ChromeOS on old laptops

Off-topic
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I have played with getting ChromeOS on old laptops to give them a new purpose and up to now there was only one option
Cloudready from Neverware Get ChromeOS Flex for PC or Mac - Chrome Enterprise
(who have just recently been bought by google btw)

it works really well but isn’t the full fat ChromeOS so you can’t have parental controls (via family link) as its is a custom fork of ChromeOS.

that was until now - via brunch you can now install the full fat version of ChromeOS on any old laptop.
Brunch basically makes ChromeOS work natively!

pretty neat? heck yeah!

see install guide:

Old dell now running Chrome OS

PXL_20201221_114909965
PXL_20201221_1149099652016×1512 1.04 MB

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Better than something old going to landfill, and good for oldies (very hard to bugger up). Nice!

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Excellent, I usually stick ubuntu on old ones! Thanks Pan.

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I now wish I had kept that old one… It went to a friend as I decided to upgrade

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Surely it’s just goes into the IT cupboard? Along with 10 mice, 4 keyboards, two screens spare hd disks, and a collection of cables?

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Nice, ill have a look, i have just stuck Lubuntu on a old laptop i nicked from work for my garage machine

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Small flat… IT cupboard is one of those IKEA boxes.

I don’t even have a full size keyboard any more and our dining table has a monitor on it which I had to get from work :roll_eyes:

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Great timing thanks Pan. Was just swearing at Ubuntu because can’t upgrade 18.04! Erroring no matter what I try. So was going for a fresh install. Then remembered cloudready. Will try brunch I think :+1: on the old laptop.

Need a new tablet too… Thinking slate after the pixel c…

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If you are looking to repurpose an old laptop, solid state hard disks are relatively cheap and transform the performance.

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Cloudready seems more robust (in my testing) I’d try both and see what you prefer.

Also note that you can edit the config file of brunch to allow automatic updates

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We seem to have been hijacked by computers-are-us! Any chance of mentioning something to do with motorcycles. If that’s not considered appropriate, a handy translation guide would be useful!

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Pan has a cb1000 and a KTM SM. None run on Chrome OS.

Back to laptops :grin:

The way I approach though is a bit like bike mechanics. If I don’t understand it, I don’t try to do it at home

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Talk of chrome and clouds, I thought they were talking about a Harley ride through the mountains

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I know it’s not about motorcycles hence the off topic category.

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Cloud ready errors when I try to install to disk :roll_eyes: will try brunch!

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Hmm never had an issue… Re create a different bootable USB?

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@banman
just put cloud ready on a friends laptop (ready for school learning) and it failed on the first install.
I got missing OS

I recreated the install USB and that solved the issue

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I did try this. Bit same error. In the end put Debian on it and got a Pixel Slate! With my bitcoin profits!

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would love a slate! what are your first impressions? especially stylus use

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First impressions are it’s slick. Not bought a stylus yet.

Wife hated it when she saw it. Like she hates all change. But within half an hour she made positive noises.

Looks great. 12.3 in screen is amazing.

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