Chromebook?

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi,

My wife’s laptop is dying. I’m trying to be as cheap as possible. She needs: webmail (firefox), email (claws) & libreoffice for some occasional letters. I was thinking of getting her a chromebook. They mostly use: Intel Celerons N4000 with 11.x screens. Will it install?

  • I’m not looking for dual boot, I just want to wipe chromeos and install leap 15.2.
  • The only thing that I have found for hcl is for an old samsung cpu: https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:ARMChromebook
    Thank you
2

If your machine ihas a Celeron, it’s not an ARM, it’s an Intel x86 like a regular desktop.

The following looks like it could work, but verify. Try searching for articles and guides based on the model of the Chromebook you’re considering…
The following link looks like it could work,
It describes how to bbackup your existing ChromeOS in case you miht want to reload it,
Then how to wipe the drive.
Apparently, once your drive is wiped you should be able to boot into a USB device with your Install or Live OS.

https://www.codedonut.com/chromebook/install-full-native-standalone-linux-on-any-chromebook-elementaryos/

I haven’t done this particular install before, so I’d highly recommend you look for articles that say they’ve installed Linux on your particular model Chromebook.

TSU

3

I would get a live version on a USB drive - Gecko Linux images are preloaded OpenSUSE ready for a USB drive and can be installed from the USB after booted.
I would put it on a 16gb USB drive and boot the Chromebook off the USB drive and see if it works ok on that laptop.

I would ask Walmart or Best Buy to let you try it before you buy it.

https://geckolinux.github.io/ is where to download an image - 15.2 or tumbleweed and your choice of desktop. I recommend MATE desktop for a Chromebook as they do not have a lot of CPU to waste.