Hi, Noob with newb questions

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1

I tried searching to no avail. So here goes:

I have already used mr chromebook, and gallium for acer c720 for myself and my wife. They have so much physical wear now it’s time to replace them. I’ve read about the newer suuport for linux within the chrome container… not interested.

So a few things are new. I understand how to access bios and configure with mrchromebook to load new linux versions. However, I have never used any linux version other than ubuntu based, so not sure what to choose since the newer permutations don;lt support ubuntu.

So question 1: which Linux would be most familiar from the choices cited here:

Recommended distros as of October 2023 (in no particular order) are:

  • Arch Linux or EndeavourOS
  • Fedora or Ultramarine Linux
  • openSUSE Tumbleweed
  • Debian 12 (Bookworm)
  • Pop!_OS:

Question 2: Within those choices, do any have a simpler but comprehensive software manager other than synaptic package mgr? The manager in Mint for example is SO much easier for us.

Question 3: I found one reference that geminilake is a good choice. I am thinking about Asus C424M which has that board, but have not found a single post about this model. The supported devices list shows support with no known issues, but I am sure there can be. Is there anything I need to know/be watchful about with this model and this board (Or just in general when shopping for a CB? We do need our machines fully functional.

Thanks for being here! looking forward to participating in this project!

2

If you’re coming from Ubuntu with no outside knowledge, you’ll want to try Debian.

Ubuntu is based on Debian, they’re just maintained by different people

If you like mint, LMDE (linux mint Debian edition) would be a good choice for you

And to answer your last question, as long as you follow the directions in the docs, you’re very very unlikely going to break something, and if something doesnt work as intended it can be reported.

I hope this helps :slight_smile:

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3

I second what Ethan says. Debian runs great on Chrultrabook’d chromebooks.

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4

Alright, will try debian mint.

Waiting for delivery of the machine.

5

Well, Debian is fine. Been using that for, I think, more than a year on my older chromebook (Banon). Everything works ‘out of the box’ on that one. But the Chromebook in which I’m typing this message is a newer one: Blipper. For my original install I used Debian, but sound doesn’work ‘out of the box’. You’ll need a patch and a ‘custom kernel’. No problem, it’s all on Chultrabooks Docs.

But now I’m using Fedora (40) on Blipper. Also needed the mentioned patch, but no custom kernel. Thats why I stayed on Fedora. Using a ‘custom’ kernel makes me a little bit uneasy…

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well, let us know how it goes

7

Shipping delay, just arrived.

Will do.

9

A couple of glitches in my sequence installing firmware, but got debian mint running.

1-Missed needing to reboot after disconnecting battery in order to disable write protect.

2- I did not see anything in the chrultrabook instructions about logging in a chronos in VT-2 in order to enter mrchromebox command. Took a while to figure out,

3-chromebook did not reboot after installing LDME as it should have. I force shut it down after about 20 minutes of hanging up. debian mint did start after that. Updating OS and running intial trial of it now .

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Hmm, Updater error in LDME

“dpkg: error: dpkg frontend lock was locked by another process with pid 4720
Note: removing the lock file is always wrong, can damage the locked area and the entire system. See https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/FAQ#db-lock”

Cheked that FAQ, and don;t understand what would be running to interfere.

The list of updated files looks complete though.

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No audio, I’ll see if I can follow the tutorial.

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Unsure if Python version is correct, The software manager shows Python 3.11 available.

I installed git using software manager, and ran the command

git clone “GitHub - WeirdTreeThing/chromebook-linux-audio: Script to enable audio support on many Chrome devices”

Edit: this forum’s software is not allowing me to post the command verbatim, but creating a hot link.

It is prompting me to login with github credentials but I have none. I have never been a github user.

Is this a login for the github website or configured in the git software package or what?

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Alright so established github account and try login credentials in terminal, no go, user passwords not supported through terminal since 2021. Try a token, and another error. So I look on youtube for github tutorials… useless hours of information that I don;t need, and no mention of how to clone a friggin file using terminal requiring login credentials. I don’t want to upload archive or develop anything on git hub I just want to load this damn patch on the chromebook.

I am lost.

15

Not quite sure what is going on w/ GitHub for ya

You can alternatively navigate to GitHub and click the blue code button and download the file as a zip file and then unzip it and continue w/ the instructions fwiw

Edit

  1. Go to the Github page and in the upper right is a button that says <> Code
  2. Once you click the button, the last option allows you to download the repo as a zip file
  3. Save the file and make note where you saved it
  4. open your terminal and navigate to the folder
  5. Run the command unzip <insert name of the zipped filename> If you don’t have the package unzip, you can install it or try right clicking the file in the file explorer to see if there’s an option to unzip there
  6. Continue w/ the instructions listed in the repo to restore your audio
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Thanks I’ll give this a try!

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Alright, had time to install the audio kernel. All is well, so far LDME and audio are working fine. Thanks for the help!