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#51 2011-01-03 01:15:32

vostok4
Member
Registered: 2010-12-16
Posts: 70

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

Alright, then tonight I will flash the bios on my Cr48 and see how things work!

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#52 2011-01-03 01:16:51

damis648
Member
Registered: 2010-01-25
Posts: 18

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

feld wrote:

**NOTE**
You cannot flash the bios unless you remove the bottom half of the laptop (all the screws in the battery bay and under the rubber feet) and pull the laptop apart. There's something that prevents flashing the BIOS unless you do this.

This is because of the small piece of metal near the battery on the inside of the case. When it comes in contact with the pad above the SIM slot, it grounds that. This write-protects the BIOS. I'd recommend taping it with some electrical tape, and keeping everything together when flashing. It's much neater this way.

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#53 2011-01-03 01:27:19

pheonix7117
Member
Registered: 2010-12-21
Posts: 13

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

Will flashing the BIOS disable booting Chrome OS normally as well as any developer/non developer modes with the switch?
And will we be able to re-flash the BIOS back to the Google Chrome OS stock BIOS?
I'm assuming if we flash it to this other BIOS, it will enable us to install Chromium, but I'm wondering how it will affect the default Chrome OS experience.

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#54 2011-01-03 01:34:13

damis648
Member
Registered: 2010-01-25
Posts: 18

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

pheonix7117 wrote:

Will flashing the BIOS disable booting Chrome OS normally as well as any developer/non developer modes with the switch?
And will we be able to re-flash the BIOS back to the Google Chrome OS stock BIOS?
I'm assuming if we flash it to this other BIOS, it will enable us to install Chromium, but I'm wondering how it will affect the default Chrome OS experience.

Chrome OS will no longer boot the same way it would normally, it would use the bootloader installed to the EFI partition instead of having the firmware do it. The developer switch does not do anything with the 'new' BIOS, so Chrome OS will always think it's in normal mode. You can always flash back by making a backup of your current firmware (or, in the worst case, using the StockFW I uploaded in my guide). The Chrome OS experience is largely unchanged if you use this BIOS... unless, of course, you install a different bootloader or mess around with the partitions.

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#55 2011-01-03 02:57:47

pheonix7117
Member
Registered: 2010-12-21
Posts: 13

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

So hypothetically would the boot time remain the same (or very similar) for Chrome OS?
Also, you're saying that if I flashed it with this 'new' BIOS and then resized the partitions to give Ubuntu for example more space, Chrome OS would no longer boot properly? What would happen if I wiped the SSD and installed Chromium instead? Do you know if it would be comparable to the Google Chrome OS that the CR-48 shipped with?

Again, thanks for the awesome work! :-)

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#56 2011-01-04 02:46:22

vostok4
Member
Registered: 2010-12-16
Posts: 70

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I did the BIOS flash last night and it went smoothly, although this is the first time I dealt with GRUB2, so some things I learned:

Create an empty 1-2MB partition at the beginning of your disk, and set the boot_grub flag "on" in parted. Then you can create your partitions as you please, but you do not need a special /boot partition! That had me stuck with the booting issue for a while.

I reinstalled Arch (stuck to i686 instead of going to x86_64), and nothing special to report when it got up and running yet, I am having trouble with the touchpad (I don't think I have the synaptics module loading properly yet) as right now I can no longer click+drag, but I'll focus on that tonight.

It's nice having the full 16GB disk for Arch!

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#57 2011-01-04 22:29:54

damis648
Member
Registered: 2010-01-25
Posts: 18

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

pheonix7117 wrote:

So hypothetically would the boot time remain the same (or very similar) for Chrome OS?
Also, you're saying that if I flashed it with this 'new' BIOS and then resized the partitions to give Ubuntu for example more space, Chrome OS would no longer boot properly? What would happen if I wiped the SSD and installed Chromium instead? Do you know if it would be comparable to the Google Chrome OS that the CR-48 shipped with?

Again, thanks for the awesome work! :-)

Honestly, I don't know. I didn't have Chrome OS on there for long enough (after the flash) to try anything out. You can always restore if it doesn't work out. I'm going to go back to Chrome OS soon to continue testing.

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#58 2011-01-06 00:27:28

walmartshopper
Member
Registered: 2010-03-31
Posts: 37

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I flashed the BIOS, zeroed out /dev/sda to get rid of GPT, used fdisk to set up MBR partitions, and installed Arch x86 with vanilla kernel on a 13GB partition.  Touchpad works out of the box with scrolling and multitouch with the xf86-input-synaptics driver.  Still haven't figured out the 3G modem, but now with the arch kernel I can tether my phone and get unlimited mobile broadband, which I prefer anyway.  I left a couple gigs empty so I can install Hexxeh's Chromium OS Lime build when it is released.

Last edited by walmartshopper (2011-01-06 01:11:11)

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#59 2011-01-07 01:06:51

taylorchu
Member
Registered: 2010-08-09
Posts: 405

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

did chrome os receive any upgrade from 12/20 ~ now?

If not, I will consider flashing BIOS. Just wonder there are so many commits since 12/17, why doesnt google release the next version?


"After you do enough distro research, you will choose Arch."

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#60 2011-01-07 04:26:01

xonecas
Member
Registered: 2010-12-22
Posts: 5

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

http://hexxeh.net/?p=328117655

Maybe this tool will help. I just got started with the net install, I'll post how it went.

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#61 2011-01-07 06:39:53

walmartshopper
Member
Registered: 2010-03-31
Posts: 37

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I tried Hexxeh's daily vanilla build from 01/05 and everything worked fine except for the 3G. The lime build is supposed to have more hardware support and I'm just assuming it will be tested to work on a cr-48.

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#62 2011-01-13 13:55:52

aqtrans
Member
Registered: 2008-07-25
Posts: 30

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

robbychen wrote:

Does anyone know what is XItoCoreType?

Here is the entire output from Xorg.0.log about why syntp_drv.so doesn't load:

(II) LoadModule: "syntp"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/syntp_drv.so
dlopen: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/syntp_drv.so: undefined symbol: XItoCoreType
(EE) Failed to load /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/syntp_drv.so
(II) UnloadModule: "syntp"
(EE) Failed to load module "syntp" (loader failed, 7)

I have no idea what is the XItoCoreType. It only shows the source code on Google which doesn't have the code to define this symbol.

Anyone have an update on this problem? I get this same issue when I followed these instructions.

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#63 2011-01-13 23:16:54

mklebel
Member
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2009-08-27
Posts: 8

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

walmartshopper wrote:

I flashed the BIOS, zeroed out /dev/sda to get rid of GPT, used fdisk to set up MBR partitions, and installed Arch x86 with vanilla kernel on a 13GB partition.  Touchpad works out of the box with scrolling and multitouch with the xf86-input-synaptics driver.  Still haven't figured out the 3G modem, but now with the arch kernel I can tether my phone and get unlimited mobile broadband, which I prefer anyway.  I left a couple gigs empty so I can install Hexxeh's Chromium OS Lime build when it is released.

I went this route also. I'm running 64-bit.

Haven't messed around with the 3G modem, the touchpad 'works'. I can't get the double finger scroll working, and the right click is wayyyy too sensitive. It always take a few tries. I tried changing the configurations with GPointingDeviceSettings, but still no luck. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? How is it working for you walmartshopper?  I wonder if there is a config file I can copy from the default ChromeOS install?

Other than that, everything has been going really good.

E17 is very good fit for the cr48, if you don't mind it bugging out on you every once in a while wink

Last edited by mklebel (2011-01-13 23:19:23)

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#64 2011-01-14 00:05:12

vostok4
Member
Registered: 2010-12-16
Posts: 70

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I use the synaptics aur package here: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=38120

It works great on my touchpad, I have the physical right click and left click working (AND MIDDLE CLICK!), as well as two finger scrolling.

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#65 2011-01-14 02:21:42

mklebel
Member
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2009-08-27
Posts: 8

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

vostok4 wrote:

I use the synaptics aur package here: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=38120

It works great on my touchpad, I have the physical right click and left click working (AND MIDDLE CLICK!), as well as two finger scrolling.

Works like champ. Thanks vostok4!

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#66 2011-01-14 03:57:51

aqtrans
Member
Registered: 2008-07-25
Posts: 30

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

vostok4 wrote:

I use the synaptics aur package here: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=38120

It works great on my touchpad, I have the physical right click and left click working (AND MIDDLE CLICK!), as well as two finger scrolling.

Did you flash the BIOS, or are you using the original ChromeOS one? Just wondering because I cannot get that package working correctly using the rootfs method of running Arch.

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#67 2011-01-14 14:50:29

walmartshopper
Member
Registered: 2010-03-31
Posts: 37

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I've been happy so far with the stock synaptics driver configured with kcm_touchpad.   Clicking using the corners doesn't work, but I got used to clicking with taps, one finger for left and two for right.  The only annoyance is that for click-and-drag, I have to double tap and then I can only drag to the edge of the pad.  It would be nice if the corner clicks worked so I could click with my thumb and drag with index finger, which would allow multiple "strokes" in one drag.  I will go ahead and try the AUR package, it sounds like that might do the trick.

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#68 2011-01-14 19:29:06

vostok4
Member
Registered: 2010-12-16
Posts: 70

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

aqtrans wrote:
vostok4 wrote:

I use the synaptics aur package here: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=38120

It works great on my touchpad, I have the physical right click and left click working (AND MIDDLE CLICK!), as well as two finger scrolling.

Did you flash the BIOS, or are you using the original ChromeOS one? Just wondering because I cannot get that package working correctly using the rootfs method of running Arch.

I flashed the BIOS, I believe that is why.

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#69 2011-01-14 20:11:30

mklebel
Member
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2009-08-27
Posts: 8

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

click and drag with the AUR package, doesn't seem to be working for me.

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#70 2011-01-14 20:15:09

vostok4
Member
Registered: 2010-12-16
Posts: 70

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I found that with click and drag I have to do it like this: tap then tap and drag, you can't just tap and drag, it has to be "TAP, TAP+DRAG" and that works (I think this is a Clickpad thing).

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#71 2011-01-16 08:38:24

aqtrans
Member
Registered: 2008-07-25
Posts: 30

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I'm happy to say I got the SynTP driver working in Arch! big_smile I loosely followed the instructions here. If anyone wants, here are the packages I downgraded/installed to get everything working. I had to install the 'xorg' meta-package first, then reinstall just these packages.

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#72 2011-02-14 00:01:05

papabean
Member
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: 2008-12-18
Posts: 26
Website

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I've got a Cr-48, but lack a USB stick of sufficient size or a USB ethernet adapter. Has anyone made a recovery image? Or considered creating just a base rootfs and modifying Jay Lee's script to install Ubuntu to have it load an Arch rootfs instead?

Right now, I have Ubuntu on this and it runs a little better than ChromeOS, but based on my experience with Arch at home, I'd rather be running Arch.  Anyone have an alternative for installing Arch on the Cr-48?


The world is full of tough guys.  It does not need me to be one, too.

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#73 2011-02-15 03:09:16

aweb
Member
Registered: 2010-12-18
Posts: 24

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I've created a script to automate the process of installing arch on the CR-48.  It shrinks the state partition to 1GB, leaving a bit over 9GB for arch, but still allowing you to switch back to chrome.

The script also copies over the X server and drivers from chromeos (since some people have better luck with the touchpad that way).  Thus, if you want X, you only need to install the xorg group, not the xorg-input-drivers or xorg-video-drivers.

If you want to try the script, get a root shell on the CR-48 and run:

    curl -L tinyurl.com/cr48arch | bash

The first time you run it, it will shrink the state partition.  You need to reboot for this change to take effect.  After rebooting, run the same command again, and it will install arch.

Once you have logged into arch, you will find a script /root/restore_chromeos to boot chromeos again.

Needless to say, this script messes with partitions and could easily wipe your whole hard drive if there's a bug.  Use at your own risk, and have a USB memory stick handy in case the script messes up.  (In my limited tests, the script has not left the machine unbootable, but I've only tested it on one machine.)

Enjoy.

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#74 2011-02-17 23:18:44

bigjiffy
Member
Registered: 2011-02-17
Posts: 1

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I recently installed arch on my cr48 by installing the BIOS and then just installing Arch normally. I have gotten everything to work properly except the fan is constantly running. Ive tried installing pm-sensors and controlling the fans that way but it says there are no fans to control. I also tried cpufreq to make the cpu run on demand and powersave but the fans still won't shut off ever. Any ideas would be appreciated.

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#75 2011-02-23 23:29:09

ballPointPenguin
Member
From: Bend, OR
Registered: 2010-01-15
Posts: 4
Website

Re: HOWTO: Installing Arch Linux on Google Cr-48 netbook

I installed Arch per Vostok4 original instructions last December. I've been running it quite happily since then, maintaining dual-boot with Chrome. I have not flashed the BIOS.
AND THEN,
I lost power the other while using Arch (that's what I get for not including a battery indicator in my xmonad.hs). Arch won't boot. It will start to throw a screenful of text for a split-second, then immediately reboot. I set cgpt to give arch 3 tries before switching back to Chrome, and that's what happens.

I'm not sure where to begin. I kind of want to rescue my data and start over, maybe using the above script. Maybe I can re-flash just partition 6 (arch kernel) with dd from usb.

Any ideas???


"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila." ~Mitch Ratcliffe

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