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A comment on Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used. Parent comment

Re:Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody r... by wazoox on Thursday January 16, 2020 @06:58AM (#22063704)
There used to be cheap linux notebooks, that what I used to buy, then Chromebooks appeared and replaced entirely cheap linux laptops. I stupidly hoped that it would be good enough, or easily convertible to straight Linux; it isn't. In fact the main problem is that Google Docs doesn't properly support OpenDocument format, making it crippled for me even as a basic desktop (it's only useful as a browser and nothing else).
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Re:Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody r... by toast0 on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:42AM (#22064919)
Many of the Chromebooks are pretty simple to convert to a standard OS. I've got two chrome devices flashed with 3rd party firmware and running FreeBSD. It seems more likely if you get devices running Intel Core series chips (cpu model numbers like xxxxU or maybe xxxxY, but not Nxxxx), but it's good to confirm it's supported by your 3rd party firmware of choice before you buy.

I use firmware from https://mrchromebox.tech/ these days.

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Re:Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody r... by ac29 on Thursday January 16, 2020 @12:26PM (#22066671)
Unfortunately, since 2017, Google has been using a new security chip (CR50) that isnt supported in the upstream Linux kernel. So while you can flash 3rd party firmware and install your own OS, the security chip will throw the device into recovery mode if you ever suspend the computer.

AFAIK, there is no workaround for this - if anyone knows otherwise, please share details. I've got a chromebook that I'd very much like to be able to use something besides ChromeOS on.

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Re:Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody r... by ChristianBundy on Thursday January 16, 2020 @10:15AM (#22065238)
+1, I'm on the Chromebook Pixel 2 (2015) and have been running Arch Linux for years now. I can't recommend it enough.
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