
Google Chromebook and Ubuntu - HorizonXP
http://xitijpatel.com/2012/12/16/google-chromebook-and-ubuntu
======
sturadnidge
If you're 'pretty happy' without 'a good keyboard map, a properly working
touchpad, graphics acceleration, power mgmt or hibernation', and you're
actually running chromium but with no flash support... how 'unhappy' are you
really just running ChromeOS in Dev mode?

That may sound more negative than I mean it, so don't take it that way.

EDIT: I too have an ARM chromebook, running it in Dev mode is a great
experience if you basically just need a browser, vim and an SSH client.

~~~
HorizonXP
Yeah, that's fair and it's something that I've considered.

To be honest, it's the flexibility of Ubuntu's software that I really like. I
like having multiple workspaces, and I like having my VPN running so I can
access my devices easily.

I realize it's doable on ChromeOS, but I'd rather keep that clean and
untouched. It's easy to boot into if I need to. Who knows, after a while, I
might change my mind.

~~~
sturadnidge
Be interested to see how you get on with it after a few months. Also be
interesting to see if someone gets FirefoxOS running on one of these, won't be
me though ;)

~~~
padraigm
Like graue said, Firefox OS is for phones only. However, installing Firefox
was just about the first thing I did when I got my Cr-48.
<http://i.imgur.com/eCWwJ.png>

------
sea6ear
I've got the Acer Chromebook. Rather than dual booting, it was relatively easy
to install a Debian chroot environment in developer mode to obtain the few
extra dev utilities I really need (rdesktop mainly) that I couldn't get to
work from the Chrome store.

Right now I have it set up so that display :0 is the normal Chrome OS x-server
and :1 is my chrooted debian environment. This way I can switch between them
with a simple Ctr-Alt-F3 or Ctr-Alt-F1.

The guide I found online to do so had subtly wrong instructions, however it
was enough to point in the right direction. I've been planning to write up a
corrected set of instructions. Hopefully I can do so soon and post here if
there is interest.

~~~
trsohmers
I've been trying to get X displays working in a chroot environment on my
Samsung ARM chromebook... I have Ubuntu working fine in a dual boot and in a
chroot within ChromeOS, but can't set the display...any help would be
appreciated.

~~~
sea6ear
Here's the chroot script I run:

    
    
        #!/bin/sh
    
        cp /proc/mounts /usr/local/wheezy/etc/mtab
    
        mount -o bind /sys /usr/local/wheezy/sys
    
        mount -o bind /proc /usr/local/wheezy/proc
    
        mount -o bind /dev/ /usr/local/wheezy/dev
    
        mount -o bind /dev/pts /usr/local/wheezy/dev/pts
    
        mount -o bind /tmp /usr/local/wheezy/tmp
    
        mount -o bind /home/chronos/user/     /usr/local/wheezy/root/chronos
    
        cp /home/chronos/.Xauthority /usr/local/wheezy/root/
    
        chroot /usr/local/wheezy/
    

And then in the chroot I have these lines in my .bashrc:

    
    
        export XAUTHORITY=/root/.Xauthority
        export DISPLAY=":1"
    

But I'm not sure they're actually necessary. I think you might just be able to
do:

    
    
        DISPLAY=":1" startx &
    

from the command line to start X.

It seems to require being started from the actual virtual console on Ctl-
Alt-F2 rather than from the crosh shell or local ssh.

------
HorizonXP
If anyone has any questions or needs help doing this on their own, let me
know, I'd be happy to help.

~~~
sjs382
Yeah, please. Is there a way to install onto the internal SSD? And if so, is
there a noticeable speed difference?

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mrlase
In regards to upstream releasing an ARM version of Flash, I find that very
unlikely, seeing as Adobe has ceased efforts to update Flash for Android 4.0+,
likely indicating they are not planning on working on any other ARM based
version.

~~~
HorizonXP
Yeah, I thought about this after and realize that you're probably right.

However, the ChromeOS version of Chrome does include a version of Flash that
seems to work. Moreover, BlackBerry 10's browser comes with its own version of
Flash too. So it's out there, but likely not available for distribution
outside of closed systems.

~~~
mrlase
Hmm, I think Google is managing a derivative of Adobe Flash in some form or
another as the version in the latest unstable version of Chrome is around 11.5
which is not what the latest Adobe version is.

Maybe there's a way to get the Flash plugin out of the ChromeOS system image?
Not sure how what it'd be linked against, so that could pose a problem.

~~~
HorizonXP
Definitely a thought that others and myself have had.

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X-Istence
I have an older Chromebook (Samsung Series 5, Alex codename) and I now have it
running Ubuntu. The only thing that I dislike is that the ChrUbuntu script I
used is using the ChromeOS kernel and runnig Ubuntu on top of it, so I am
missing support for a whole range of devices because they are not included in
the default kernel for ChromeOS... that is going to take me digging some to
figure it out and compile my own kernel.

~~~
steevdave
Not that much to figure out. The kernel sources are on git.chromium.org and
they have a script (prepare-config, I think it's called) that gathers all the
defaults that they set. Then just run make menuconfig and it's just like
building your own kernel. Just be careful that you don't turn off anything
that is needed for the Chromebook.

------
shakeel_mohamed
Yep Ubuntu is the way to go. I was a Windows only kinda guy before I received
my CR-48 from the pilot program. I tried Ubuntu for a bit, went to Windows 7
for a while, then Windows 8. Finally a few weeks back I saw some value in
Linux for dev environments and went back to Ubuntu. I haven't looked back
since.

