[Q] Arch Linux on Chromebook - Chromebooks

Does anyone have a recommendation on which Chromebook to get that is possible to install Arch Linux on without many issues, ideally with a 12+ inch screen?

HP Chromebook 14
I have read on the Stack Exchange Forums that the HP Chromebook 14 runs this smoothly. I Run Ubuntu on mine and it has only given me the expected little issues you deal with on these types of installs... Totally worth it. I only had one issue with my Chromebook and it was my battery dying. Not sure of other brands but you have to ship back to HP for this particular model. CS was great to deal with and they returned it back quickly...... All in all I would make sure you get a book running Intel. I hear the most issues on other ARM processors, with the exception of the 13.04 on the Samsung ARM chromebook.
ask Ubuntu dot com - best I have found for answers. Kind of like this one.. Not a lot of people just arguing trying to prove they are smarter than the other.. Just good help!
Hope this helps, please feel free to check out the Ubuntu section on Stack Exchange and I find the people on the Google+ very nice as well.
Petedev said:
Does anyone have a recommendation on which Chromebook to get that is possible to install Arch Linux on without many issues, ideally with a 12+ inch screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Related

[Q] Android x86

Not sure if this is the correct forum to post this. I have searched the web and this forum and only found partial answers so please excuse me if this has been discussed. If so a reply with the link would be very helpful.
With AMD and Intel both producing low powered x86 chips, especially AMDs C-50 which incorporates the Radeon HD graphics processor on the same chip, I was wondering if there are any limitations for hardware manufacturers to use these kind of chips on Tablets running Android.
I know currently Google does not have an x86 port of their own, but are there any particular reasons that would stop them if the chips were comparable in power usage and have faster performance? What would be some drawbacks? Would all the apps run fine on the x86 architecture or would each app need to be recompiled to run on these devices?
I guess what I'm really asking is with your expertise do you see x86 processors as a future of Android tablet computing?
Thanks in advance for all the input.
In theory, they'd just have to re-write the bytecode interpreter on the Dalvik-VM (Assuming it works like Sun's Java VM) Everything you run on your android is on a virtual machine, meaning it has the capability of being cross platform. So yes. It's very possible.
http://www.androidx86.org have you checked this site out??
1st ICS build for virtual machines
Just check out this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19824180
Given the choice with all other things being equal, I'd take a modern ARM over an X86 chip, unless I'm going to run Windows ware. I've used x86 for like almost 20 out of nearly 23.5 years, and wouldn't trust an X86 Android tablet, now that I've dug into my TF .
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Spidey01 said:
Given the choice with all other things being equal, I'd take a modern ARM over an X86 chip, unless I'm going to run Windows ware. I've used x86 for like almost 20 out of nearly 23.5 years, and wouldn't trust an X86 Android tablet, now that I've dug into my TF .
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldnt trust it for what reason?
Windows 8 will be released with an x86 and ARM version.
The Android OS itself runs very smoothly on x86, I have been using a small hp thinclient t5565 as a debug machine instead of my phone or a virtual machine for 2 weeks now and it performs admirably. Granted I cant play HD games on it, but thats what I have the Enjoy 7 tablet for. android-x86 is just brilliant, in many cases the generic froyo and gingerbread builds breathe new life into old rusty machines, making them very useful once more. The only thing missing, is better generic hardware support for ethernet and various 3D display devices. I am currently looking at an option of using android-x86 as a swop and go solution, since my test machine runs the installed system completely from a USB thumb drive. Which means if it breaks, pull the stick out, pop in another machine and you are back to work. Perfect solution for a POS terminal, library internet access machine or even something to keep the kids out of your hair.
ashmem in Android x86
I developed a simple shared memory IPC in Linux already and I would also like to do it in Android x86.
Does anyone knows on how to do this(shared memory or should I call it "ashmem"?) ?
I really need your help. I'm still a beginner in Android x86, so I hope you can give a step-by-step guide.

[Q] Windows 8 On Galaxy Tab 10.1

So I'd like some help in figuring out how to get Windows 8 on the Galaxy Tablet 10.1...Where do begin, in order to make this happen?
It's very simple actually:
1) put the Windows 8 DVD into the galaxy tab
2) press ctrl-alt-delete
3) dunk your tablet in a lukewarm solution of flour, salt, baking soda, and milk
4) make up a raindance
5) do 30 seconds of research, including a simple search of the forums, before you post
You can actually skip the salt in #3. Usless step.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Same question i have been seeing in the Galaxy Tab 7, re-posted many times xD
Why would you like to see windows on tablet? if you want just simply go buy the new samsung Tablet ( laptop) with windows inside it
k0sh said:
Same question i have been seeing in the Galaxy Tab 7, re-posted many times xD
Why would you like to see windows on tablet? if you want just simply go buy the new samsung Tablet ( laptop) with windows inside it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That logic is retarded.
You could say the same thing about any development thread were people are porting roms/os's to non original devices.
The whole point of XDA is to push our devices to the limits, this sometimes means putting roms, operating systems and apps on our devices that were never designed for them.
@ OP
You will not see Win8 on non-windows devices until devs find a way to boot the ISO/build and also locate drivers for them. Once this happens you wont need to create topics like this as you will just need to look for a few seconds or use search to find topic.
SSD in the Galaxy
I would guess that the Samsung Windows 8 tablet and the Galaxy 10.1 would share some similarities within the chipset, which would probably mean windows 8 'may' already have quite a few drives for the tablet.
Is there a way to access the SSD drive on the Samsung Galaxy as a raw device rather than MTP?
Windows 8 on any current android tablet won't happen, there are only x86 and x86_64 builds out, so until Microsoft comes with an arm build, doesn't matter if you can boot an ISO since the tablet is not able to run x86 or x86_64 binaries
Thor Erik said:
Windows 8 on any current android tablet won't happen, there are only x86 and x86_64 builds out, so until Microsoft comes with an arm build, doesn't matter if you can boot an ISO since the tablet is not able to run x86 or x86_64 binaries
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, I forgot, after you add the salt, but before you do the raindance, you have to create an ARM build of Windows 8. I always leave out an important step...
It seems you forgot that you need to use a Mac on Mars to do the Windows 8 build
Thor Erik said:
Windows 8 on any current android tablet won't happen, there are only x86 and x86_64 builds out, so until Microsoft comes with an arm build, doesn't matter if you can boot an ISO since the tablet is not able to run x86 or x86_64 binaries
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
<serious>This is the key sticking point for now. Once Microsoft releases an ARM build for Win8, there may be a chance of getting it onto the SGT10.1.</serious>
Alternatively, if you can find a way of booting your Tab using a .iso stored on another Tab, whilst repeating the correct initiation spell 3 times backwards then it's not a difficult process.
Less likely. The nVidia chipset in our tablets (got the 8.9) is crap. It struggles with HC... let alone a windows OS...
Also, what people don't realize is even if Microsoft releases an ARM build of windows, it won't run their normal x86 apps either.
You'd be surprised how many apps use managed .net, those apps will run nicely(ish) on arm since you got a JIT in between the application layer and the kernel level
It will probably be more likely to get a windows 8 tab and attempt a dual install of Android. Android 1.6 I believe was possible, I did it on my NetBook but with no touchscreen it was pointless lol
Hi @ all,
it is funny to see how XDA people react on a simple question.
Simple question <-> a lot of know how and strange terms...
The little OP stays there and take the arms up to the head and says: ahhhhh
Everybody from us know how it is when the know how grows, more and more.
But please.... never forget where we all come from based on the first day with a mobile phone and XDA was online. We all are beginners, every day when the sun comes up.
BTW:
Question for the OP: why do you want to run windows on a tab? Because it is possible, or it is your favior to click on popups?
Thats a serious question.
NOTE:
In the past (long time go) we had have printers as screen. Oops, that was to far in the past.
I was really there. Oops, how old i am?
PM:
Android is a good and stable OS and i hope it takes over Windows once. Long life UNIX...
OK. I have only one question. Why it is posible to install win8 on ipad one and two and not on our tabs?
Strazzi said:
OK. I have only one question. Why it is posible to install win8 on ipad one and two and not on our tabs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean this? Its not actually running it, and look how sluggish that is.its just remote desktop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxTJ0Bzf9SA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Good lord, Remote desktop and installing are 2 different things../facepalm
You don't actually think he installed it on the iPad right? Then again I have ubuntu on 10.1, does that mean I installed it? :\
if you have an external HDD, how does it work with an android device like ss galaxy tab? does it recognize it? I don't have a tablet to try this. suppose I could try my phone, but it doesn't have a usb port and I don't have an adapter.
Try to use MacOSX...it's also LINUX based...TABUNTU re-writes the boot so that you see the familiar LINUX bootscreen,and something more,it recognizes our processor as x86,I know it's armv7 but That is possible and I am serious...

[Q] Anybody working on a way for Windows 8 on Gtab?

There has been some discussion, but none since the Consumer Preview came out about being able to get Windows on a tablet such as the Gtab which is a Tegra2 chipset.
Does anybody know if it is even possible to get Windows on the Gtab at any point without a specific bootloader for it? With Android being more open than Windows we can tinker and change it far more than we ever will with Windows so I am not so much as asking if it is being done as much as I am asking if it can be done. And then if so if anybody is even looking at doing it. I would love to take a Consumer Preview copy and try to install it on my Gtab just to see if it would work but I don't know enough about tablet technology to even start, desktop on the other hand I'll get working, but not with a tablet.
So after all this, if anybody is willing to assist in trying this I am will to test it out. I have 2 Gtabs and I am willing to put one up for testing, but I want to do the testing so I can learn if anybody is will to teach.
IMO Never
Firedog7881 said:
There has been some discussion, but none since the Consumer Preview came out about being able to get Windows on a tablet such as the Gtab which is a Tegra2 chipset.
Does anybody know if it is even possible to get Windows on the Gtab at any point without a specific bootloader for it? With Android being more open than Windows we can tinker and change it far more than we ever will with Windows so I am not so much as asking if it is being done as much as I am asking if it can be done. And then if so if anybody is even looking at doing it. I would love to take a Consumer Preview copy and try to install it on my Gtab just to see if it would work but I don't know enough about tablet technology to even start, desktop on the other hand I'll get working, but not with a tablet.
So after all this, if anybody is willing to assist in trying this I am will to test it out. I have 2 Gtabs and I am willing to put one up for testing, but I want to do the testing so I can learn if anybody is will to teach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gTab doesn't come close to meeting the min hardware specs that Microsoft has published for Win8 tablets (screen res, hardware buttons, storage space, UEFI support, Bluetooth 4.0, 720P camera, magnetometer & gyro, etc). It is doubtful that any modern Windows version will ever run in the 512M of memory the gTab has. In addition, MS has also said that Win8 Tablet will be tied to hardware (you won't be able to go to your local PC store & pick up a copy to install on any old tablet). The vendors will tie Win8 to their specific hardware & that is the only way you will be able to get it.
FYI, the Win8 tabs that were given out at BUILD had an Intel core i5 processor, 4G ram, 64G SSD, 1366x768 display, Wireless N, & 3G.
With android, devs have access to os source code that helps them to be able to modify android to the varying hardware. In the case of Win8, I don't believe you will ever see MS release source code which would make the task of porting to an unsupported devices next to impossible. Just my 2 cents.
Al

Linux(Fedora, Ubuntu, etc) on the Nexus 10

For now this post is primarily a feeler to see if there are any other developers that want to work on dual booting Android and a Linux distribution. My Nexus 10 has shipped but has not yet arrived so I've not done any work on it yet.
The Samsung Chromebook is able to run Ubuntu without issues and it has the same SoC. Hopefully, the Nexus 10 kernel will be similar and can easily use the Linux GPU blobs without a lot of work.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=samsung_chrome_a15&num=1
The Nexus 10's fast CPU in combination with a keyboard case should result in a relatively good experience when running a traditional Linux distribution with KDE Plasma Active or the like.
I'm sure its possible to run as a chroot, and vnc in, but if I could actually use the accelerated GPU, I'd hook up a mouse and keyboard with OTG, it'd be a high res laptop replacement.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda premium
I am very interested in this. I've got F17 and Gentoo running on my ARM Chromebook (and I have a N10).
What are you thinking for multiboot control, moboot?
jmhalder said:
I'm sure its possible to run as a chroot, and vnc in, but if I could actually use the accelerated GPU, I'd hook up a mouse and keyboard with OTG, it'd be a high res laptop replacement.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chroot isn't really what I'm wanting either. Hoping to eventually get close to or full hardware support natively.
I am very interested in this. I've got F17 and Gentoo running on my ARM Chromebook (and I have a N10).
What are you thinking for multiboot control, moboot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably not moboot. LittleKernel was used as a base for moboot which has only really been used on Qualcomm architectures. This, of course, made it perfectly suited for us to use on the HP TouchPad. I'm not sure it would be worth the work required to port it to the Nexus 10.
That said, I don't think a multi booting bootloader is something we need to worry about right now. We can work with simply fastboot to load a different kernel and ramdisk while we work on native Linux. The bootloader can be worked on later after we get a better idea of what we are up against.
dalingrin said:
Chroot isn't really what I'm wanting either. Hoping to eventually get close to or full hardware support natively.
Probably not moboot. LittleKernel was used as a base for moboot which has only really been used on Qualcomm architectures. This, of course, made it perfectly suited for us to use on the HP TouchPad. I'm not sure it would be worth the work required to port it to the Nexus 10.
That said, I don't think a multi booting bootloader is something we need to worry about right now. We can work with simply fastboot to load a different kernel and ramdisk while we work on native Linux. The bootloader can be worked on later after we get a better idea of what we are up against.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no developer. But as a Ubuntu user I would love to see you bring this to us! I'd be happy to test anything related.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2
dalingrin said:
That said, I don't think a multi booting bootloader is something we need to worry about right now. We can work with simply fastboot to load a different kernel and ramdisk while we work on native Linux. The bootloader can be worked on later after we get a better idea of what we are up against.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, this is the exact conclusion we came to on the Open webOS project for the gnex.
Sounds good to me.
dalingrin said:
For now this post is primarily a feeler to see if there are any other developers that want to work on dual booting Android and a Linux distribution. My Nexus 10 has shipped but has not yet arrived so I've not done any work on it yet.
The Samsung Chromebook is able to run Ubuntu without issues and it has the same SoC. Hopefully, the Nexus 10 kernel will be similar and can easily use the Linux GPU blobs without a lot of work.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=samsung_chrome_a15&num=1
The Nexus 10's fast CPU in combination with a keyboard case should result in a relatively good experience when running a traditional Linux distribution with KDE Plasma Active or the like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(1) Thanks for the initative! I'm still enjoying your work with the Nook Color, and I really look forward to a native port of ubuntu on the N10.
(2) I'm not a developer but I would be delighted to help out with testing etc.
(3) I know that development has yet to begin, but do you envison being able to use N10 both (ie. some sort of dualboot?) as an android device and as a light laptop -- latex, light C coding? And if so, would 16g be enough or would it need 32g to be useable (as opposed to just playing around....)? I'm to order the N10 and I have a limited budget; your advice on this is most appreciative.
Thanks!
case-sensitive said:
...would 16g be enough or would it need 32g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.indiegogo.com/pengpod
Pengpod1000 has 8GB for dual boot.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda app-developers app
In terms of space, Windows 8 requirements on ARM is the same 4 - 5 GB.
It is interesting that Exynos 5 dual core supports Direct X11 which indicates it was designed to also target Windows.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda app-developers app
case-sensitive said:
(1) Thanks for the initative! I'm still enjoying your work with the Nook Color, and I really look forward to a native port of ubuntu on the N10.
(2) I'm not a developer but I would be delighted to help out with testing etc.
(3) I know that development has yet to begin, but do you envison being able to use N10 both (ie. some sort of dualboot?) as an android device and as a light laptop -- latex, light C coding? And if so, would 16g be enough or would it need 32g to be useable (as opposed to just playing around....)? I'm to order the N10 and I have a limited budget; your advice on this is most appreciative.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely want to dual boot eventually. 16GB will be enough but will get cramped quickly if you store a few videos and music.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
I would also like to help beta testing. Ive also got an idea of programming but i think i would just slow down the production...
I would support this too.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
is there any way to get this
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Nexus7/Installation
running in dualboot on the nexus 10?
Maybe a bootmenu like on gokhan's siyah kernel on the SIII ?
I just chroot-installed lubuntu 12.04 on my N10, using http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1585009 This is just for curiosity's sake, to see what ubuntu is like on the N10, both in terms of usage/GUI and in terms of performance (knowing full well that performance will take a big hit under chroot/VNC). Here my little report, in case it would be of use as a reference for developing/running linux natively on the N10.
In short: lubuntu is almost usable. Graphics is sluggish (as expected?); as you move xterm across the screen you actually see a series of rectangles and it takes a few seconds for the DE to clean it up. Once you're inside the xterm then the system seems fairly responsive. I was able to apt-get install latex and libreoffice (!) and both work. Curiously scp does not work (ssh does) and I didn't spend much time investigating scp. I can't install dropbox.
I set the resolution of the VNC viewer to be 2560x1500 (leaving room for the android buttons). That was a mistake; menu/window frames/scroll bars etc are TINY. I should have used a smaller resolution and then pinch-zoom. Suggestion for developer: Make everything bigger.
According to top, just running the VNC viewer takes 110-120% of the CPU. That means if we can run linux naively we should expect much better performance.
Finally, I installed "System Profiler & Benchmark". Here's the output of the benchmark for the N10 vs that of an N270 atom netbook with 1G of ram and my Quad Core Q9400 @ 2.66GHz (for all benchmarks below except for cryptohash: a smaller number is better):
CPU Blowfish
Q9400 2003 MHz 3.283
N10 Unknown MHz 24.159
netbook 1600MHz 16.305 <-- not typo
Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.50GHz (null) 26.1876862
PowerPC 740/750 (280.00MHz) (null) 172.816713
CPU CryptoHash
Q9400 356.041
N10 67.604
netbook 57.059
CPU Fibonacci
Q9400 3.021
N10 5.861
netbook 8.358
Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 8.1375674
PowerPC 740/750 58.07682
CPU N-Queens
Q9400 17.614
N10 15.616 <-- not typo
netbook 17.852
FPU FFT
Q9400 1.560
N10 13.498
netbook 17.646
FPU Raytracing
Q9400 19.257
N10 20.286
netbook 33.042
Intel (R) Celeron (R) M processor 40.8816714
PowerPC 740/750 161.312647
I would love to see a Linux distribution running on the Nexus 10.
My preferred one is Mer and the user interface of my choice is Plasma Active (this would later allow a port of Sailfish OS, if a tablet UI gets available).
Is anybody else interested in accomplishing this port?
My previous experience is a proof-of-concept port of MeeGo/Mer to the HTC Desire HD:
So is there any plans on someone trying to get this on the N10?
fr8cture said:
So is there any plans on someone trying to get this on the N10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just got my Nexus 10 and I'll definitely look into this - although some help wouldn't be bad.
case-sensitive said:
I just chroot-installed lubuntu 12.04 on my N10, using http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1585009 This is just for curiosity's sake, to see what ubuntu is like on the N10, both in terms of usage/GUI and in terms of performance (knowing full well that performance will take a big hit under chroot/VNC). Here my little report, in case it would be of use as a reference for developing/running linux natively on the N10.
In short: lubuntu is almost usable. Graphics is sluggish (as expected?); as you move xterm across the screen you actually see a series of rectangles and it takes a few seconds for the DE to clean it up. Once you're inside the xterm then the system seems fairly responsive. I was able to apt-get install latex and libreoffice (!) and both work. Curiously scp does not work (ssh does) and I didn't spend much time investigating scp. I can't install dropbox.
I set the resolution of the VNC viewer to be 2560x1500 (leaving room for the android buttons). That was a mistake; menu/window frames/scroll bars etc are TINY. I should have used a smaller resolution and then pinch-zoom. Suggestion for developer: Make everything bigger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got a Debian chroot running on mine until we get a proper dual-boot solution using a slightly modified from of this script: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1328742
Running LXDE, its definitely usable for text heavy stuff like office. While the visuals would be a little muddy, I'd recommend running at 1280x752. That's a perfect fit while leaving room for the buttons, and things are large enough that you could realistically use it. If you wanted to run at full res, use 2560x1504.
If you're using a bluetooth mouse with yours, I highly recommend using Jump Desktop as your VNC viewer. Its the only one I know of that supports right clicks. The only drawback is you cant run it at full resolution unless you lower the color depth, it crashes immediately otherwise.
I would love to see this happen!
I'm taking my first programming classes this semester, and I'd love to see Ubuntu come to the N10. That would be pretty dang sweet. :cyclops:
I can't see any framebuffer output (enabled VT and FB in .config) and I really don't know why.. Nothing suspicious in /proc/last_kmsg after reboot (it just hangs at some point, watchdog reboots)
Will take some time to debug this odd behaviour (maybe anybody has some clues what could have gone wrong?)

[Q] KitKat On A Chromebook

Hey XDA! This is my first post so bear with me...
Recently Acer announced their new Tegra K1 Chromebook and I have to say it's pretty intriguing. I really want to buy one, my only problem being Chrome OS. Don't get me wrong, I love it, it's just not robust enough for me. I want to really make use of the K1 by playing more high end games like ones for Android that are more optimized for it. Touchscreen not being a huge issue here. I'd use a PS3 controller of course. Plus with all the apps already developed for the Droid platform it makes a lot more sense than web based Chrome OS.
So, question time.....
Do you think it would be possible to install KitKat or maybe even Android L Beta on a system like this? I have researched it a little and the Tegra uses ARMv7 architecture. I don't know a whole lot about what that means, but as far as I understand it's 64-bit not 32. Does that mean I would have to use a special KitKat OS on this? Also how in the world would I go about doing this? I have successfully installed Ubuntu (I think 12.04) on an older Samsung Chromebook which dual boots both Ubuntu and Chrome OS; however, I am not sure that the steps involved would be the same. Seeing as how this is a fairly new device, Google is of no help whatsoever....
EXTRA, EXTRA!
Would it be possible to make Android the default OS so it auto boots without going to the OS verification screen?
Thanks for reading! Really hope I can get some answers, looking forward to doing some "real" gaming on the cheap!

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