[nmglug] any experience with installing gnu/linux on chromebooks?

[Sam Noble]

On Sun, Nov 01, 2020 at 11:25:42PM -0700, Mark Galassi wrote:
> Sam, thank you so much!  That is golden information and just what I
> needed.

Cool.

> Would you be able to give links to your favorite source for cheap
> chromebooks?

Uh, I think they all came from different ebay sellers. I was after the
particular models. So just shopped for condition (more varied than
usualy as many are sourced from grade schools) and price.

If I was recommending a model today as a daily driver it'd be the Asus
flip c100pa (minnie), though the c201pa (speedy)  has slightly larger
(and slightly mushier) keyboard.
But there's a 4g version (which is typically 2x the cost of the 2g
version on ebay, almost making brand new Pinebook Pro's cost
competition) of minnie, and it has an aluminum chasis where the speedy
is plastic.

Also possibly of interest for class-day installs is that there is a less
freedom focused fork of prawnos (shrimpos) available for minnie, which
uses vanilla (well sunxi) linux in lieu of linux-libre, allowing for the
possiblity of installing non-free firmware for the onbord wifi.
(The PrawnOS crowd and I all use ath9k usb wifi)

Here's one that looks good today:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-Chromebook-Flip-C100P-10-1in-32GB-Touch-Screen-Convertible/203163544665?epid=222432627&hash=item2f4d7dac59:g:7n0AAOSwvEFfZ-gB

-- 
sam