Are there any ways to turn a chromebook into a useful machine?

install windows

>>61546486
Legacy boot and install linux.

Install Linux
One model of Chromebook supports libreboot too

>>61546486
Why would you want to use compromised hardware?

>>61546486

crouton.

>>61546486
Seabios + galliumos

>>61546510
>>61546529
This but research before you buy a cheap chromebook for Linux. Some have hardware with unsupported drivers in mainline kernel.

>>61546486
Installed ARCH on my Asus Flip Chromebook and it turned it into a usable beast of a machine mate

>>61546486
Give it to an old person. All they do is facebook+webshit anyway. It is now 100% more useful.

install gentoo

What are you trying to do with it?
Theyre just little netbooks with Celerons and stuff. Only really good for violating and youtube.

You can install other operating systems on them with some tinkering. But you're still going to be limites by hardware

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>>61546889
>But you're still going to be limites by hardware
Untrue unless you're a stupid winbabby
Pic related cost $200 canabux and can do anything I want including playback of high-bitrate 1080p videos

How much can you even do on a Chromemebook besides the browser? Can you access the terminal?

My only computer is an old T60 (probably should upgrade at some point this decade), so even a low-tier Chromebook would be an upgrade for me.

>>61547139
Wait until the X220 is supported in Libreboot, or get an X200 or T400 now.

>>61547077
Yes, ChromeOS has a simplified cli that you can access. From there you can type shell and it'll open up a bash shell so you can actually do things you normally would on Linux.

>>61546486
Have it run Android and Android apps

>>61547203
is it gimped in any way? is it better to just replace it with a real distro right away?

>>61547179
Yeah but no fans.

>>61547238
no distro is real if you don't know how to use it

>>61547042
what model it is?

>>61547518
Lenovo N201

>>61546486
Sell it, but a real laptop.

>>61546486
Sure, but get an x86 CPU. Armshit doesn't have vast linux support on chromebooks. Chromium's website has a good list of supported machines.

>>61546486
I have the chromebook pictured there, the x86 version. With seabios and legacy boot, it's a great linux laptop. Perfect for terminal stuff/web browsing/watching stuff. It also has great battery life, especially after a bit of tuning.

Chroot linux which lets you run it concurrently with ChromeOS. This is ok when you need to switch between the two. Handy with android apps.

Either dual booting GalliumOS or fully paving over ChromeOS is my recommendation. Just make sure it's an X86 processor. It's a linux distro designed specifically for Chromebooks.

Chromebooks offer a lot of flexibility as well if you set up SSH or FTP server machines on your desktop.

The whole process of making it a useful machine can be a bit of a pain in the ass. First of all, it has to be put into developer mode. No sweat! only takes about half an hour. Then write protection needs to be enabled, which involved removing a screw from the motherboard of the laptop. I managed to strip the screw and just ended up cutting the track which worked fine. Then you gotta flash the frimware to enable legacy boot or totally replace the stock firmware with seaBIOS if your chromebook supports it. With that done you can fire your preferred OS onto a memory stick and install. Whole process took a few hours to figure out coming from no knowledge at all, but it saved me a good bit of money.

>>61547042
>bragging about being able to play 1080p in [current year]

>>61546486
Install Windows

>>61546486
install Linux
a lightweight distro will actually run better than ChromeOS because it doesn't have all the shitty google bloat/spyware packaged in

>>61548166
this. so much easier to work with and easier to nuke if you fuck up along the way. crouton is a script that does this for you. you can go from easy full packaged installs or start from scratch virtually. i love it. i can go from fully featured linux environment when i need it back to basic chromeOS in one key combo. sure, its 4 keys, but you can flip back and forth like its just another app.

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>>61546529
>One model of Chromebook supports libreboot too

thanks for telling us what model

> inb4 google it tard

it wouldn't have been that much to mention the model

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>yfw chromeOS is Gentoo

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>>61547042
Wow nice job dude you can play 1080p videos on youtube! that's definitely not anything that literally any computer built in the last 5 years can do!

a fucking t420 is literally like $120 why do you need some shitty botnet from google.

i swear to god this board is full of unemployed retards

>>61551334

Chromebooks have great Linux support. Just get one with intel + 4 GB and a replaceable SSD.

>>61546534
this

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>>61551114

>>61546486
Remove the "write protect" screw, flash seabios, install full normal Linux.