Breathe life back into your old Chromebook with GalliumOS
Enough Power
The Chromebook's performance feels the same under GalliumOS, even if the fans now sound a little louder, especially during videos. However, lm-sensors
quickly shows that there is no reason for concern. The (still first) battery lasts for around two hours, so not quite as long as with Chrome OS.
Touchpad, audio, webcam, WiFi, and Ethernet work without further intervention, as does my LG TV connected via HDMI with 720p resolution. The TV is about the same age as the Chromebook and a perfect match. YouTube, Amazon Prime, and Jitsi Meet work without any problems; only videoconferencing causes frequent lag. (The processor or I/O systems are probably struggling with the data demands of videoconferencing.)
It looks like these life-extending measures have paid off. A USB mouse and a USB keyboard complete the setup. The ensemble has been running smoothly for several weeks, delivering music, videos, TV, or movies to the office every day. Take that, Google!
Infos
- GalliumOS: https://galliumos.org/
- Hardware compatibility and firmware: https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility
- GalliumOS download: https://galliumos.org/download
- Rufus: https://rufus.ie
- Disabling Acer C710 Write Protect jumper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDCMjM2-oGo
- Recovery mode: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1080595
- Developer mode: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/developer_mode.md
- MrChromebox: https://mrchromebox.tech/#fwscript
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