Acer Chromebook C740

User Support HCL Reports
#1

Remarks

Works: Wifi, Webcam, Microphone, ext. Monitor, Suspend. Debian as TemplateVM for sys-net, install firmware-iwlwifi.

Attachments

Qubes-HCL-GOOGLE-Auron_Paine-20210407-194210.yml (905 Bytes)

#2

Hi @dispuser5132 ,
so Qubes-OS works on a Celeron 3205U @1.5GHz, wow :clap:.
What are the RAM size and the storage size?
I’m just curious, is it really usable ? What’s your usage with this laptop?

#3

Hi @ludovic

yes i was surprised too. And it works quite well for the low specs. To mention a few things.

  1. It has 4GB ram thats kind of ok
  2. You could upgrade the m2 sata ssd 2242 to 120GB (i guess it could use up to 1TB)
  3. It works fine with Coreboot (since its a chromebook no surprise)
  4. Intel Management Engine can be cleaned since google disables them on all chromebooks.

Due to the low hardware it has an awesome battery life even with qubes. Use it only for surfing, crypto wallets, keepass backup thing. But you can also use it with disposable sys-net and sys-usb.

I dont understand why chrome devices didn’t get more attention. For example, you can buy a LG Chromebase 22" All-In-One. It takes up to 8GB ram (replacable) and a normal Sata SSD 2.5. paired with coreboot i guess for most people its a good secure option. Or those chromeboxes for example Chromebox CN60 from Asus. You can replace the wificard with atheros one, coreboot, up to 16GB ram and m2 SSDs. And they are pretty cheap on ebay.

I have found some really nice modern Chromebooks with 16GB ram , i7 and up to 512GB ssds, ready to use coreboot. :wink:

3 Likes
#4

Thank you @dispuser5132 for this fascinating HCL report!

It is now part of this pull request:

… and will be visible on the website soon!

1 Like
#5

13 posts were split to a new topic: Installing Qubes in a Chromebook?

#7

Ah ok now i get it. hm… the " google disabling me" was part of a chromium developer talk if i remember correctly. Google wants to control their servers and devices completely. I will search for the youtube video and post it here.

I will corret that point so thats more clear. shrink/wipe the me region after flashing coreboot works fine.

#8

It is not clear if Google disables the ME but since we want to use coreboot it should not be a problem. Applying the me_cleaner script works without any problem.

1 Like
#9

Having issues booting the Qubes 4.0.4 installer on Acer Chromebook C740 with Coreboot MrChromeBox-4.13 (HCL was 4.12 and Qubes 4.0, probably Qubes 4.0.4 based on dates?), receiving:
“Xen must be loaded below 4Gb”

Updated under this likely similar issue here with the same error: Qubes boot issues when "Above 4G MMIO" is enabled · Issue #6704 · QubesOS/qubes-issues · GitHub

#10

*Apologies reviving months later. Qubes is running, works after some updates in MrChromebox 4.14 now, great tip on the chromebooks @disupser5132! Agree that chromebooks and chromebases could use some further attention. While limited, it is able to stream youtube without stutter.