Chromebooks (Run and install Puppy)

[wizard]

Marking Chromebook F keys

See this post:
viewtopic.php?p=139657#p139657

wizard

[wizard]

Acer cb3-532-n15q9 working with BookwormPup64 10.0.9 OOTB

Has the following specs:
screen = 15.5"
cpu = 1.04ghz Intel Atom x5-E8000 4 core, passmark v9=1558
ram = 4gb (1x4gb, LPDDR3, soldered)
eMMC drive = 16gb
cdrom = n
sound = y
modem = none
ethernet = n
wifi = y
usb = 3.0 x 2
bluetooth = y
camera = y
sdcard = y, bootable
hdmi = y

Notes:
Braswell chip like cb3-431
louder/better than average audio

This Chromebook is an upgrade from the cb3-532-c47c (dual core, 2gb ram), posted earlier.

Runs both Puppy and MX Linux well, a good choice for conversion.

wizard

[dancytron]

On my Lenovo Gen 3 11e Chromebook with Puppy Bookworm and MX 23, I get bad audio and frame dropping in MPV and smplayer.

VLC is fine. Firefox and Chrome Youtube are fine (720p). I haven't tested Debian Dog yet, but I assume it's the same.

MPV logfile attached.

Is there a known setting to fix this??

mpvstutter.output.txt.gz

remove gz

(52.82 KiB) Downloaded 9 times

[don570]

This thread suggested

If you can, edit your MPV config file and add this.

profile=fast save your edit and then play your video file again. It could be that some reason mpv is not using all resources. I had that on my android phone, the above command fixed it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mpv/comments/1 ... ew_laptop/
______________________________________________________________
Google search suggested...

People also ask
How do I disable hardware acceleration in MPV?
If you need to disable hardware acceleration, remove hwdec=auto from the mpv. conf.

[Clarity]

Hello EVERYONE
(Actually if you are a moderator and @wizard asks, please move this appropriately. This post is asking about a Chromebox ... not a Chromebook.)

Problem
My Chromebox is out of warranty and also out of Google support because of its age. So, I must drop use of this OS.

I intend to change to run a PUP on this Intel N100-series unit.

Before going further, I have a problem where I am aware of the existence of some motherboards for Chromebooks have a write protect screw.

I NEED HELP! I cannot find any info on "IF" this Lenovo Chromebox model 10h5-003us have a write protect screw. This unit has such little problems if never had a forum and there's little to nothing that I can find on the web to help.

If you know of some search or some findings that either helps to know if a Write-Protect exist on the unit OR if there are some info somewhere on migrating this unit to another OS, post. MY eye-balls cannot see anything when I search.

Lastly, I am avoiding opening the chassis for fear of screwing something up and also for possible introducing some error(s).

Muchly appreciate any ideas for this trusty little hardware unit.

[bigpup]

See if anything is provided here:
https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/

I did a a duckduckgo search for this:

installing Linux to a chromebox

Got all kinds of youtube videos and web site hits on how to do it.

Some are for specific brand mostly Asus.

[dancytron]

Hello EVERYONE
(Actually if you are a moderator and @wizard asks, please move this appropriately. This post is asking about a Chromebox ... not a Chromebook.)

Problem
My Chromebox is out of warranty and also out of Google support because of its age. So, I must drop use of this OS.

I intend to change to run a PUP on this Intel N100-series unit.

Before going further, I have a problem where I am aware of the existence of some motherboards for Chromebooks have a write protect screw.

I NEED HELP! I cannot find any info on "IF" this Lenovo Chromebox model 10h5-003us have a write protect screw. This unit has such little problems if never had a forum and there's little to nothing that I can find on the web to help.

If you know of some search or some findings that either helps to know if a Write-Protect exist on the unit OR if there are some info somewhere on migrating this unit to another OS, post. MY eye-balls cannot see anything when I search.

Lastly, I am avoiding opening the chassis for fear of screwing something up and also for possible introducing some error(s).

Muchly appreciate any ideas for this trusty little hardware unit.

Is it this one maybe? "Tidus"

If not, try and find it and it's "board name" on that site. It's the board name that matters to find out what you can do to it.

https://chromebook.wiki/chromeosdevices/lenovotidus

Searcher. I found it by searching "Lenovo Thinkcentre".

https://docs.chrultrabook.com/docs/firm ... vices.html

edit: Lenovo page - https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/prod ... mebox/10h5

[wizard]

@dancytron

Lenovo Gen 3 11e Chromebook with Puppy Bookworm

Checked on my Lenovo Gen 1 11e Chromebook with BW64. MPV had no audio. Tried with Acer CB3-532 and BW64, MPV had stuttering audio, video was SD so really didn't detect dropped frames.

wizard

[don570]

For info about screw removal...

https://docs.chrultrabook.com/docs/firm ... vices.html
I own Dell Chromebook 3180 and it required the screw to be taken out.
____________________________________________________

[dancytron]

@dancytron

Lenovo Gen 3 11e Chromebook with Puppy Bookworm

Checked on my Lenovo Gen 1 11e Chromebook with BW64. MPV had no audio. Tried with Acer CB3-532 and BW64, MPV had stuttering audio, video was SD so really didn't detect dropped frames.

wizard

I tried creating an mpv.conf file in /root/.config/mpv and etc/mpv with profile=fast and a few other things. Tried Control-H to toggle the hardware acceleration.

No change. VLC works so I'm not going to worry about it for now.

[wizard]

@dancytron

VLC works so I'm not going to worry about it for now.

Good old VLC, my preferred media player.

wizard

[Clarity]

Thanks for the ideas offered thus far. I will return with explanations of what happens.

[Clarity]

Back

Needs SCREW.jpg (5.03 KiB) Viewed 1892 times

Needs SCREW(2).jpg (35.5 KiB) Viewed 1892 times

.
THANKS!!!

[bigpup]

Hope your screw comes out easier than mine did.

I had to drill mine out.

They really jammed it down when they screwed it in.

[Clarity]

Not done this yet, and will probably do it over this coming weekend.

BTW @bigpup do you, also, have a 'Chromebox'? My support ended in summer 2021, but security updates ended last summer on this Chromebox. Just now getting around to repurpose it as a forum distro unit.

[bigpup]

No, just a ChromeBook.

But really the only difference seems to be.

A ChromeBook is a laptop computer.

A ChromeBox is a desktop computer, that like any, has to have keyboard and monitor, hooked to it, to use.

Hopefully you can get it to boot from a Puppy Install on a USB stick.

[Clarity]

I found this video to be helpful in both understanding and in "how to" to allow other ISOs to be booted. Also contains very useful info about sources that can help (like this thread does) to navigate to a success change allowing booting of non-ChromeOS on the machine.

Enjoy

[wizard]

When leaving my converted Chromebooks on for extended periods, sometimes the screensaver would wake
to a blank screen. You could still see a faint back light, but no amount of key pressing would restore the desktop. Found that if left alone, the screensaver would re-activate and then would most of the time wake correctly. Current solution is to use the utility wakeme.sh and set up a JWM hotkey to execute it.

Procedure:
-copy wakeme.sh to /root/my-applications/bin/
-set up ctrl b as hot key using:
Jwm Desk>JWM Hotkey>Add new shortcut
key=b
mask=ctrl
action=exec:wakeme.sh

wakeme.png (23.79 KiB) Viewed 1664 times

Now if the screensaver wakes up blank, just press ctrl b

This procedure might work on other computers with the same issue.

wizard

[bigpup]

Thanks for this information and something that will help to correct or get around it.

@Clarity
Added that video to the post on removing Chrome OS and installing Puppy on internal drive.

[wizard]

@bigpup
@Clarity

The video Clarity linked to above is very well produced. Have a few comments:
1. Having done 5 of these, the video could have done a better job of explaining the setup decisions that have to be made.
2. It used a newer Chromebook model that may not have as good of OS support, my observation is
models from 2014-2018 are more likely to work OOTB.
3. They trivialized getting non-working sub-systems like trackpads and audio to function.
4. The mrchromebox and Chrultrabook sites are great resources.

Here at Puppy, the release of BookwormPup64 has greatly increased the success rate of conversions.

Would it be a good idea to compile a list of models the members have that are 100% working?

Thanks
wizard

[jp734]

We were just given a chromebook 14 (14-ca051dx or ...61dx). Is the link from the very first post of this thread updated regularly? The only chromebook 14 I saw on the list are:

HP Chromebook 14
HP Chromebook 14 G6
HP Chromebook 14 G7
HP Chromebook 14A G5
HP Chromebook 14a-na0
HP Chromebook 14a-na1
HP Chromebook 14a-nd0

If this is updated regularly, I would take it what we have can not run Puppy.

[wizard]

@jp734

1. find your chromebooks board name, see here: https://www.aboutchromebooks.com/news/3 ... rand-name/

2. Using the board name, check for support here: https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/supp ... os-support

wizard

[jp734]

Hey @wizard

I visited those two website actually before posting. That's what I checked and did not see my board that's why I asked if it's updated regularly or outdated.

This is what I have:
Google Chrome 126.0.6478.222 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision 803933f6b3177592370be766f36d7095a1903fd0-refs/branch-heads/6478@{#1853}
Platform 15886.74.0 (Official Build) stable-channel snappy
Firmware Version Google_Snappy.9042.253.0
Customization ID BENTLEY-BIGDADDY
ARC 11920467 SDK Version: 28

Thanks

[wizard]

@jp734

Think you'll find board name is "SNAPPY"

wizard

[jp734]

Is that what it is? I was searching for "BENTLEY-BIGDADDY".

Ah, I get it now. The platform line is what we are looking for. The chromebook we have is internally called BENTLEY-BIGDADDY that was built on snappy board.

Platform 15886.74.0 (Official Build) stable-channel snappy
Firmware Version Google_Snappy.9042.253.0
Customization ID BENTLEY-BIGDADDY

Thanks @wizard

[EDIT] Just thought about this though. That snappy says its for Chromebook 14-G5. The sticker at the bottom of the laptop only says Chromebook 14 without the G5. Do you think it's still rhe same?

[bigpup]

@jp734

Most likely it is the same or close enough.

If you are going to try and use Puppy on the ChromeBook.

Read the first few posts in this topic and just do what they say to do.

First thing you need to do is get it to boot from a USB with an install of Puppy on it.
Use Puppy that way and see if you really like using it.

Some ChromeBooks have a bios firmware that you can change to developer mode operation and will boot from a USB stick with Puppy on it.
Some you have to replace the bios firmware to get this ability.
mrchromebox.tech web site gives info on this and what to do.

If your ChromeBook will need to have a full replacement bios firmware.
Then to proceed with that you need to be willing to no longer be able to use Chrome OS.
the full replacement firmware will turn it into a normal computer as best it can.
fully usable for Puppy Linux.

Nothing about ChromeBooks is 100 percent the same for all. Too many different ones.

BookwormPup64 seems to be the best Puppy version to first try. The kernel in it seems to be configured to give good support for ChromeBooks.
Latest version is 10.0.10

[rcrsn51]

The board name should be at the bottom of the first Chromebook screen. Is it SNAPPY?

[wizard]

@jp734

Web shows Bigdaddy is a subset of the SNAPPY board.

You can do either RW-Legacy or UEFI Full ROM on that board. Try RW-Legacy first since it preserves the ChromeOS (dual boot).

snappy.jpg (8.39 KiB) Viewed 342 times

wizard

[jp734]

The board name should be at the bottom of the first Chromebook screen. Is it SNAPPY?

@rcrsn51 - I rebooted and did not see anything on the screen. At the login screen were options to power down, continue as guest, add a person, etc... but did not see "snappy"

@jp734

Web shows Bigdaddy is a subset of the SNAPPY board.

You can do either RW-Legacy or UEFI Full ROM on that board. Try RW-Legacy first since it preserves the ChromeOS (dual boot).

snappy.jpg

wizard

@wizard - Cool. I'll try this first as I'm contemplating if I should or not. After checking the specs, it has the Intel Celeron N3350 with 4GB and I'm concerned of how the performance would be.

[wizard]

@jp734

The n3350 is a dual core with a Passmark score of 1119, not great, but should do fine. The 4g of ram will help a lot. My Acer CB3-532-c47c is a n3060 dual core pm=989, but only has 2g ram. Runs BookwormPup64 ok, but have to watch ram usage. Keep in mind with RW-Legacy you can always boot ChromeOS.

wizard