Easy parallel installation on Chromebook (Acer C720)?

Tom Oldman · **Joined:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:52 pm **Posts:** 2

A big thank you to anyone who can help me out with this. I'm very new to the Linux world so am just learning much of this!

I'm considering getting an Acer C720 Chromebook (found one at an amazing price), then upgrading its 16gb SSD to 128gb. I was then planning to use chroot to install Ubuntu with xfce4 to run alongside chromeOS (I like the toggling option between the two OSs, at least until I'm fully at home in Linux, which is where I'd like to get to). But then, I discovered UberStudent!

The only reason I considered a dual boot at all was so that I could get zotero and libreoffice working effectively on the one machine rather than getting a more expensive laptop. Now that I see UberStudent has this already plumbed in, it looks perfect. The other features seem ideally suited to academic uses, which is precisely what I need.

Given that I was going to install Ubuntu in a very easy way with chroot, are there any really easy options for installing UberStudent alongside chromeOS? Or even just how to install it in any way on the chromebook? As I say, I'm new to all this and definitely not a tech person (the academic research I'm planning is in theology!) so my appreciation for all the details of command lines is elementary.

Any straightforward idiot's guide for this situation would be very much appreciated.

(I know its rude to dual post, but does anyone know whether the 1.4ghz processor and 2gb RAM in the C720 is enough for UberStudent to thrive? Does running it in parallel with chromeOS slow it down? REALLY appreciate anybody's help - I'll definitely donate once I'm up and running!)

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:24 am

I would need to make a special build of UberStudent to get it to work completely with that Chromebook, or spend weeks hacking Crouton. To do that, I'd need to have a model of that Chromebook, which I don't have. Simple as that.

Me personally, I would never buy a used laptop or netbook. You just don't know how it was treated. "Only used occasionally" may actually mean "Only used occasionally [while the machine was on a pillow, thus covering up both the air intake and fan]." I'd recommend this machine.

Tom Oldman · **Joined:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:52 pm **Posts:** 2

Stephen,

Thanks so much for such a prompt reply. I appreciate what you say about the difficulties of working with what I've outlined. If I have a good Linux experience I'm keen to progress to a dedicated new laptop to continue to run it, but like the idea of dipping my toe in to sample the Linux world.

Notwithstanding your reservation, is there a non-crouton method I could use to get UberStudent up and running on a Chromebook? Is my only other 'sampling' method to get it running on a Windows machine?

Really appreciate the time you invest into this project, thanks.

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 6:01 am

If you wish to sample UberStudent, I'd encourage you to simply download the ISO file and run it in VirtualBox on whichever host system you desire. It will run full screen right away, since guest additions is installed out of the box.

For longer-term use, a dual boot system is the way to go. There are many hundreds of laptops known to work flawlessly in Linux and most of them will come with Windows pre-installed. You simply install Uberstudent alongside Windows and then at boot up make the choice of which system to boot in to.

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Easy parallel installation on Chromebook (Acer C720)?

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