[SOLVED] Install Kubuntu 64Bit Onto Samsung ChromeBox 300M

[JeZ-l-Lee]

Hi,

I picked up a used circa 2012 Samsung ChromeBox 300M thin client.
How can I install Kubuntu 18.04 LTS 64Bit onto the above device?
I found the developer mode switch, so need instructions after developer mode is activated.
Device specs: Intel Core i5 2.5GHz 2-core CPU, 4GB RAM, 16GB SSD HDD

Thanks!

Jesse

[GreyGeek]

https://www.extremetech.com/computin...rome-os-device

Of course, instead of dual boot you can always give Kubuntu 18.04 the entire drive during the disk setup phase of the install

[JeZ-l-Lee]

Hi

I will give Kubuntu the entire 16GB SSD.
ChromeOS does not interest me.
Going to plug this box into my TV.
Thanks!

Jesse

[claydoh]

Chomebooks are a little different, hardware-wise. Mainly drivers and keyboard support are often lacking in normal distros. They also have different boot loaders and bios firmware that make for some extra steps.

Current distros may have good support for your hardware, especially as it s a Chromebox, which makes the keyboard support issue moot But sound and other things may not work out of the box.
There is a distro that specializes in Chrome OS hardware called Gallium OS, currently based on Ubuntu 16.04 for the moment. It has the hardware support baked in for these SoC hardware, especially the tricky sound bits. They also have good instructions on how to flash a modified boot loader to allow dual booting or replacing Chrome OS, as well as a good hardware database.

It looks like yours is supported, with a custom firmware, but possibly no dual booting (which I will guess is not an issue, as this device does not get ChromeOS updates anymore, i believe) ** Yes, ChromeOS updates stopped in March 2018.**
You use mrchromebox's firmware script as mentioned in the pre-install prep instructions. It looks like your box's hardware ID is STUMPY, so it seems to have a full uefi firmware or a full legacy firmware - I believe it the full uefi is the better choice, but I really am not sure.

I am not sure you even have to remove the write protect screw.

Now, once you have done the prep stages, and upgraded the firmware, you can install an OS, you can try a live 18.04 and see if sound etc are working. If it is all working well, I suggest installing Kubuntu as a minimal install, to keep the extras like Akonadi/Kontact off, as in my experience this slows the hard drive far more than the baloo indexer, if the 16gb is a non-removable.upgradeable emmc drive. If it is a normal sdd, it is not an issue. The mini install also takes up less space. If there are hardware support problems, I suggest trying a live Gallium session, which has Xfce, to make sure all the hardware works there. If that works, you can install Gallium, it is done like all Ubuntu based distros, and then you can add the kubuntu-desktop for a full Kubuntu setup, or (i think) the package plasma-desktop for a minimal barebones desktop.

OR....
As Gallium is 16.04 based, I heartily recommend simply adding Neon repos to Gallium, which gives you a much more up to date Plasma, and is much better in ram usage - only very slightly more than Xfce, if you do not have Akonadi/Kontact.

I have instructions how to do it over on Gallium's Reddit

If Kubuntu 18.04 is working well, then stick with that, as Plasma there is like Neon in the ram usage, in a minimal install.

The none thing you may need to do is search for how to set your chromebox into developer mode, to allow the flashing etc. It may just be the standard method as described in the prep instructions, but it may have a screw inside, similar to the write protect screw.


I have a fair bit of experience installing linux on three chromebooks. It is pretty straightforward process and seems to be trouble free. A chromebox is slightly different, but perhaps for you a simpler process.

[JeZ-l-Lee]

Hi,

Yes, I do have to disable the "write-protect" on the motherboard.

I tore down the ChromeBox, but I need a micro jumper which I ordered on eBay.
Everything else is understood and should work after disabling the "write-protect"

Thanks for everyone's help!
I bought the ChromeBox for $30 at a church sale, it's just a toy which will be used on with my TV...

Jesse

[claydoh]

Hi,

Yes, I do have to disable the "write-protect" on the motherboard.

I tore down the ChromeBox, but I need a micro jumper which I ordered on eBay.
Everything else is understood and should work after disabling the "write-protect"

Thanks for everyone's help!
I bought the ChromeBox for $30 at a church sale, it's just a toy which will be used on with my TV...

Jesse

Nice toy, really. a mini i5 computer, and you might be able to upgrade the ssd if you wish. Plasma will run just fine on that combo of cpu and ram, video should be fine too.

[oshunluvr]

I have an Asus Chromebox i3 that is now a stellar little Kubuntu 18.04 PC for the spare room. I bought a new ssd for it to increase the size and so I have the original OS still backed-up in case Kubuntu stops working on it.

[JeZ-l-Lee]

I have an Asus Chromebox i3 that is now a stellar little Kubuntu 18.04 PC for the spare room. I bought a new ssd for it to increase the size and so I have the original OS still backed-up in case Kubuntu stops working on it.

Hi,

Will everything work "out-of-the-box" with Kubuntu 18.04 LTS 64Bit and a Samsung ChromeBox 3?
It's got Core i5, 4GB, 16GB SSD - not sure about network, audio, & wifi.

Thanks!

Jesse

[oshunluvr]

Hi,

Will everything work "out-of-the-box" with Kubuntu 18.04 LTS 64Bit and a Samsung ChromeBox 3?
It's got Core i5, 4GB, 16GB SSD - not sure about network, audio, & wifi.

Thanks!

Jesse

Not sure what you mean exactly by out-of-the-box. I had to hack the BIOS (via a download, so not as hard as it sounds). I also upgraded the SSD and RAM. Once all that was done and I installed Kubuntu, there are no known hardware issues. I have not tested sound as there are no speakers installed, but it doesn't show any errors in the sound system.

[JeZ-l-Lee]

Not sure what you mean exactly by out-of-the-box. I had to hack the BIOS (via a download, so not as hard as it sounds). I also upgraded the SSD and RAM. Once all that was done and I installed Kubuntu, there are no known hardware issues. I have not tested sound as there are no speakers installed, but it doesn't show any errors in the sound system.

Hi,

I have to solder a connection on the ChromeBox motherboard to defeat the write protection.
(ordered solder kit on eBay)
I also have full instructions to load a new BIOS onto the device as well.
(ordered a new 64GB SSD for Kubuntu install when the above is accomplished)

This ChromeBox will be hooked up to my TV so hopefully the audio will be working...

Jesse

[oshunluvr]

With mine, I just had to remove a certain screw to enable "developer" mode, but once I replaced the bios that whole issue didn't matter since it was a bios thing. The replacement bios is very limited in what it does, but it does all I need.

I did just realize I haven't checked the sdcard reader either so I will check them both and report back.

At boot:

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#000000][Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:03.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_[/COLOR][COLOR=#FF5454][B]audio[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]_component_bind_ops [i915])[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] snd_hda_codec_realtek hd[COLOR=#FF5454][B]audio[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]C1D0: autoconfig for ALC283: line_outs=1 (0x21/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:hp[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] snd_hda_codec_realtek hd[COLOR=#FF5454][B]audio[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]C1D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] snd_hda_codec_realtek hd[COLOR=#FF5454][B]audio[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]C1D0:    hp_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] snd_hda_codec_realtek hd[COLOR=#FF5454][B]audio[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]C1D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] snd_hda_codec_realtek hd[COLOR=#FF5454][B]audio[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]C1D0:    inputs:[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] snd_hda_codec_realtek hd[COLOR=#FF5454][B]audio[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]C1D0:      Mic=0x19[/COLOR]

[/FONT][FONT=monospace][COLOR=#000000][Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] input: HDA Intel HDMI HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/sound/[/COLOR][COLOR=#FF5454][B]card[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]0/input6[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] input: HDA Intel HDMI HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/sound/[COLOR=#FF5454][B]card[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]0/input7[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] input: HDA Intel HDMI HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/sound/[COLOR=#FF5454][B]card[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]0/input8[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] input: HDA Intel HDMI HDMI/DP,pcm=9 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/sound/[COLOR=#FF5454][B]card[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]0/input9[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] input: HDA Intel HDMI HDMI/DP,pcm=10 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/sound/[COLOR=#FF5454][B]card[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]0/input10[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] input: HDA Intel PCH Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/[COLOR=#FF5454][B]card[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]1/input11[/COLOR]
[Tue Jul 24 18:22:49 2018] input: HDA Intel PCH Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/[COLOR=#FF5454][B]card[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]1/input12
[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=monospace][COLOR=#000000]
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller (rev 09)[/COLOR]
[/FONT][FONT=monospace][COLOR=#000000]00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller (rev 04)[/COLOR]

[/FONT]

so I'm betting the sound will work, both HDMI and line out.

[JeZ-l-Lee]

Took a few tried of soldering, but got everything working now!
(including Wifi and audio)

http://fallenangelsoftware.com/stuff...p/IMG_0113.JPG

Thanks!

Jesse