Edit; read guide saying kohaku is dodgy so not too sure about my full post now…
Ive never owned a chromebook before but thanks to a samsung deal, ill be recieving one soon. I believe its a Galaxy chromebook with the Kohaku board, so celeron processor.
Im wanting, if possible, to discuss the process and result of installing windows 10, either as a dual boot or just a complete install.
Ive got a minor understanding of Windows and how its built but with little understanding of the chromebook, im not 100% sure of what complications may arise.
Id rather not jump in feet first and come back complaining i was too silly to understand what i was doing, if that makes sense. I have until the end of september to get this straight and either do or dont, so theres time for debate.
Please and thanks to anyone who dedicates a bit of time to this. If this kind of post isnt allowed, please let me know and ill remove it
Where did you read that kohaku is dodgy? In the docs it doesn’t point out any problems apart from the paid audio driver. (The problems with sleep and fingerprint reader are on linux)
The step by step instructions for turning a chromebook into a more-or-less normal laptop are all here: Flashing Custom Firmware | Chrultrabook Docs just go through the tabs on the left one by one.
Basically, what you want to do is run a script that Mr. Chromebox made that will replace the google firmware with coreboot, which can boot operating systems other than chromeOS. ChromeOS is too locked down by default to let you run the script, so that’s why you need to first enable ‘developer mode’, then run the script with your battery unplugged to disable write-protect on the chip that stores the firmware. Now you can flash the firmware(full rom).
After that you will have a normal laptop that you can install an operating system on. For windows go to How to install Windows 10/11 on a Chromebook! choose your chromebook and follow all the steps listed.
This next bit may sound a bit silly but im guessing the os flashing wont remove (or will detect/update/replace drivers for things like the fan, bluetooth and wifi. Id like to make sure i know what other files than the audio driver im going to need.
Also, once its a “normal” laptop, how will it function in regards to installed programs? Will it be quite laggy or will i barely notice it was once chromeOS? Im not planning on doing anything strenous, maybe play one or two low end games and emulators. I get the chromeOS can do this already but doesnt work with .exe which is what im wishing to work with.
Hope this helps you help me, aha
Sad to hear about the hardware problems.
The processor in this chromebook is pretty good so it won’t be laggy, more of a problem will be the battery life.
As to the drivers, you never know, a lot of people have trouble with the fan control, keyboard backlight etc. Personally, I would just try and install windows on it, if that didn’t work, I’d try linux, if that didn’t work, I’d reflash the stock firmware from backup and go back to chromeos, no harm done.
Thank you for the prompt reply and @MrChromebox thank you for the clarification of the hardware issues.
Will these issues mean id be better just trying to trade the Cbook for an actual laptop? Obviously i wasnt expecting a quick and simple job, just the device production age seems like this will be more trouble and potentially be more dangerous (device health), making the whole thing pointless.
Im still willing to try flashing when the device arrives, if its worth the time and effort to convert.
This isnt entirely true. For some reason kohaku is passively cooled (meaning no fan) and has a 10th gen i5 cpu. That alone is asking for thermal throttling
Then to add it has a 4k screen. Im not sure what the designers were thinking making this passively cooled…
the chromebook would overheat with everyday browser usage in windows, and dont even think about trying to play games
4K oled screen, 15w passively-cooled cpu, tiny battery size, inherent hardware flaws, chassis milled out of a solid chunk of vibranium, samsung was really cooking with this one.
If you’re getting the laptop anyway, I’d still flash it, just hold off on buying the audio driver. But if you are specifically buying it for windows/linux, I’d go with something else.
Ive received my device, and LO, i was looking at the wrong model altogether. It would seem its a Chromebook GO, and as such is the Sasuke board. (Jasperlake)
Is this device any better than Kohaku? Im just about to look through compatabilities now, but the pros knows, so no harm in asking