[GTALUG] Linux on Chromebook

[Michael Galea]

On 2022-08-26 18:40, Michael Galea via talk wrote:
> I am hoping to tap the wisdom of the list.  I'm going traveling and I
> don't want to lug around my 5.2 pound T420. Not on this trip.
> 
> If I buy a cheap refurb Chromebook from Best Buy or Canada Computers:
> - Will I have luck wiping ChromeOS and installing Debian? Can I still
> encrypt the disk?
> - If instead I just run Linux on Chromebook, can I run a wireguard VPN?
> - Can anyone recommend a minimum spec level for the machine?
> 
Thanks to Colin, Hugh and others for their advice.

I went with the Lenovo Ideapad 3 11", mainly because of the weight.
Setup was straightforward, and performance was surprisingly good.

I installed the latest Debian on it but found that ChromeOS would not 
use Debian's kernel.  This breaks wireguard VPN as debian builds a 
kernel module that matches the resident kernel.

There is a voodoo approach to flashing the chromebook with debian 
directly but this version is new enough to not be supported by the tool 
chains that are out there, and I am cowardly.

So for now I'll use Linux to ssh and mutt while away. In retrospect, I 
should have taken Colin's advice and blown away the Windows laptop with 
debian.

-- 
Michael Galea