How to install Ubuntu 32-bit on Asus C300 chromebook

Question

I have just purchased a chromebook, Asus C300, in hopes that I would be able to install ubuntu on it instead of chrome os. The other options I see are chrubuntu and crouton but neither really give me what I want as I don't have any need for chrome os and would rather free up the disk space.

So right now I have a 32bit copy of 14.04 on a flashdrive (I did it correctly via a windows machine). I turned OS verification off on my chromebook and entered it into developer mode which took a few minutes. But when I do recovery mode (escape + f3 + power) it says that the usb device does not contain chrome os. SO I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what. Any advice on how to proceed further would be greatly appreciated

Solution 1

To enable dev mode, you enter recovery mode (Escape + F3 + power key); this will trigger a screen with the message "Chrome OS is missing or damaged. Please insert recovery USB stick".

One this screen (the recovery screen), press ctrl + d - and follow the on-screen instructions.

Remember, this will wipe the device, and the Google disclaimer is: "Caution: Modifications you make to the system are not supported by Google, may cause hardware, software or security issues and may void warranty."

See also: http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/poking-around-your-chrome-os-device

Solution 2

I was able to do it, you have to first remove the read/write screw from the motherboard. Warning this voids your warranty. As seen in the link bellow.

http://www.matws.org/c300/

After that is removed I installed SeaBIOS https://johnlewis.ie/baytrail-release/

After that just have a Bootable Ubuntu Flash Drive ready and just go ahead and install. WARNING!!!! This worked for me but there is a risk of killing you computer every time you mess with the firmware of your computer. Also there is no turning back after installing the SeaBIOS.

Hope this Helps!

Comments

[JulienFr]

on top of that, you have to run set_gbb_flags.sh 0x489 ( check out wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chrome_OS_devices )