Had a very specific set of needs for my Linux install, as my (originally) chromebook runs off of 4g of ram, 2 cores, and a 32gb internal sd card. Bought this because it was heavily discounted and I only had a low-end cellphone at the time, so a computer was a computer. ChromeOS is absolute garbage, and its linux shell is borderline useless imo, especially if you don't have WP disabled. They've apparently made that more difficult, tho I've heard you just need to remove the battery now. why would I want to subscribe to every single fucking app on my computer??? that just doesn't make sense with Linux as an option. also, a single tab of Chrome had the chance of locking up the entire system.

removing ChromeOS was pretty anxiety inducing for me, as it still was my only computing option, so if I bricked it I'd have nothing at all. but given it was ChromeOS I basically had nothing at all anyway, so I took the jump. it succeeded! Gallium was my first choice as I'd been recommended it and was told it was pretty much the best option for chromebooks.

Graphical issues have largely been elimenated by /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf - used to have some pretty major flickering problems, especially after removing the WP screw and installing Gallium.

Decided to switch off of Gallium because it was going the way of the dinosaurs, and I stumbled upon /r/chrultrabook, so other distros were obviously possible. Lubuntu was next option, though I wasn't really satisfied because of the amount of bloat installed via apt. Soooo many libraries I couldn't get rid of but didn't really want. Couldn't for the life of me figure out how to edit the intel config files on Lubuntu, even though the process is exactly the same as on Arch. Documentation wasn't really the best I guess? or a lot of ubuntu issues discussed are geared towards a different level of user. I only stayed on Lubuntu for 2, maybe 3 weeks before getting sick of it. Introduction to EndeavourOS solidified my decision to jump to Arch, bc my main issue with it was having to manually getting all the basics up.

Had to reinstall MrChromebox drivers once I got Arch, because playing around on Ubuntu was....a learning experience, lets say that. I had to do so many fresh installs, but I guess that's just part of the Linux learning experience, especially when you're a bit more daring. Arch has really let me dig my claws into linux, and configure my system how I like it while keeping disk usage to a minimum. Doesn't really get up to 100% cpu unless I'm running a long yay install or using MyPy.

OS - EndeavourOS, for simplicity of Arch install

display manager: LightDM

wm: Qtile (to help me learn python!), also because it has built-in bars so less extras to install. My setup doesn't really play well with lemonbar or polybar. Also, tiling managers seem to work the best with my system.

terminal: xfce4 terminal (came with EOS install, decided to leave it. has accessible customization options)

plaintext editor: notepadqq

picom for compositing, also helps eliminate flickering/screen tearing

other extras:

rofi for app menu

ranger for terminal file browsing (reduces cpu/gpu load), which usually works fine as I'm comfortable with cp, mv, and rm.

thunar for gui file management, for when I want to turn my brain off

zsh for shell, bc pretty

chezmoi for dotfile sync to github

ripcord for discord - electron apps suck up SO MUCH POWER jfc

Notable for markdown editing (might switch this in the future, as they've gone closed source and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that)

and like, even with transparency enabled this thing only gets up to 35C when I'm just typing, or browsing w/ Firefox. I'm surprised how much I've been able to rice my setup even with a 6 year old subpar chromebook build. I've learned how to be really minimal with what I use on this computer. I'm pleased that Qtile and Rofi are playing so well together. No spotify bc this computer doesn't have the best sound and I don't want to put the extra strain on it, which is fine because I don't really use it anyway. Need to test how well it plays with video streaming still, but I have my concerns about the integrity of the integrated cpu/gpu card. I also don't really watch too much youtube anyway.

all in all I'm really glad I've found a way to prolong the longevity of this device. I'm pretty sure this laptop would be dead right now if it was still running ChromeOS. This is a process I wouldn't mind repeating again - especially because schoolkids these days are having ChromeOS foisted upon them through school.

> Hey, cool write-up :)

Arch is amazing for low-power machines, a bit like gentoo but for sane people ;)

And damn, gemini feels like a really cool place^^

Hope you're doing well!

- Bananicorn

> testing the guestbook function lol?

- gh0stprince

=>gemini://cities.yesterweb.org/guestbook/gh0stprince send me a message!