Installing Gentoo/Sabayon on Acer C720 Chromebook

[redwood]

I recently bought an Acer C720 Chromebook
and swapped out the 16G M.2 NGFF SSD for a 128G mSSD
in order to dual boot with linux.

The C720 Chromebook has an Intel Haswell processor unlike the C710
which had an ARM processor.

Google apparently has packaged ChromeOS using Gentoo's package manager
and I would like to install Gentoo/Sabayon if possible.

One can alternatively install a Ubuntu rootfs in a chroot linux container
using the Crouton script:
[url]
http://www.webupd8.org/2013/12/install-ubuntu-on-your-chromebook-using.html
[/url]
and then swap back and forth from ChromeOS and Ubuntu using hotkeys.
But I would like to dual boot instead since I have the disk space.


One can put the Chromebook into developer mode,
login as the root user "chronos" and install a second OS
into a chrome-flavored GPT.
(Ubuntu has packaged the GPT partition table tool "cgpt" for repartioning.)
[url]
https://sites.google.com/site/chromeoswikisite/home/what-s-new-in-dev-and-beta/developer-mode
[/url]
There's no need to boot from a pendrive, cdrom, dvd, etc,
in order to repartition and install a second OS.

The specs for the C720 are here:
[url]
http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices/acer-c720-chromebook
[/url]


The chromeos-cr48 blogspot has several guides to installing
Ubuntu on both the ARM and Haswell Chromebooks and
Ubuntu, CrunchBang and ArchLinux have all been installed using
these guides. There is also a Gentoo image for an ARM Chromebook
from 2011 along with a modifidied chromeos-cr48 installation script:
[url]
http://intelminer.com/blog/?p=56#comment-4
[/url]

Since Ubuntu was reported to work on the C720 using the latest
installation script from
[url]
http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.com/2013/10/chrubuntu-for-new-chromebooks-now-with.html
[/url]

I decided to give the "9sgchs" script a try:
[url]
http://goo.gl/9sgchs
[/url]

The 9sgchs installation script is run from chronos in developer mode.
It shrinks Chromeos and repartitions the cGPT partitions, then reboots
and installs a Ubuntu rootfs "urfs" onto /dev/sda7 and also installs
a linux payload into /dev/sda6.

The repartitioning worked fine and the system rebooted fine.
The next step of the script is to chroot into the /dev/sda7
and build a kernel. This part failed for me. I think the patches
listed in the script were outdated for the current Ubuntu version.


In any event, after rebooting, SEABios lists the new bootable partition
but has an error. I can press Ctrl-F1 and get a Ubuntu cmdline login though.
But no networking or services seem to be running.



So since I already have repartitioned my SSD and made a linux bootable
/dev/sda7 I would like to repair or replace Ubuntu with Gentoo/Sabayon
if possible.


If I logout and then login to ChromeOS
and get a Chrome shell "crosh" using Ctrl-T,
then type "shell" followed by "sudo su -" I
am then logged in as "chronos" and can run shell commands.

So I've mounted /dev/sda7 to /tmp/urfs and bind'ed /proc, /dev, /sys, ...
and been able to chroot into my "urfs" using ChromeOS kernel-3.8.11
and try to fix my Ubuntu's kernel-3.20-58 to no avail
using the kernel compilation/patching script "kz917j":
[url]
http://goo.gl/kz917j
[/url]
referenced in the installation script "9sgchs"
The urls for downloading the patches seem to be broken.

Have any Gentoo users installed Gentoo on Acer's C720 Chromebook?
Anybody thinking about doing it?

ArchLinux follows the chromeos-cr48 script
up until the script reboots into the new Ubuntu.
Then it overwrites the Ubuntu installation with Arch.
[url]
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_C7_Chromebook#Enabling_Dev_Mode
[/url]

So I was hoping I could cob together some ideas from
the ArchLinux installation method to shoe horn
Gentoo/Sabayon on to this Chromebook.
Also, if I can get Gentoo installed, could I treat the cGPT
partition like I would in any normal Gentoo installation and
perhaps run LVM on top and encrypt my home folder or the rootfs?

But first I need to compile a kernel with all the hardware working OK.

Thanks for any ideas.

[redwood]

Sabayon has a guide for installing from an existing Linux system using the traditional chroot method:
https://wiki.sabayon.org/index.php?title=HOWTO:_Install_from_an_existing_Linux_system
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-quickinstall.xml

So maybe I'll give that a try and use the Arch kernel module patches to get trackpad etc working.

ChromeOS model and architecture:

[redwood]

Found another Ubuntu install script at
[url]
http://billalex.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/linux-on-chromebook/
[/url]

which just copies over the x86_64 kernel and modules to the Ubuntu root fs:

[redwood]

In case anyone is interested, I managed to install Sabayon 14.0 KDE by making
a liveusb pendrive with unetbootlin.

I downloaded Jay Lee's Chrubuntu partitioning/installation script from
http://goo.gl/9sgchs

and followed his guide at
http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.com/2013/10/chrubuntu-for-new-chromebooks-now-with.html

up until Step #7 where the script finished growing /dev/sda7 and shrinking ROOT-A.

then instead of rebooting and running the script to now install Ubuntu packages,
I instead pressed CTRL-L to get SeaBIOS menu to boot from my liveusb pendrive.

At the grub menu I selected "Boot KDE" and pressed the "TAB" key to edit the kernel
command line and added "mem=1536mem"
and then booted to KDE.

I ran the Anaconda installer and chose "Custom" installation then selected
"/dev/sda7" and ediited to select format "ext4" and mount point of "/"
then let Anaconda finish installing to /dev/sda7 and installing grub to /dev/sda

Then rebooted, pressed "CTRL-L" to get SeaBIOS menu in developer mode
and selected my SSD then got grub2 menu and booted into Sabayon.
Everything works OK except for the trackpad for which I'll have to patch the synaptic kernell
drivers.

[i2wgentoo]

Hello Everybody,

We have come up with an easy to follow guide to install Gentoo on Acer C720 Chromebook. Below is the step-to-step process:

1. Enabling Developer Mode:

To enter developer mode: Press and hold the Esc+F3 (Refresh) keys, then press the Power button simultaneously. This enters recovery mode. Now, press Ctrl+D (no prompt). It will ask you to confirm, then the system will revert its state and enable developer mode. Press Ctrl+D (or wait 30 seconds for the beep and boot) at the white boot splash screen to enter Chrome OS.

2. Enabling SeaBIOS:

After changing to developer mode, configure Chrome OS so that you can log in.

For further steps, Please visit the below link:
http://www.ideatoworking.com/Blogs/ID/21/How-To-Easily-Install-Gentoo-On-Acer-C720-Chromebook

[redwood]

Nice writeup. I see you went the traditional route and decided to wipe ChromeOS off the disk and just do a traditional stage3 Gentoo install with grub2.

I see you're running a 3.10.25 kernel.
Have you applied patches to get the trackpad working and configured?
What about power management? sleep? suspend?



After installing Sabayon dual booting with ChromeOS, I tried to reboot into ChromeOS <CTRL-D> and the firmware said my disk was corrupted and to "insert rescue disk" to re-install ChromeOS. I'm not sure what Anaconda or grub2 did that broke ChromeOS partition table expectations.

So, I decided to give Chrubuntu another go and this time round selected kde using "-m kubuntu-desktop" with the script defaults and no other install options. This time round, the 9sgchs partitioning/installation script installed the default kubuntu desktop successfully.



I now have a working dual boot ChromeOS/kubuntu C720.
The trackpad works but is too twitchy.
Makes typing really difficult with the cursor jumping all over the place in a text block.

Also, the "sleep" power state is broken. If I walk away from the chromebook and the screen shuts off, the screen will come back on if I touch the trackpad or keys, but nothing then works.
So have to do a hard reboot <REFRESH-POWER>
But otherwise kubuntu seems to work fine. It might be my imagination, but kubuntu may run hotter than ChromeOS, at least the laptop seems warmer running kuntuntu than when I'm running ChromeOS, but I haven't investigated this thoroughly yet.

Am not able to play some videos in ChromeOS but maybe I'm lacking "right" app?
Kubuntu's dragonplayer plays same videos just fine.
Also, Google's nameservers and options in "/etc/resolv.conf" made updating Sabayon from a chroot impossible because of timeout issues. So I had to replace the chroot's resolv.conf

Google's resolv.conf:

[pallagun]

Has anyone done a recent install on a c720? I've heard the >3.17 kernel supports the Cypress APA touchpad (and there is even a CONFIG_MOUSE_CYAPA). However, I can't seem to get the touchpad working.

I've followed a bunch of on line guides at this point but I've not had any success. Should I be seeing the touchpad in my lsusb or i2cdetect -l once it's installed correctly?

[redwood]

I've now installed Sabayon on two Acer C720 chromebooks. The current Sabayon includes the 3.17.0 kernel with the chromebook drivers. Everything works.

Before the latest Sabayon release, I had to compile my own 3.17.0 kernel. Just enable the kernel option for chromebook and everything should work.


Here's my post to the Sabayon forums about compiling/installing a 3.17.0 kernel:
https://forum.sabayon.org/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=32078

[pallagun]

Ah, "chromebook drivers" is what I was missing. There is a kernel config for chromeos platforms (CONFIG_CHROME_PLATFORMS) that I was missing. I had all the i2c stuff and cyapa mouse stuff but without the chromebook specific config it didn't work. Can't believe I missed that. Thanks!

[John R. Graham]

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Unsupported Software. Not about Gentoo (Sabayon being a derivative distribution) so it fits better here.

- John
_________________
I can confirm that I have received between 0 and 499 National Security Letters.

[redwood]

FWIW, I recently replaced Kubuntu with Sabayon on a friend's Acer C720. Their impression matches mine that Sabayon is just faster and doesn't crash or hang. I'm not sure what's the matter with Kubuntu freezing -- I think it maybe has something to do with java as both openoffice and firefox seem to slow to a crawl the longer the apps are running. Eventually the computer just freezes and has to be hard booted. Replacing with Sabayon completely fixed the issue for me and my friend.

I was worried about installing regular Gentoo on an SSD. I only got 9 months out of my 128G MyDigitalSSD M.2 SSD running Kubuntu. I replaced the failed SSD with a 256G Transcend card. Hopefully this one will last longer. It has a 1-year warranty vs the other's 30-day warranty. Nevertheless, I worried about compiling on the SSD and wearing the drive out. Hence I decided to give Sabayon a try. I can still use portage to install any packages not provided by Sabayon's repositories.

I also opted for full disc encryption with btrfs root. So far no issues.

[dalu]

redwood,

I'm interested so see how long the Transcend one lasts.
Posted to subscribe to updates, if any.

[rtk]