What do I do with devices that have reached their, supposed, end of life? I try different Linux distros! It usually breathes new life for a few more years. So can you do that with Chromebooks or Chromeboxes? Sorta. 😬 The tl;dr is you change the "BIOS", then load your OS, and often get frustrated with the lack of audio driver support.
The main part of doing this is the "BIOS", or firmware that starts up the computer. Most devices that run Chrome OS use Google's special firmware. Please, PLEASE, learn more about firmware and booting on MrChromebox.tech.
This isn't always straightforward and often requires some technical tasks and knowledge with what is being done. Especially with the write-protect part that protects Chrome OS.
I've done this on a few devices. The two that I actually kept track of steps are an Acer Chromebook 11 N7 and an Acer Chromebook Spin 11. Read more below.
Oh! BTW, Chrome OS Flex "oddly" doesn't support audio (on purpose, Google?). Why odd? Well, it means the vendor's have drivers for Chrome OS, but Google can't distribute them in Chrome OS Flex. Seems silly, so safe to assume on purpose? You can decide.
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The device specifically is the Acer Spin 11, model R751TN-C5P3. It has an Auto Update Policy end date of 06/2027, with extended support. What that doesn't say is that support has already expired, and to get to 06/2027 I need to go to LTS channel and give up Android. I'd leave it if I didn't have enough other Chrome OS devices. And since I do, time for full-fledged Linux!
Reload Chrome OS: Better said, do the recovery process. Even though folks say don't do it for phones, you are better off doing it here. Especially if you are using a device that was deprovisioned from any type of enterprise Google domain. Follow Google's "Download a new copy of the OS" instructions.
Onboard Process: In short, log into the Chromebook after recovery. If the device was once part of an enterprise Google domain, you will have to to reset the domain settings. Especially if they disabled Developer Mode.
Enable Developer Mode: Google has this page, but there are different options. Sometimes depending on the device. For the Acer C731:
Power-off the device.
Hold ESC + REFRESH, power on the device. Let go when you see the "Missing or Damaged" screen.
Press CTRL + D.
Press ENTER to confirm. NOTE: Doing so will erase everything on the Chromebook!
Wait until after Chrome OS resets itself (about 10 - 15 minutes).
After another reboot, booting will pause on a "page" saying "Press SPACE to re-enable". DO NOT do this as it will get you out of Developer Mode.
Wait 20 seconds and you will get to the setup or onboarding screen again. But in a developer enabled version of Chrome OS. You DO NOT need to go through this if you just want to install Linux or CloudReady.
Disable Write Protect: The R751T doesn't have a write protect screw. Instead, it uses the power cable from the battery. Yeah, strange, but check mrchromebox.tech again and be careful and be certain. BTW, there is a list of other ChromeOS devices if you're trying to use these steps as a guideline.
Get a command prompt: Now press CTRL + ALT + FWD (basically where F2 is located) to get a Linux prompt (yes Chrome OS is Linux!). When I used the guest session or was logged into ChromeOS, different steps failed later. I suggest you stay on the login screen.
Log in with "chronos": No password needed.
Load Firmware: Go to MrChomeboox.tech's page on Firmware script to install the script. I suggest you read the whole website. Again, really know what you are doing.
Update the RW_LEGACY firmware: And reboot; I like to test things in stages. Meaning this is less intrusive and if it doesn't work, something else is up.
Check Firmware: After the reboot, wait the 20 seconds, press CTRL + ALT + FWD, login as chronos and run "sudo firmware-util.sh" to see differences.
Power-off the device.
Firmware Again: Go through the process to get to running the firmware script again.
No Going Back: Be certain you want to NOT boot (an outdated) Chrome OS!!!
New Boot Firmware: If you said yes above, in the script's CLI, install "UEFI (Full ROM) Firmware". I suggest backing up the firmware; don't use Chrome OS recovery USB. After all the install/backup prompts, you will get back to the main menu.
Linux USB & then reboot: Plug in a USB with an EFI supporting Linux distro you want to install and then choose reboot.
Sign it worked: You should get a rabbit logo during boot, which is the new EFI firmware.
Install Linux: Read below for various distro comments.
Firmware, last time: After booting & installing Linux, go back to MrChomeboox.tech's page on Firmware script to install the script under Linux. You might never need it now, but why not just in case? :-)
I didn't bother to try Chrome OS Flex; though I'm thinking I should. The reason is that the Linux distros I tried do not recognize the combo audio card on the Atom chip. To get it to work in Debian or Ubuntu derivatives requires custom kernels; which I don't want to do. Thus the thought to maybe try Chrome OS Flex in the future, or maybe Arch or FreeBSD.
I do have the Acer Spin 11 working though. Everything works aside from the audio card; including touch. Even better, so does Bluetooth! Which I use to connect to Bluetooth speakers to play audio. 😁
Bunsen Labs was quite snappy, but dual displays were not automatic, and Bluetooth is a bit of a pain to use. elementary OS was great overall, I'm tempted to go back to it. The last distro I tested was Kubuntu; my goto distro. I left it and now use it as a secondary communication/media-playing device in my home office setup. Hooked up to a spare monitor through the USB-C port. Despite only 4GB of RAM, Google Chrome is great and email/streaming/etc is fine. As long as I don't have too many tabs open.
I'm comfortable sacrificing Android support since a real Linux distro just "feels" better. And it'll be a bonus if/when this device lasts past 2027.
A long time ago, the school were I work got rid of lots of Acer Chromebook 11 N7 (C731) Chromebooks. At the time, it no longer received updates to Chrome OS. Lots of vendors stopped supporting it. I didn't like the e-waste, and it was a fun little project. Here are the resulting steps to use something other than Chrome OS. Impressions of OSes are at the bottom.
Reload Chrome OS: Better said, do the recovery process. Even though folks say don't do it for phones, you are better off doing it here. Especially if you are using a device that was deprovisioned from any type of enterprise Google domain. Follow Google's "Download a new copy of the OS" instructions.
Onboard Process: In short, log into the Chromebook after recovery. If the device was once part of an enterprise Google domain, you will have to to reset the domain settings. Especially if they disabled Developer Mode.
Enable Developer Mode: Google has this page, but there are different options. Sometimes depending on the device. For the Acer C731:
Power-off the device.
Hold ESC + REFRESH, power on the device. Let go when you see the "Missing or Damaged" screen.
Press CTRL + D.
Press ENTER to confirm. NOTE: Doing so will erase everything on the Chromebook!
Wait until after Chrome OS resets itself (about 10 - 15 minutes).
After another reboot, booting will pause on a "page" saying "Press SPACE to re-enable". DO NOT do this as it will get you out of Developer Mode.
Wait 20 seconds and you will get to the setup or onboarding screen again. But in a developer enabled version of Chrome OS. You DO NOT need to go through this if you just want to install Linux or CloudReady.
Write Protect Screw: The C731 has one, so open the device up and remove the "Write Protect" screw. Ignore references to Windows 10. ;-)
Get a command prompt: Now press CTRL + ALT + FWD (basically where F2 is located) to get a Linux prompt (yes Chrome OS is Linux!).
Log in with "chronos": No password needed.
Load Firmware: Go to MrChomeboox.tech's page on Firmware script to install the script. I suggest you read the whole website. Again, really know what you are doing.
Update the RW_LEGACY firmware: And reboot; I like to test things in stages. Meaning this is less intrusive and if it doesn't work, something else is up.
Check Firmware: After the reboot, wait the 20 seconds, press CTRL + ALT + FWD, login as chronos and run "sudo firmware-util.sh" to see differences.
Power-off the device.
Firmware Again: Go through the process to get to running the firmware script again.
No Going Back: Be certain you want to NOT boot (an outdated) Chrome OS!!!
New Boot Firmware: If you said yes above, in the script's CLI, install "UEFI (Full ROM) Firmware". I suggest backing up the firmware; don't use Chrome OS recovery USB. After all the install/backup prompts, you will get back to the main menu.
Linux USB & then reboot: Plug in a USB with an EFI supporting Linux distro you want to install and then choose reboot.
Sign it worked: You should get a rabbit logo during boot, which is the new EFI firmware.
Install Linux: Read below for various distro comments.
Firmware, last time: After booting & installing Linux, go back to MrChomeboox.tech's page on Firmware script to install the script under Linux. You might never need it now, but why not just in case? :-)
So what happened after all that? I first installed Lubuntu 22.04; the "30 second review" is that it was a mixed bag. The positive side of the spectrum is that local apps run quite well. Even heavy ones like Libre Office and Clementine, at the same time. The other end is that web browsers are known RAM hogs. Even after some optimization (swappiness, noatime), Chrome brought the C731 to its knees. Firefox faired better, though leaving YouTube Music running and checking email, the machine locked up in 10 minutes or so.
I already mentioned Chrome OS Flex in the intro. It performed well, but the sound doesn't work. Greedy, er, silly Google!
The only Linux distro that I liked the performance was Bunsen Labs. Don't expect much. But I could have YouTube Music playing, check Gmail, and then start browsing.