raydeleu / chromeos-flex

Installation of Chrome OS Flex on older hardware

Installing Chrome-OS Flex on Macbook Air 2010

Table of Contents

• 1. Purpose
• 2. Installation procedure
• 3. Specification of the MacBook
• 4. Graphics issues
• 5. Positive remarks
• 6. Negative remarks
• 7. Install macOS again

1. Purpose

This document contains a report of experiences gathered after installing Chrome OS Flex on a MacBook Air 11 inch, model of late 2010. There are several reports available on the internet but most are related to newer hardware and hardware with better specifications. The installation of Chrome OS on this laptop resulted only in a part success. At first everything seemed to work fine and the performance was extraordinary. But what started with small glitches on the display sometimes resulted in long periods during which the screen was frozen and sometimes even a complete crash. The glitches in the display looked very similar to the glitches experienced earlier with an installation of Linux on the same laptop. This is a known issue reported earlier (see https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11541806#zippy=%2Cnvidia-graphics-are-generally-unstable).

2. Installation procedure

https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11552529?hl=en

What you need Device to create the USB installer—The device that you use to create your USB installer can be different to the device you plan to install ChromeOS Flex on. I’m using Chromebook Recovery Utility—ChromeOS, Windows, or Mac device with the current version of Chrome browser. I’m not using Chromebook Recovery Utility—ChromeOS, Windows, Mac, or Linux device. Chrome browser not needed. USB drive 8 GB or more. From time to time, Sandisk or other USB drives might not work as installers. Find out more in Known issues. All contents on the USB drive will be erased.

Windows, Mac, or Linux device to install ChromeOS Flex on—your target device Google only guarantees ChromeOS Flex functionality on certified models. Variants of certified models might have unexpected issues. ChromeOS Flex might work on non-certified devices but performance, functionality, and stability are not guaranteed.

Minimum device requirements: Architecture: Intel or AMD x86-64-bit compatible device RAM: 4 GB Internal storage: 16 GB Bootable from USB drive BIOS: Full administrator access. You’ll need to boot from the ChromeOS Flex USB installer and make some adjustments in the BIOS if you run into issues. Processor and graphics: Components made before 2010 might result in a poor experience. Note: Intel GMA 500, 600, 3600, and 3650 graphics hardware do not meet ChromeOS Flex performance standards.

Step 1: Install Chromebook Recovery Utility On your ChromeOS, Windows, or Mac device, open Chrome browser "". Go to the Chrome web store. At the top right, click Add to Chrome. When prompted, click Add extension. The Chromebook Recovery Utility is now an extension in your Chrome browser.

Step 2: Make sure Chrome Recovery Utility extension is turned on At the top right of your Chrome browser window, click Extensions and thenManage extensions. Next to Chromebook Recovery Utility, toggle the switch to the right. Optional: You can also click Details and toggle the switch to the right. After you turn on the Chromebook Recovery Extension, in the extension panel in your browser, click on the extension to open the pop-up.

Step 3: Build the USB installer In Chrome browser, launch the Chrome Recovery Utility extension. Click Get started. Click Select a model from a list. For Select a manufacturer, find and click Google ChromeOS Flex. For Select a product, find and click ChromeOS Flex. Chromebook Recovery Utility Click Continue. When prompted, insert your USB drive. From the dropdown menu, select the USB drive. Click Continue. Click Create now. Note: During the process, it is normal for Chrome Recovery Utility to show unusual percentages. When you get a message that your recovery media is ready, remove your USB drive from the device.

For admins who are comfortable with creating bootable USB drives using dd command-line utility or other third-party utilities (such as Etcher, see https://etcher.balena.io/#download-etcher).

On your device, download the latest ChromeOS Flex installer image. Use your preferred decompression tool to unzip the file. Insert your USB drive. Be sure to remove all other removable media. Create the installer. If you’re using a third-party utility, refer to product documentation. If you’re using dd command-line utility on a Linux device: Open a terminal or command line. Use the command to write the image to USB: sudo dd if=image_name.bin of=/dev/sdN bs=4M status=progress image_name.bin—The name of the downloaded installer file /dev/sdN—The USB drive

via MacOS terminal

diskutil list sudo umount /dev/disk2 dd if=/path/to/image.iso of=/dev/disk2

3. Specification of the MacBook

The late 2010 model of MacBook used for this experiment had the following specifications:

Processor and memory

• 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache;

• 800MHz frontside bus

• 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM onboard (4GB maximum)

Storage

• Flash Storage 64GB, upgraded later to 256 Gbyte

Graphics

• NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3

4. Graphics issues

NVIDIA graphics are generally unstable

Known issue

Devices using Nvidia GPUs are likely to be unstable and exhibit display flickering when under heavy GPU load.

Devices using the Quadro NVS 4200M are not recommended for use. Multiple generations of Intel GPUs are unsupported on ChromeOS Flex and will not boot it.

Intel Generation 3 and older, including GMA 900, 950, 3100, 3150 Intel PowerVR graphics, including GMA 500, 600, 3600, 3650

https://blog.virtualwolf.org/installing-linux-mint-19-1-on-a-late-2010-macbook-air/ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/MacBookPro7,1#Nvidia%5B/url%5D https://askubuntu.com/questions/264247/proprietary-nvidia-drivers-with-efi-on-mac-to-prevent-overheating/613573#613573

5. Positive remarks

• install is straighforward without any hick-ups

• system works, wifi has reasonable speed

• startup time 26 seconds to login, without time to type password 59 seconds to desktop

• quick startup of Chrome browser

• download and upload speed were 98 Mbps and 93 Mbps respectively

• watching youtube videos is possible, but only after a full install. When trying YouTube running from USB the system crashed.

• the glitches in the display are not clear when running from USB, possibly because the video card is no longer the limiting factor or because the system does not operate very stable anyhow

• apps work

6. Negative remarks

• system sometimes is unresponsive for longer time (10-20 seconds). After showing a black or completely distorted screen for roughly 1-3 seconds, the display is refreshed and the system is responsive again. There seems to be a relation with loading new web pages in Chrome.

• sometimes the system completely crashes or hangs completely

• Loading a sharepoint page seems to completely drown the device, bringing it to 100% CPU load and creating a relatively loud fan noise. Just scrolling a complex sharepoint page (for example the home page of my work account) brings the CPU load to 100% directly.

• when system runs out of power, the behaviour is unpredictable. At first the system does not seem to react to inputs. After some attempts the system will start, but the system will also report that the shutdown was unexpected.

7. Install macOS again

Option + Shift + Command + R: Start via het internet op vanaf macOS-herstel. Met deze toetscombinatie kun je de macOS-versie die bij je Mac is geleverd, of de versie het dichtst daarbij die nog beschikbaar is, opnieuw installeren.