that without incentives to do that right thing, the problem will just continue indefinitely.
Anyray ranting about ownership rights aside, postmarketOS looks pretty neat! I might try to give it a go if I can find the appropriate hardware.
Alfman,
https://chromeunboxed.com/google-may-be-working-on-chrome-os-flex-for-older-chromebooks-after-all/
At one point Google seemed for work ChromeOS “Flex” for old Chromebooks. Basically the “free” distribution.
“But if is it already ChromeOS why go this route?”
That is their “community” project. They can end official support, and also remove some 1st party integration (like Android) and still keep machines somewhat functional.
But I don’t think it ever materialized.
sukru,
Thanks for the link. There’s so much they could do to improve the situation.
When it comes to e-waste issues, I think there are two different “wants” for two diverging use cases.
1) Extend the EOL so a device continues to be supportable by the original OS.
2) Removing restrictions so that devices can be repurposed and improved by owners on their own terms.
As a DIYer, I’m a very strong proponent of #2, and generic x86 computers keep proving time and time again how viable and flexible this can be in practice, even for hardware a plurality of decades out of support. By comparison, practically every other hardware platform in existence has regressed on this front. I allege this decline in serviceability is no coincidence, but an outcome that modern manufacturing seeks to promote deliberately. Their selfish interests have become a primary barrier DIY support. I would love for influential corporations including google and apple to come out and buck the situation they created, but I have very little confidence in that happening…what’s the incentive?
Alfman,
I believe they could get a lot of goodwill by opening up “obsolete” devices. (this also covers xbox one, ps4 and other consoles which no longer get updates).
But as you said, they don’t see any immediate incentives.