Google doesn't really support us anymore, but we make do, Acer c720 running Google Play Store and Crostini.
Posted Dec 9, 2018, 7:22 PM UTC
23366
This was possible by flashing with Pyro image with chromefy.
if people want details i think i can jot down a few instruction on how to achieve this.
39
Please do! I have one in the closet and would love to upgrade it.
12
Such a great little computer.
I'll probably stick to stock.
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I'd like to hear what you did.
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Tell us please!
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Following
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So since so many of you requested here is a small tutorial, warning this is not for the feint of heart :D
19
Thank you I definitely have to try this! I'm guessing this does not auto update?
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It doesn't auto update, yeah. It's a feature you lose, you will have to wait for a new recovery version to be posted on the website and rebuild the image.
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Much love!
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I'm attempting to follow the tutorial with my C720, using eve.bin and caroline.bin. I'm having a couple of issues. I can only get the chromefy.sh to run without erroring 'image is corrupt' if i switch the order to caroline.bin first and eve.bin second (I assume that this order is incorrect?). Also, when I go to use the Chromebook Recovery Utility to burn the generated recovery image, it won't find the .img file, it only sees the .bin files. Am I doing something wrong here?
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hey,
You entirely sure the images have been extracted from their zips? if that is the case then carry on.
i have that happened to me, and i fixed it by rebooting the chrombeook and trying again, and yes do not change the order, its suposed to be sudo chromefy chromium.img eve.bin caroline.bin
as for the chromebook recovery tool it only sees .bin files, just rename your chromium.img to chromium.bin (after running chromefy that is).
good luck
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Thank you for replying to help me! I’ve started another attempt and it was going well until I got to the step to install the image we generated via the command ‘sudo /use/sbin/chromeos-install -dst /dev/sda -skip_postinstall’
Things I learned/ have done differently this time around: Redownloaded all images and unzipped them on my windows machine instead of via extension on the C720. Your USB drive apparently must be in the right sided USB port to be recognized for boot.
When I run the above command I get the following error: https://imgur.com/a/CvtOOrL
I appreciate any insight you’re able to provide.
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It's double dash, - - dst and double dash on - - skip_postinstall
And yes, it's a good idea to unzip the images on a windows machine (it helps eliminate any quirks that chrome os file managermight have)
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As an owner of multiple c720s, this is what I like to see, especially with the EOL date approaching this summer.
15
Do you happen to know what is a comparable replacement at roughly the same price point?
I am having trouble finding anything comparable for less than $500.
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I'd say the dell 7310 because it has a replaceable m2 drive as well. Newer chromebooks don't have that anymore.
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Dell Chromebook 11 3180 is an equivalent @ ~$230
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Shit, I just put CloudReady on the C720 I sold so the new owner isn't faced with that EOL message.
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When you say EOL does that just mean no more ChromeOS updates? Maybe in Chromebook world that is very ominous, in Ubuntu ecosystem it might not mean much if your needs are modest. I assume as a last stage you can put Debian on it...
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No more security updates
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The c720 is such a good looking chromebook.
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The c720 is one of the best computing devices I've ever used. Crazy bang for the buck. Nice work getting it to run. Is it dog slow in the terminal?
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I'd like to be able to do that on any pc I have 👍
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have a look at the chromefy project on GitHub, it is intended to install chromeOS on a regular PC.
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So in theory would I be able to do this on my C300MA and get the app store also? It had it at one point in an update but it was removed at another.
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yes, this is an adaptation of something that works on a regular PC, in your case you have a chromebook, it works as well. you probably will have to use a diferente image (I used pyro).
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Thanks when I get bored later this week I might check into it and try it out.
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Just want to add in another piece of info that might help C300MA to get Android app supports back through stock solution.
Currently the old official recovery image files can be found from here. ASUS C300MA's old version images are still up for Version 68 and version 69.
If version 69 is the one that supports Android app, you could possibly rollback to v69 from that image file. Then the last piece of the puzzle is to find a way to stay in version 69, which I believe some other redditors posted already.
If this doesn't work, then OP's chromefy method is probably the only known solution.
Hopefully this helps.
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I love my i3 c720. It's still faster than basically all new Chromebooks sold in mainstream computer stores in my country and I bought it almost 4 years ago. Crazy.
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It's nuts. If you don't care about newer features like 2 in 1 or USB C it's an absolute beast. Even the celeron version keeps up or surpasses low end chromebooks of 2018
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the c720 is on the developer list:
https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices
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whats the significance of being on that list?
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none at all
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So is my C300 it actually had the App store for awhile on an beta update. It was removed at some point and hasn't been back.
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Loved this device enough I shipped over an i3 model from US (as only the Celeron was available in the UK) and then replaced the keyboard with a UK model. At the EoL I’m likely to re-install GalliumOS. Could do with a few personal hardware replacements - new battery and maybe replace screen with touchscreen if I can get it cheap enough.
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GalliumOS run great on it. I had to put it on mine due to some wifi issues in ChromeOS.
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Great machine. Got a larger m.2 ssd installed. So easy.
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How stable does it run?
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I haven't messed around much, since I just finished setting it up, but I can go ahead and tell you that chromeos is the same as it was using the default peppy image (stock) that comes shipped with the unit... I haven't felt any difference by changing the image to Pyro.
As for the Google play, it's not sluggish, it works fine, but I only have installed a couple of apps.
As for Crostini, apart from an apt-get update and an apt-get upgrade, I haven't messed around with it.
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Does the chrome os image get auto updated or after doing this, it is manual?
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It's manual.
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Yes! Have loved my C720 since day 1! After it outgrew ChromeOS, I’ve fully loaded Debian onto it. Just need to get a bigger SSD now 😬
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My c720 is running GalliumOS because of some wifi issues in ChromeOS, but going strong.
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How is Crostini compared to Crouton?
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Crouton is a hack and Crostini is supported. Crostini is far more secure. It does NOT require using dev mode.
But the big thing is Crouton will break if/when Google upgrades ChromeOS to Fuchsia.
Versus Crostini is already supported in Fuchsia with Machina.
I used Crouton for years but now only use Crostini. So happy with Crostini I replaced a Mac Book Pro with a Pixel Book for development.
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TELL NE HOW
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Look at all these testimonials. Now I know which used Chromebook I'm buying if I go that way for an on the go backup.
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BTW I thought you guys might wanna see this https://gfycat.com/ThankfulBrownDungbeetle (wtf is this name), it's the Acer c720 booting with the Eve image instead of Pyro.
Eve is the image that the pixelbook runs, this is by far the best image I had running on the Acer, Google play and Crostini works, sleep does as well (it didn't work with Pyro), so to conclude and to leave you guys alone with my shenanigans, if you guys want to pull this off on your Acer c720 I recommend you to use eve instead of Pyro.
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how is stability? android performance? battery life? thanks.
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i have really no data, maybe next week or so, what i can tell you is that it works and works fine, i have not had a an android app crashing on me, and i have been using firefox (as a container from crostini) with ublock origin, and its really cool, i mean it will struggle if i open 4 or 5 tabs. (the acer c720 is the acer c720 but chrome OS is not what it was 4 years ago). but for light browsing that is what i my chromebook today, it does pretty much what chrome does.
Ill try to post a more informed evaluation in a week or so, but general opinion if you don't over do it, its not much of an impact.
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Sounds good, thanks for the breakdown. Yoy have the celeron 4gb model?
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exactly.
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Thinking of trying this over the weekend. Are these the set of 3 files that you end up using?
- Camd64OS_R69-10895.B-Vanilla.7z
- chromeos_11021.81.0_caroline_recovery_stable-channel_mp.bin.zip
- chromeos_11021.81.0_eve_recovery_stable-channel_mp.bin.zip
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yes, remember to extract the zip files and the 7zip, you will also need the chromefy script obviously
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I'm a simple man. I see c720, I upvote.
They run Debian nicely btw
Do tell more, please. I have an old c720 just sitting around doing nothing. Do you just download an ISO, write it to bootable USB, boot the system from this and install? If so, where do you get your ISO from?
Check out u/MrChromebox's site. His work is great and guides are easy to follow.
You need to enable legacy boot and possibly install custom firmware (if you want it to default to booting Linux) first, but otherwise yes, just grab it from your distro's site and install. The C720 has excellent Linux compatibility.
Check out GalliumOS
GalliumOS is great. It is good to have a Linux distro specifically made to support Chromebooks.
How is the battery life with the Debian?