Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

WARNING:
Anyone looking at this topic, with the idea of buying a Chromebook, to run Puppy Linux.
These computers constantly change, as new models are produced.
Check with the supported device list, on this web site, to see if yours has support.
https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices
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.
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This is for Chromebooks with the Intel X86, X86-64, or AMD64 processor.

Puppy Linux will not work on ARM Architecture processor based Chromebooks.

This will hopefully turn into a one stop place to get information on how to boot, run, use, and install Puppy on a Chromebook.

The questions people may want to solve:
How to setup the Chromebook to boot Puppy?
How to boot from a USB drive or SDHC card?
How to keep Chrome OS and dual boot with Puppy?
How to dump Chrome OS and only use Puppy?
How to boot only to the Puppy boot loader?
How to install Puppy to the internal SSD drive?
How to properly reformat the internal SSD drive?
How to get the touch pad working?
How to get all the keyboard keys working properly?
How to get the sound working?

CTRL-L stooped working. What do you do?

Answers are in the next few posts.

I need your help!!

If you have confirmed results to using Puppy on a Chromebook
and can give good details on how to do any of this.
Please help to provide this information for others to use.

I will try to update this info as you post your help.

NOTE:
There are posts by others, giving info on what they did, to get their specific Chromebooks working.
If you are having issues, that my following posts do not solve, these other posts may have your answer.

The version of Puppy Linux, has a big affect on getting stuff working.
These have been reported to work well on Chromebooks.
BookwormPup64 10.0.7
Vanilladpup-x86_64 10.0.61 or newer
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How to setup the Chromebook to boot Puppy?

Usually you want to first boot Puppy installed on a external dive. (USB, SD card)

Running Puppy from a external drive will do nothing to the Chrome OS so making a backup is more how to do it.

Making a backup of Chrome OS:

Boot up your Chromebook and login
Plug in a spare _2GB+ USB flash drive
Open the Chrome browser
Go to chrome://imageburner

This should give you a backup of the Chrome OS.

Next you will need to make the Chromebook able to boot from a external drive device.
This gets a little complicated due to the different Chromebooks and when they were made.
Basically you need to setup the computers bios to offer the option to boot from USB or SD card.
What is needed:
"legacy boot" mode needs setup and selected in the computers bios.

How to get "legacy boot" setup depends on the Chromebook.
Basic steps:
Enable developer mode.
(This sets up the computer to always boot in developer mode, so you can select devices to boot from).
To enable developer mode:
Press and hold the Esc + F3 (Refresh) keys, then press the Power button. This enters Recovery Mode.
Some Chromeboxes have a dedicated Recovery button, which should be pressed/held while powering on
Press Ctrl + D (no prompt). It will ask you to confirm, then the system will revert its state and enable Developer Mode.
If done correctly, you get the developer mode screen that gives warning "OS verification is off"

Depending on the bios in the computer.

1. Chrome OS device with SeaBIOS:
   Enable legacy boot / SeaBIOS.

Set SeaBIOS as default ( not needed, requires disabling the write protection).

OR:

2.Chrome OS device without SeaBIOS:
Flash a custom firmware.
This will install Seabios to give you legacy boot option.

Arch/Linux has a good help page on how to setup "legacy boot".
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chrome_OS_devices

MrChromebox.tech is a very good place to get needed firmware(bios).
Several versions of firmware to choose from.
https://mrchromebox.tech/

Example:
Getting "legacy boot" to work on my HP Chromebook 14.
It did not have the Seabios already installed. I had to Flash a custom firmware.

1. I enabled developer mode.
2. Used this for the custom firmware.
   https://mrchromebox.tech/#fwscript
   I just selected to do the Install/Update the RW_LEGACY Firmware. (Did not need to do firmware write-protect disable).

Now when the Chromebook boots I get the developer mode screen that gives warning "OS verification is off"
(Gives 30 seconds to give command or boots into Chrome OS).
Press keys ctrl-L
Press ESC (escape key) for boot menu.
Changes to the selection screen to choose which device to boot from.
USB is selected to boot Puppy on a USB flash drive.
Now booted to a running Puppy.

How to remove Chrome OS and only use Puppy

Delete ChromeOS from internal drive and replace with a Puppy version.

There are so many different Chromebooks, that one method is probably not 100% works on all.
However, this general procedure will usually work.

These are the steps I took to modify an Acer C720-2844 Chromebook to become a Puppybook. Please note that this removes the Chrome operating system completely. Please also realize that this works specifically for this computer and model, and may not require the same steps, and or may not produce satisfactory results with any other Chromebook. My computer has 4GB of RAM memory and a 16GB SSD hard drive.

1.) I prepared a USB thumbdrive with a current (not updated) bootable Bionicpup64 installation. I added a current FrugalPup-20.shs puppy installer. This would be needed later when installing Puppy.

2.) I did a Startpage lookup for “C720 write protect screw” and found an online photo showing its location on the computer's motherboard. I removed all screws from the bottom of the computer's plastic case, and carefully worked the bottom loose by lightly prying out the edges..

3.) I removed the write protect screw, and re-attached the case with the screws.

4.) I booted the computer as a “guest” (I have never set up a Google acct on this box) then hit <CTRL> <ALT> <T> to open a terminal.

5.) To enter the shell I entered:

Code:
shell

6.) Before rewriting the ROM, I familiarized myself with the options explained at the mrchromebox.tech website. To download and run the Mr Chromebox configuration script I entered the following, (note -LO is capital letter O, not zero):
Code:
cd; curl -LO https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh

7.) I chose option 3, “Install/Update Full ROM Firmware”.

8.) I backed up the old firmware on separate USB drive when asked. When the script finished I exited.

9.) I booted the computer with the BionicPup64 USB drive (from step 1. above) attached, and hit <ESC> at the boot screen, then selected Boot Menu, and then selected the USB drive to initiate the boot. Puppy started up.

10.) I ran <Menu> <System> <Gparted> for device sda. I deleted every partition on the drive, one by one.

1. I clicked <Device> <Create Partition Table> and accepted the “msdos” default type (mbr).

2. I created a first new partition of 500Mb using a FAT32 type, named “BOOT”.

14.) When that was created, I right-clicked on the partition, then chose “flags” from the menu and then set the “boot” flag.

15.) I partitioned the rest of the drive as ext2 (because I wanted a non-journaling type to lengthen the life of the SSD drive. Likewise I didn't create a SWAP partition.

16.) I closed Gparted, and selected Install Puppy from the FrugalPup-20 installer menu. (Or depending on how you start the program you may have to run the Frugalpup installer by going to <Menu> <Setup> <Diskpup> ).

I entered the Puppy files source as “directory” and pointed to /mnt/home/bionicpup64 (the original files on the USB drive). (I believe you could also choose “This” from the menu to do the same thing.)

17.) I installed BionicPup64 to the second partition, in a new subdirectory I called “Bionicpup64”.
I also located the personal save folder as my new “Bionicpup64” subdirectory.

18.) After doing the Puppy install, I chose UEFI and to install the boot to UEFI on partition 1 (hda1).

19.) After all the questions were answered and the installation completed I re-booted, and the new puppy system started up correctly.

20.) After downloading several applications, I noticed that my trackpad started to lag and stick. I opened <menu> <setup> <Mouse/Keyboard Wizard> <Touchpad> and increased the sensitivity by moving the slider left (lower number) to 16, then saved it, The pointer now acts normally again.

WARNING:
This requires replacing the Chromebooks firmware(bios) with a full replacement firmware.
The one offered by mrchromebox.tech

Carefully follow all steps and procedures.

Type of partition table to use on internal drive.
GPT is most likely the best to use.

The MrChromebox firmware is most liking now wanting that type (GPT)

Really whatever will work on the specific Chromebook.

Note:
You will need to use a UEFI boot loader to boot any Puppy version.
Mrchromebox firmware only works with UEFI boot loaders.
Frugalpup Installer
viewtopic.php?f=105&t=337
This is the best Puppy installer to use.
It will install a UEFI boot loader.

How to get the touch pad working?

This is determined by the touch pad hardware.

The best help is to be using a Puppy version, using Linux kernel 4 series or newer. The newer the kernel the better.

A good search on the internet for the specific chromebook (make and model) and using touch pad in Linux, is going to help.

Example:
I have a HP Chromebook 14
Bionicpup64 7.9.5, using Linux kernel 4.14.71
Most functions of the touch pad work, but I have no adjustment options.

This helps to get mouse/keyboard wizard>Touchpad working.
corvus wrote:
Edit the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf removing the # symbol from the beginning of the following lines:

Section "Module"
# Load "synaptics" #loadsynaptics

and

Section "ServerLayout"
# InputDevice "Synaptics Mouse" "AlwaysCore" #serverlayoutsynaptics

add the following section:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Mouse"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Restart.

Update:
Using Puppy Linux Bionicpup64 8.0
Touchpad works.
All support is already setup.

How to get sound working?

Note:
Getting sound to work is the biggest issue.
The Puppy version can affect this, because of what support for the sound hardware, the version may or may not have.

Right now in Puppy Linux, BookwormPup64 10.0.7 seems to be providing the needed firmware and kernel setup, to have sound working on a lot of ChromeBooks, on initial boot up.
Nothing needed but basic check to have correct settings for the Pulse Audio setup, which is always needed on first boot.
Generic settings are not usually what you want to use. You want more specific settings for how you like sound to work. Output, level, device to use, etc.....

Here is a warning about sound.
https://marcin.juszkiewicz.com.pl/2012/ ... hromebook/

There is much more specific information available now, which specifically relates to the Realtek ALC5650 audio chip on some Braswell type Chromebooks, with a list of the affected models.

https://wiki.galliumos.org/Support/Braswell
https://github.com/GalliumOS/galliumos- ... issues/270

IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING AUDIO

Braswell Chromebooks come with one of two audio chips: Maxim 98090 or Realtek ALC5650/5654. There are several reports of hardware speaker failures (overheating) on models with the Realtek chip.

Models with Maxim 98090
Acer Chromebook R11 CYAN
Models with Realtek ALC5650/5654
Acer Chromebook 14 EDGAR
Lenovo N22/N42 Chromebook REKS
HP Chromebook 11 G5 SETZER
Samsung Chromebook 3 (XE500C13) CELES
Acer Chromebook 15 (CB3-532) BANON
ASUS Chromebook C202SA TERRA
ASUS Chromebook C300SA TERRA
CTL NL61 Chromebook RELM
Lenovo ThinkPad 11e Chromebook G3 ULTIMA
Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga G3 ULTIMA

How to get sound working:

There are so many different Chromebooks, that one method will not work, for all.

Some Chromebooks, sound will just work.

Others will need some added drivers, firmware, different Linux kernel, support files, and settings.

Note about Linux kernel:
The kernel has to be configured for activating the sound device in the Chromebook.
This is a kernel compiled, that hopefully does this, for your sound device.
Linux kernel 5.4.27 (64bit)
Ubuntu Derivative Kernel here: https://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linu ... oz.tar.bz2
Slacko Derivative Kernel here: https://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linu ... oz.tar.bz2
fdrv here (rename to suit your system): https://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linu ... an2020.sfs

change_kernels (entered in a terminal) will run a program made for changing the kernel.

Doing a good search of the internet, for your specific Chromebook and sound, will probably give you information, on what you need.

The sound hardware is the important thing to look for.

Example:
This is a general idea of what you may need to do.
This seems to work to get sound, if your Chromebook has the chtmax98090 sound hardware.

Here is the present setup method on Bionicpup64 (with ozsouth's 5.4.27-64oz kernel) specifically for an Acer R11:

1.) Install firmware-intel-sound deb:
https://packages.debian.org/sid/firmware-intel-sound

2.) Need to create usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtmax98090 with two files: https://github.com/GalliumOS/galliumos- ... htmax98090

3.) Download https://github.com/GalliumOS/galliumos- ... .state.txt

4.) Open console in the download folder and execute:

Code:
alsactl -f ./asound.state.txt restore 0

(My chtmax98090 is device 0 in the code above. If yours is different , change the number after "restore")

You may have to reboot after all of the above to get sound working. I used the Multiple Sound Card Wizard to select card 0 Device 0. (Card 0 Device 1 "Deep Buffer Audio" doesn't yet seem to work, but actually they are the same, anyway.)

Here is another possible way to get sound working for Acer Chromebooks
viewtopic.php?p=38252#p38252

Hey-o...do you have any updates on the Samsung Chromebook 4? I'm bit curious if you can get Puppy working on that despite the lack of legacy stuff apparently.

Thanks in advance.

Chase.

nothing I know about for the Samsung Chromebook 4 at this time.
Nothing yet to allow booting Linux OS.

If anything develops, for it to be able to boot Linux operating system.
This would be the best place providing what would be needed.
Their provided firmware, is constantly getting updated, and adding support for different Chromebooks.
https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices

Keep checking the supported device list, for any info, for specifically the Samsung Chromebook 4.

Thanks. I just need to know just in case of EoL shenanigans on my new Samsung Chromebook 4. @bigpup

For the Samsung Chromebook 4

You could try using this to run Puppy Linux inside the running Chromium OS.
Crouton
https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton
crouton is a set of scripts that bundle up into an easy-to-use, Chromium OS-centric chroot generator.

What's a chroot?

Like virtualization, chroots provide the guest OS with their own, segregated file system to run in, allowing applications to run in a different binary environment from the host OS. Unlike virtualization, you are not booting a second OS; instead, the guest OS is running using the Chromium OS system. The benefit to this is that there is zero speed penalty since everything is run natively, and you aren't wasting RAM to boot two OSes at the same time. The downside is that you must be running the correct chroot for your hardware, the software must be compatible with Chromium OS's kernel, and machine resources are inextricably tied between the host Chromium OS and the guest OS. What this means is that while the chroot cannot directly access files outside of its view, it can access all of your hardware devices, including the entire contents of memory. A root exploit in your guest OS will essentially have unfettered access to the rest of Chromium OS.

@bigpup

Recently got a Acer CB3-431 and used mrchromebox to install rw_legacy. I can boot from a fossa64 9.5 usb and touchpad works, but have no keyboard or sound. Any suggestions for how to fix these?

thanks
wizard

sound is a big problem to get it working.
Look in the multiple sound card wizard.
What does it show for sound devices?

For keyboard.
Strange it is not working. They usually just work.
Look in the Mouse/keyboard Wizard->Advanced Configuration->Keyboard Model
See if selecting one of the Acer options will help.

Arch Linux people seem to have some good info on getting stuff working in Linux.
Maybe some ideas here will help:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Acer_C ... 31_(Edgar)

@bigpup

Started with the fossa64 stock kernel and it showed only hdmi sound. Switched to 5.4.27-64oz and the fdrv file from your post. Reboot finds keyboard, but no sound. Here are sound devices:

Will take a look at the arch link

thanks
wizard.

You seem to have devices that should be providing sound.
The ones that are not HDMI.

Selecting one of those first two listed devices.
Select test sound.
You get no sound?
The top one should be working.

You probably need to go into Retrovol mixer settings.
Look for turning up any settings to max.
I found some settings just set too low.
Selecting whatever you use to provide sound, speakers, headset, etc.....
Mine is showing a lot of different settings.
Some I have no idea what they do, But it may be a setting needing selected and turned up.

EDIT 9/11/23: The newer Bookworm Pup64 that works OOTB is a better Puppy for the Acer CB3-431 (this post shows how to get Fossapup64 9.5 working)

After much reading and testing, here is what has been done:

Hardware:
Acer CB3-431 (Braswell/Edgar)
CPU= Intel N3160 quad core
RAM= 4gb
SSD= 32gb

Procedure:
-put chromebook in dev mode
-install seabios (mrchromeebox.tech) RW_LEGACY for usb boot
-created fossa64 9.5 bootable usb
-boot from usb
-switched kernel to: huge-5.4.27-ubun64oz.tar.bz2
-copied fdrv_jan2020.sfs to fdrv_fossapup64_9.5.sfs in /home/pup95
-install: firmware-intel-sound_20210818-1_all.deb
-create: usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5650
-copy two files from: github.com/GalliumOS/galliumos-braswell/tree/master/usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5650 to usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5650
-copy asound.state.txt to downloads directory
-open terminal in downloads dir and execute: alsactl -f ./asound.state.txt restore 0

-open Alsa Sound Wizard> Play test sound = no audio
-open sound card wizard, connfirm device 0 is selected
-click configue, opens alsa mixer
-set speaker and headphone volume to max
-Play test sound = no audio
-open retrovol and set speaker and headphone vol to max
-Play test sound = no audio

Out of ideas for now.

Thanks
wizard

Adjustments to ASUS Chromebooks to allow Linux installations: This may be important information.

FYI

Getting sound working is a big issue with all chromebooks

click configue, opens alsa mixer
-set speaker and headphone volume to max
-Play test sound = no audio
-open retrovol and set speaker and headphone vol to max
-Play test sound = no audio

Should be more settings than just speaker & headphone.
Those also need to be selected and volume turned up.
Do not need all of them, but some are needed.
Which exact ones is going to depend on what settings are there.

Post an image of what Retrovol mixer shows.

@bigpup

rertovol has over 170 items, took 9 full height screenshots to capture. The good news, found solution on a Ubuntu site, see the next post.

wizard

EDIT 9/11/23: The newer Bookworm Pup64 that works OOTB is a better Puppy for the Acer CB3-431 (this post shows how to get Fossapup64 9.5 working)

Edit: See next post for revised setup

Recommend installing lxterminal to make copy/paste into terminal easier

Hardware:
Acer CB3-431 (Braswell/Edgar)
CPU= Intel N3160 quad core
RAM= 4gb
SSD= 32gb
sound = chtrt5650

This procedure gives a dual boot of chromeos and puppy linux fossa64 9.5. (on usb). It does not require opening the computer or disabling the ssd write protect.

Procedure:
-put chromebook in dev mode
-install seabios (mrchromeebox.tech) RW_LEGACY for usb boot
-create fossa64 9.5 bootable usb
-boot from usb
-switch kernel to: huge-5.4.27-ubun64oz.tar.bz2
-copy fdrv_jan2020.sfs to fdrv_fossapup64_9.5.sfs in /home/pup95
-install: firmware-intel-sound_20210818-1_all.deb
-create: usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5650
-copy two files from: github.com/GalliumOS/galliumos-braswell/tree/master/usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5650 to usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5650
-copy asound.state (attached, from working gallium linux) to /var/lib/alsa/asound.state

-open terminal and run:
alsa force-reload

-open Alsa Sound Wizard> Play test sound, if working
-open terminal and run:
alsactl init
alsactl store --file /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
alsa force-reload

You will need to adjust alsamixer and retrovol to get the volumes up for both speaker and headphones.
The volume control in the jwm tray does not work.

wizard

EDIT 9/11/23: The newer Bookworm Pup64 that works OOTB is a better Puppy for the Acer CB3-431 (this post shows how to get Fossapup64 9.5 working)

After more testing, this is a revised setup procedure that should be easier. It addresses these issues:
-sound disabled on reboot
-sound disabled when browser audio starts

The .pet file also installs /root/Startup/TPdisable.sh which disables the touchpad tapping
while using the keyboard.

Hardware:
Acer CB3-431 (Braswell/Edgar)
CPU= Intel N3160 quad core
RAM= 4gb
SSD= 32gb
sound= chtrt5650

Recommend using usb external mouse to make copy/paste into terminal easier.

This procedure sets up a dual boot chromeos/puppy and does not require opening
the computer or disabling the write protect. It may also work on other intel
chromebooks with the chtrt5650 sound chip

Procedure:
-put chromebook in developer mode
EDIT 7/11/23
mrchromebox has made the decision to no longer offer RW Legacy installs for Chromebooks that have reached Googles end-of-life (EOL), you'll need to do a UEFI (full rom) install. Requires removing the write protect screw from inside the case. Check here for instructions: https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/comme ... ect_screw/

-install seabios (mrchromeebox.tech, Firmware Uttility Script) RW_LEGACY for usb boot
-create fossa64 9.5 bootable usb using menu>setup>Stickpup
-download: huge-5.4.27-ubun64oz.tar.bz2 (see pg 2, post #2 in this topic)
-copy huge-5.4.27-ubun64oz.tar.bz2 to usb /
-download acerCB3-431_audio.pet

https://archive.org/details/acer_cb3-431_audio

-copy acerCB3-431_audio.pet to the usb /

-boot from usb (the keyboard will not be working)
-shutdown and create 256mb ext3 savefile
-reboot
-menu>setup>quickpet fossa>change kernel to: huge-5.4.27-ubun64oz.tar.bz2
-reboot
-navigate to /mnt/home/acerCB3-431_audio.pet and install

-menu>setup>Alsa Sound Wizard>Sound Card Wizard 2>choose device 0>OK
-check: Software volume control with 20db preamp>OK
-open Alsa Sound Wizard> Play test sound, if working
-navigate to /root/alsamixer.sh and run
check Headphone volume, Headphone Channel, Speaker and Speaker Channel
use up/down arrrow keys to change volumes, right/left to change parameters, if any are marked MM (muted) press the "m" key to unmute.

-navigate to /root/alsasave.sh and run

The volume control in the jwm tray does not work.
You will need to use alsamixer for both speaker and headphone volume control
EDIT 7/8/23
See this post for how to add an alsamixer icon to the right side of the JWM tray:
viewtopic.php?t=9103

wizard

-

I'm following instructions as closely as possible i.e. pet needs to be converted to fatdog

I'm close to success (I believe ) since alsa speaker test will alternate between speakers however
no sound will come out.

# alsactl init
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "Intel Braswell HDMI" "HDA:80862883,80860101,00100000" "0x8086" "0x7270"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
# alsactl store --file /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
# alsa force-reload
sh: alsa: command not found