Re: Debian on Lenovo Chromebook (ARMv8)
On Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 4:38 PM Thomas Uwe Grüttmüller <Sloyment@gmx.net> wrote:
>
> I recently bought a Chromebook with the intent to delete Chrome and
> install Debian. I’m not talking about running Debian in a virtual
> machine or chroot environment under ChromeOS, but booting directly into
> it. The laptop is a
> Lenovo IdeaPad Flex3 CB 11M735,
> and its processor is a
> MediaTek MT8173C (4 core ARMv8).
>
> The problem is that instead of a normal BIOS or UEFI, thelaptop has the
> nasty ChromeOS bootloader which refuses to boot the normal Debian ARM64
> Netinst installer. The only thing it wants to boot from USB is the
> ChromeOS recovery.
>
> In theory, I could boot into ChromeOS from the eMMC, login as root and
> copy Debian from the stick to the eMMC, but I don’t know how to
> partition the eMMC. Where does the nasty bootloader expect to find
> things? Can I make it boot into GRUB, or do I have to put the Linux
> kernel from Debian onto a special partition? I’m completely clueless.
I think you have to do more than just boot to a thumb drive. You have
to unlock the bootloader and boot to a special developer mode, if I
recall correctly. I _think_ enabling developer mode unlocks the
bootloader, if it is allowed. (It's been several years since I did
it).
And you need to verify you can actually unlock the bootloader. Some
device manufacturers don't allow it. I had one Chromebook that did not
allow it. I eventually donated the Chromebook to a church. (I don't
recall if "it" was developer mode, or overwriting the image).
Also see https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/developer_mode.md
.
You might consider a PineBook Pro instead. It is open hardware and
software. It only cost $219 USD. You won't have to dick around with
the extra hoops.
Jeff
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