Hey all,
I thought i would post up the steps I used to replace Chrome OS with Xubuntu 13.10 on my new HP Chromebook 14 (Model: 14-Q002TU). Please note: This is not a crouton guide, if you wish to run Xubuntu or Ubuntu alongside Chrome OS you'll need a different guide (Lifehacker Crouton Guide). As with all guides on the internet follow at your on risk, while I try to make sure all information in this guide is correct I am only human and I can forget things or make typos.
Why would I do this? Chrome OS is great if you need a fast, secure and lightweight way of browsing the web or working in the cloud but it does lack most of the features you get from a full Linux desktop environment.
What you will need:
- 2 x USB Drives (>= 4GB)
- HP Chromebook 14
- USB Mouse
- Xubuntu 13.10 Image
Step 0.5 - Create Bootable USB: Once you have downloaded the Xubuntu 13.10 image you'll need to make one of your USB drives bootable, In windows you can use Win32DiskImager.
Step 1 - Backup! As we will be replacing Chrome OS I highly advise making a recovery image so you restore Chrome OS in the future. Insert your other USB drive (All data on this drive will be lost so ensure its empty), within Chrome navigate tothen follow the prompts to create a recovery disk. Once the process is complete store this drive somewhere safe.Code:chrome://imageburner
Step 2 - Developer Mode: Enabling developer mode will erase all local data from the machine so make a backup of all data or move it to the cloud. To enable developer mode the machine must be up and running then press and hold the "esc" + "refresh" keys together, then press the power button.
The machine will reboot and the Recovery screen will appear:
At this screen press Ctrl+D, Press Enter at the next screen.
The machine will now enable developer mode and wipe all local data, may take up to 10 mins to complete. Once its done the machine will automatically reboot and show the OS Verification error.
Press Ctrl+D again to boot into Chrome OS.
Step 3 - Enable Boot from USB & Legacy OS: - Once in Chrome OS you'll need to complete the initial setup again, once logged in press Ctrl+Alt+T to bring up a terminal then type shell to get a bash prompt. Enter the following command to enable USB Boot & Legacy OS
Now Insert your USB Bootable drive with Xubuntu and reboot your machine. When the OS Verification screen appears you can now press Ctrl+L to enter the SeaBIOS, press "esc" to open the boot menu and select your USB drive using the relevant number.Code:sudo crossystem dev_boot_usb=1 dev_boot_legacy=1
Step 4 - Install Xubuntu - Follow on screen prompts to install Xubuntu as normal, you'll need to connect your USB Mouse as the touchpad wont work (Yet), From here on each time you boot the machine it will display the OS Verification error, you'll need to press Ctrl+L then enter to boot from the hard drive (Technically SSD ) which will load Xubuntu.
Step 5 - Fixing Touchpad - Once installation is complete we need to fix the touchpad, Open a terminal and run the following command to ensure your system is fully up to date
Once the updates are complete download Benson Leung's Touchpad Fix to your downloads folder: https://googledrive.com/host/0B0YvUu...ell-modules.shCode:sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
We'll need to make a small change to the script to correctly fix the touchpad, First we need to determine the current Linux kernel version by running:
It should display something like "3.11.0-20-generic", That is your current version.Code:uname -r
Open the script and find the following section
replace it withCode:# Grab Ubuntu kernel source apt-get source linux-image-$mykern cd $mykernver
Note the change to the URL & Directories to reflect your Linux kernel versionCode:# Grab Ubuntu kernel source wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/linux-3.11.tar.xz tar -xJf linux-3.11.tar.xz cd linux-3.11
Save the changes and run the script with the following command
Once the updates have been made reboot the machine. The touch pad should now work but its not very responsive. We'll need to tweak the settings to increase responsiveness. Open a terminal and enterCode:sudo sh ~/Downloads/cros-haswell-modules.sh
Then edit the following fileCode:cd /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
Below "MatchIsTouchPad "on" addCode:sudo nano 50-synaptics.conf
Code:Option "FingerLow" "10" Option "FingerHigh" "16"
Exit nano and save the file (Ctrl+X, save changes Y) then reboot.
Once rebooted the touch pad should now be much better, you can tweak the settings above if your not happy.
All Done!!
Enjoy your new Chromebook, If i've made any mistakes please let me know.
References:
Bookmarks