Acer Chromebook C720

Article description::A short guide containing relevant instructions to get Gentoo running on an Acer C720 chromebook.

Firmware wipe
If the user would like to completely remove Chrome OS from their computer, they can choose to run the Chrome OS Firmware Utility Script written by Mr. Chromebox. However, this script is entirely optional.


 * After successfully running this script the remaining Preinstallation sections can be skipped. Additionally, the computer is effectively a "regular" computer and the AMD64 Handbook guide can be followed.

Developer mode
In order get lower-level access to the hardware to install Gentoo, it is necessary to put the system into developer mode.

Follow these steps to gain access to developer mode:


 * 1) Reboot the system to the login screen, then do not login.
 * 2) At the login screen hold + (the  key) then press the Power button (top right).
 * 3) The machine should boot to a special recovery screen, when it gets there press +. The system will reboot.

Enable the legacy bootloader

 * 1) Presuming the system in a a powered down state, power up the unit.
 * 2) When the login screen appears, hold + and press. This should enter the developer console.
 * 3) Login by entering   at the prompt, and pressing the  key.
 * 4)  to gain a  shell.
 * 5) Type  and then press.
 * 6) The system will reboot again.
 * 1) The system will reboot again.

Loading bootable media
After downloading a 64-bit minimal installation CD, proceed to make it USB drive bootable with. Copy the image to a USB drive with :




 * 1) Once the dd process is complete, insert the USB to a USB port on the Chromebook.
 * 2) If the Chromebook was powered down or waiting at the legacy bootload screen, restart the Chromebook by pressing the power button.
 * 3) At the recovery screen, press + to load legacy boot options.
 * 4) The SeaBIOS bootloader should appear prompting a press of the  key. Press.
 * 5) Select the appropriate bootable device by pressing the associated integer number on the keyboard.
 * 6) The Gentoo ISO Linux prompt should appear. Press  to boot the minimal CD.
 * If the init process gets stuck, try adding  to the kernel command-line parameters.

Once the init process completes the system is ready to receive a Gentoo install!

Create a backup of the current OS
It may be a good idea to create a backup of the Chromebook's installation on embedded flash disk (typically ) before proceeding. If the Chromebook may be transferred to a new owner one day, the backup of the original OS could be restored. After configuring networking and enabling the SSH daemon, something like the following command should suffice:

This will send the entire contents of over the network to the current running directory. Be sure there's enough free space in the current partition to receive the file!

To restore the backup, boot the Gentoo minimal install CD again (or alternative live media) and issue:

Installation

 * Continue following the MBR disk partitioning path if the firmware is stock.
 * Continue following either the MBR or GPT disk partitioning paths if the firmware was flashed using MrChromebox's firmware utility.

For installation instructions on either MBR or GPT disk partitioning, follow the AMD64 Handbook.

Kernel
Atheros ath9k wireless card

Cypress APA I2C touchpad support

Wireless networking
The setup of wireless networking is detailed in the wpa supplicant and Wifi articles.

Trackpad support

 * Run the script originally written by github user Craig Errington, edited by user sedwardsmarsh, to create the required Xorg configuration files for the trackpad.

Additional information

 * Since the stock SSD provided in the Acer C720 chromebook is only 16GB, free space is valuable. Space can be saved when creating disk partitions: instead of creating a separate partition for swap space create a swap file instead. This way, the amount required for swap space can be resized when needed.


 * 1) To create a swap file, run the following command, Since count=1M equals 512MB, count=8M equals 4,096MB or 4GB.
 * 2) Use mkswap to get your file ready for swaping:
 * 3) Make an fstab entry:
 * 4) Run as root to activate your file swap space:

External resources

 * https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices/acer-c720-chromebook - A very informative chromium projects page contains information about the Acer C720, C720P, and C740 chromebook models.


 * https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_C720_Chromebook - The Acer C720 archlinux wiki page.


 * https://www.linux.com/learn/how-install-linux-acer-c720-chromebook - A Linux.com article on installing Ubuntu/Bodhi Linux.