Linux for Chromebook

[D4v7d]

Hello.
I have an Acer Chromebook 15 CB3-532 and I'm looking for an ultra-lightweight Arch-based Linux distribution with a recent kernel (6.x or rolling release) that weighs around 2 GB installed or a little more, has good battery management, detects audio correctly (which many lightweight distros don't), and allows me to play games like Sober or some Valve games on Steam without any issues.

I have 15 GB of total disk space, so I need something really lightweight and efficient in terms of storage and RAM.

I've tried several, but I'm still not entirely convinced. I like Artix, but it takes up about 5 GB of installed space. Alpine has a very old kernel. Void also uses a somewhat old kernel. Manjaro takes up about 6 GB. I love Debian 13 testing, but it doesn't provide audio. And ArchBang or GreenBang, although lightweight at startup, become cumbersome after updating.

What I'm looking for is something with an LXDE or Openbox environment, that has a simple installation with a script or wizard without having to do it completely manually like pure Arch, that can be maintained on disk (not in live mode), and that offers a good balance between performance, lightness, and compatibility without losing a modern kernel.

Do you know of any Arch-based distros that meet these requirements or a recommended minimum installation with decent audio support on Chromebooks? I'm also interested in knowing if there's a minimalist Arch remix that works well with audio and allows for smooth gaming.

 

[APTI]

Unless you are really loving that chromebook or you just like to torture yourself.... I would not bother installing on a chromebook. They are garbage computers. If this is a challenge I wish you luck but to be blunt and honest I would give up on that one. You can get a refurb PC for low price and install linux on it. chromebooks are limited in what they can run.
I doubt this one will run games like you'd like. I checked it out and it is a better than average chromebook. However it is still a celeron dual core processor which is like putting a lawn mower engine into a car. It may move but not well nor fast.

It has 32GB EMMC which is embedded multimedia chip. That is an SD card soldered in. The computer is meant to be disposable. I doubt many games will run well on it at all. You will have problems with that the entire time you use the system. I hope others will hop in and back up the comment but you will not have a good experience with that equipment.

 

[Brickwizard]

Made in 2016 it was a fairly low end machine so don't expect much of it, to install any Linux to that machine, first Enable Developer Mode and Enable Read/Write and possibly Install a Modified BIOS as for OS [its not arch based] I would start with trying Gallium OS as it has a small footprint and is not too demanding and aimed at older low end machines

 

[theLegionWithin]

try liya --> https://liyalinux.gitlab.io/ & then strip out the parts you dont want.

 

[Smilax]

This may or may not be helpful, but someone got that machine running with Ubuntu three years ago.

Acer Chromebook 15 CB3-532 full BIOS flash with Ubuntu - No sound

Question relates to: Chromebook 15 Acer model CB3-532 Braswell With write protect screw removed I performed full BIOS flash. Replaced write protect screw. Installed Ubuntu 18.04 as the only operat...

askubuntu.com

 

[Smilax]

I was a Cr-48 beta tester. There was a problem with the first one they sent (which I was able to fix) so they sent two more. The hinges finally broke on two of them, and the third I managed to install Chromium on (whatever flavor it was at the time). I think they all went to the dump during our last move.

I currently have an HP Stream 14 (08/12/2016 BIOS) with soldered in 32GB EMMC and 8GB RAM (came with 4GB but was upgrade-able.) I installed Mint Xfce on it out of curiosity and it worked well enough after fully updating I proceeded to add my most used apps and I still have 30% space available with three (3) kernels installed. It has an SD slot that I keep loaded with a 64GB card and all downloads go to that. I've never tried gaming on it but it's great for audio and podcast streaming. Right now it's showing 10 hrs. battery remaining and while I've never let it run completely down, that's fairly accurate if I don't start watching a full screen movie. I can pick it up and carry it with one hand, opened.

Best of all it's purple, with white keys and black lettering. Just too cool looking to trash.

I'm not trying to sell anything here, and have no experience with any Chromebook that was actually called a Chomebook, but I'm inclined to agree that these things are intended to be disposable and your time is typically better served elsewhere. When the onboard "disk" on this thing wears out, it's done.

 

[HakikyTara]

Hello, Chromebook user here. So i'm using the ChromeOS and already have Debian, it was so cool, i like it. Also ChromeOS is Linux based from Gentoo.

 

[vynxGrid]

With only 15 GB of storage available, many Arch-based distributions might become quite large after updates. Would a minimal Arch install with Openbox or LXDE end up being smaller than most Arch remixes once unnecessary packages are removed? Has anyone run such a setup on a Chromebook with limited storage?

 

[deb_user]

I have a server running on an old Acer C720 chromebook, Debian Stable, using 2.7GB of storage for the root filesystem. Granted, it doesn't have a full desktop environment installed, and only minimal utilities, but it works well for a file server. I have run a full Debian Sid XFCE desktop on that machine in the past, however, using a USB drive for /home, because that's where most of the disk usage is. 16GB of storage is usable, provided one uses judgement about saving files, mostly using external drives for that. I've never run Arch, but Debian runs fine on a smallish drive.