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Linux is Amazing

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So, what do you do with an old, underpowered Dell Chromebook? You reflash 
the BIOS and install Linux on it. Even something as anemic as a Dell 
Chromebook 3180 (made in 2017), running a dual core Celeron N3550 (includes 
an Intel 500 GPU), with 4 GBs of RAM and 16 GBs of eMMC storage will work.

Really.

I had one of these "school" Chromebooks. Built like a tank with rubber 
bumpers so kids don't destroy it -- and decided, what the heck, I'll try 
turning it into Linux machine. 

It just requires going into Development Mode (which clears everything you 
had on your Chromebook), removing the write protect screw, and then you run a 
script from mrchromebox.tech. Now you have an open BIOS waiting for you to 
install Linux.

At first I attempted to install Linux Mint. But Linux Mint requires a 
minimum of 16.1 GBs of storage and the Dell Chromebook only had 15.9 GBs. Oh 
well, it would probably be better to run a lighter Linux anyhow. So I went 
with BunsenLabs Linux (Carbon, based on Debian 13, using OpenBox with some 
Xfce thrown in). Works well, audio, WiFi and Bluetooth all came up without a 
major issue.

There is some lag when first going into YouTube, but you can stream videos 
at 720p. Also streams TubiTV and I would imagine other streaming movies 
sites (like Fawesome.tv for one). The lag is expected, but the little laptop 
makes up for it with low power consumption. On a battery (at about 88% 
health) it can run for 10 hours on one charge. That includes streaming for a 
big part of the run. There's no fan and, so far, it has never run over 50 
degrees Centigrade. As a bonus, I can use my Mini Blackberry BlueTooth 
speakers for good, clear sound.

But I mostly wanted to see if it would work well for writing, and it does. 
I've been testing new screenplay writing software, FountTUI, for the creator 
and it runs it well. I haven't yet tested the GUI version, ActOne 
Screenplay, but I see no reason why that wouldn't work either. I personally 
like the terminal (or console) version better. (For FountTUI or ActOne 
Screenplay information, go to iyal.ink.)

So is it perfect? Not quite. The speaker clicks when starting audio. It's a 
known issue with Intel sound cards. I tried a fix that worked on my regular 
computer -- it removed the click, but also messed up the sound. So, for now 
at least, I can live with the click. Also, unlike Linux Mint, when closing 
the lid into suspend mode I haven't been able to recover once the lid is 
opened. So I've set it to just turning off the screen -- not sure if that 
works right or not, but it allows me to close the lid without any issues.

At any rate, I'm happy with the results. Another low powered computer 
running Linux -- and doing it pretty well, at least for someone like me, who 
doesn't play video games on their computers and mostly streams and writes. 

-- 
Not all Jews are Zionists. Not all Zionists are Jews. Zionism ≠ Judaism.

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Linux is Amazing RonB <ronb02NOSPAM@gmail.com> - 2026-09-27 17:13 +0000
  Re: Linux is Amazing rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-27 19:52 +0000
    Re: Linux is Amazing RonB <ronb02NOSPAM@gmail.com> - 2026-09-28 08:39 +0000
      Re: Linux is Amazing rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-28 17:52 +0000

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