At first I dabbled with the 'crouton' method of running Linux 'in parallel' with ChromeOS on the Chromebox. There is no 'LMDE' option for this technique, and the closest that I could mimic was to use Debian 'sid' with 'cinnamon'. This did *not* work -- I think the version of Cinnamon is too old. I got success using 'xfce' instead. However, since the repositories didn't contain what I wanted, I decided to go for the 'full meal deal' and try LMDE by activating the 'SeaBIOS' option.
There is a known bug with the existing SeaBIOS on the Chromebox (other Chrome devices as well? not sure) where booting from USB3 does not work. Since the Asus Chromebox *only* has USB3 ports (part of the reason I wanted it), this was a large obstacle. Fortunately, very clever and risk-taking people came to the rescue and wrote a patched version:
http://johnlewis.ie/asus-chromebox-owners-rejoice/
The other part normal task required to boot to SeaBIOS was to change a few boot flags:
Code: Select all
sudo crossystem dev_boot_usb=1
sudo crossystem dev_boot_legacy=1I ran into 3 problems so far, each with solutions/work-arounds:
- - Screensaver appears to hang the system when it kicks in, so I set it to 'never' kick in
- Wireless very flaky and loosing its connections, so did what was stated in this thread: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=154774
- My serial-port-to-USB based GPS constantly disconnected, so I found a solution on the web (strange, since my other LMDE machines are unaffected)
My ultimate reason for doing this? My Intel Atom home-built PC, acting as my MythTV backend, was too bulky -- and too slow as a frontend. The Chromebox is much smaller.
