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Is it possible to install Ubuntu on a Chromebook? If so, what are the minimum system requirements? Will Ubuntu preform as well on the Chromebook as on a Windows laptop?

Tim
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James
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2 Answers2

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Well, if you search for Crouton you fill find tutorials to install Ubuntu on a Chromebook. In this page, you will find one for the Chromebook Pixel:

  • Create a Boot USB with the Ubuntu version to install with the tool you want (USB Boot Creator from Ubuntu, Linux Live USB Creator for Windows...)
  • Reboot the ChromeBook by pressing and holding ESC+Refresh and briefly press the power button. It will ask you to reboot into Developer Mode.
  • When it reboots press “Ctrl+D” Or wait 30 Seconds. Youll see a scary screen about not having a verified OS. Its fine. Just hit “Ctrl+D”.
  • Once rebooted press “Ctrl+Alt-T” to pull up terminal
  • Enter this into terminalchromeos-firmwareupdate --mode=todev crossystem dev_boot_usb=1
  • Now your in Developer mode and we can boot from a USB, so Plug your USB drive we made in the last tutorial in, and your USB mouse and
    reboot.
  • This time when you see the scary screen hit “Ctrl+L” this will pull you into SeaBIOS. When it comes up hit Esc when prompted and select
    your USB drive to boot from. It should be 1.
  • When Ubuntu boots, make sure your USB mouse is hooked up, and it will ask you if you want try or install it.

From nemesisrobotics.com/installing-linux-on-the-chromebook-pixel/

The minimum system requirements depends of the OS, then, the minimum ones for Ubuntu are these:

Ubuntu Desktop Edition

  • 700 MHz processor (about Intel Celeron or better)
  • 512 MiB RAM (system memory)
  • 5 GB of hard-drive space (or USB stick, memory card or external drive but see LiveCD for an alternative approach)
  • VGA capable of 1024x768 screen resolution
  • Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installer media
  • Internet access is helpful

From https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements

And the performance of the OS depends on the hardware support, which you need to check depending of the Chromebook that you have.

Leo
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Crouton does a virtualized Ubuntu, which is advantageous as then it will use the chromebook's proprietary kernal and all the drivers should already be there.

If you wish to embark on the journey which is installing Ubuntu alongside chromeOS in a partition, try the following in developer shell:

WARNING MUST BACKUP BEFORE DOING THIS -- IT'LL CREATE A NEW PARTITION THAT YOU BOOT INTO WITH CTRL-L AT THE SCARY BOOT UP SCREEN

curl -L -O http://goo.gl/9sgchs; sudo bash 9sgchs

From the extensive guide:

http://realityequation.net/installing-elementary-os-on-an-hp-chromebook-14

Jonathan
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  • Link is dead... which just shows why you should include the details of the link.. :-) Maybe this was the original on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrubuntu/comments/1sza2j/installing_elementary_os_on_an_hp_chromebook_14/ Nope, that just points to the same deleted article. – Greenonline Dec 03 '21 at 04:55