Create a bootable USB with an old Chromebooks linux terminal

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1

Hellos. I very new to anything linux / working with OSs, and wanted to change from chromeOS to linux (specifically the pop!_OS distro) as a way to get myself into it. I only have access to a Chromebook and no other non-mobile devices so I’ve been looking for alternatives to anything needing a second device. My device is too old to download Chromebook Recovery Utility (wasn’t already installed) (Was the first thing I tried TvT).

My device also doesn’t seem to have an option for Linux apps? I looked at a few guides that needed to enable ADB through the settings but I couldn’t do anything as it’s just not there for me. It only says [developers>linux development environment>[manage shared files;manage USB devices;backup & restore;port forwarding]]. Nothing about apps or ADB itself.

My only option left seems to be to do everything through the terminal. I found a post on Reddit with these commands(to be used in order) to instal ADB and create the boot using APKs but I ran into errors there too (This is also the farthest I’ve gotten),

[sudo apt update -y], [sudo apt upgrade -y],[ sudo apt install adb -y], [adb connect arc]

I used the first command and it started working fine but when it got to [unpacking libflac8…..] it says,

[dpkg: error processing archive… unable to install new version of ‘/use/share/doc/libface8/changelog.debian.gz’ : no such file or directory]

After it’s just [dpkg: error while cleaning up…] and [dpkg: error processing archive…]. When it stopped it said

[ E: subprocess /use/bin/dpkg returned error code (2)

W: Problem unlinking the file /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin - pkgDPkg: :go (30: Read-only file system) ]

My goal is to follow MrCromebox’s guide but I’m kinda at a loss as I can’t do Anything without this usb and I’m nearing the end of my rope for today. Could really use some help TvT.

2
  • download ISO
  • write ISO to USB using ChromeOS Recovery tool/extension
  • done

You can do it from the terminal also (using dd), but no reason to.

3

I’m not able to download/install the recovery tool, the browser is too old. That’s why I looking for alternatives.

4

sudo dd if=file.iso of=/dev/sda bs=16M conv=notrunc; sync

assuming /dev/sda is your USB stick and not your internal storage

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I’m getting the error

[dd: error writing ‘/dev/sda’ : no space left on device]

I tried sdb-through-e too and they give the same response.

Sda did have some bytes copied tho (~500000 bytes compared to the 0 bytes of the others) but it still gave the error so idk.

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your USB stick has to be bigger than the ISO you are writing to it

7

Bought a new stick for this and it says it’s 64GB so it’s definitely got the space. I’m thinking it’s more a communication error of some sort. I do have linux manage USB permissions on so I have no clue what else it could be

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you can’t do this from Crostini, you need to do it from a “real” ChromeOS developer shell (chronos)

9

Yeah I have no idea how to do that tbh… I only opened crosh once to get my hdwi and that’s it. I have no clue how to do anything else with it. Got any links to guides or even other forum posts I could look at? Everything im finding is just like command lists or a cronos gaming thingy

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it’s documented here and on my site - how to switch to developer mode, how to open a VT2 terminal, etc