Yes good meeting but for the little network glitch.
This day I installed Ubuntu 20.04 on an Asus chromebox CN60. It is a little box
kinda like a NUC. This one is the "Chromebox for Meetings" so better specs
(I7 cpu 4GB ram) than the normal model.
Background: ChromeOs devices use the Coreboot firmware. But it has the OS
locked down in the firmware. I think some newer devices have the capability in
Coreboot to dual boot another OS in Legacy mode. But the firmware loads
ChromeOs directly without BIOS or UEFI. Google has the firmware files free
for download and so people have them modified to install other OS.
mrchrombox.tech
So to install an OS you need a Coreboot image with an interface for the OS.
For UEFI there is an open source implementation called "tianocore" and for
Legacy BIOS there is "seabios"
Steps:
Enable "developer" mode. This allows root access (but enabling this mode
wipes all data) Here it is pressing the little reset button near SD card slot
while powering on.
Disable firmware write protect. Here you remove a screw on the motherboard.
Then you can flash the new firmware.
Boot into Developer mode and connect to the netowrk (WIFI) Then open a
virtual terminal like you would in Ubuntu. Ctrl+Alt+F2. Login as the system
user (user: chronos with blank password) I did a "sudo su" to become root.
I don't know if you can flash firmware from chronos user.
Download setup-kodi.sh from mrchromebox.tech and run it. Can do a bunch
of stuff (like install Kodi) but has an option to install firmware. Let it do it's
stuff and reboot.
At Coreboot logo press any key and get the boot option screen. Now you can
select your USB with OS and install.
So now I have a nice little machine running Ubuntu 20.04!
Maybe next time I'll do my chromebook.
Note: this only works for x86 hardware. Arm devices not supported, sorry.
Thomas