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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Is there anything i can do with this laptop? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Someone gave me a Hisense C11 Chromebook and I'm wondering if there's absolutely anything I can do with it. It seems like a piece of junk and the Linux stuff I've seen for Chromebooks specify that they don't work with the ARM processor. Is there any distro that would work on it? Any other ideas about how to repurpose it?

Note: I don't have direct access to an Ethernet cable/router for setup. Also don't have the most technical knowhow.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Does chromebook hardware need special distros? Debian has an armv7 port, there's Arch Linux ARM, Gentoo packages build for arm (though I feel like you'll have a horrible time building anything on that piece of junk), etc.

Though ARM is notoriously horribly inconsistent when it comes to bootup so I don't know if any of these will work on this specific device.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

ARM is shit at hardware discovery in general. So no, chromebooks don't need a special distro. They however need a kernel adapted to the specific hardware, often down to the model (that's also the reason Android updates take so long on phones and there is very time limited support... there's always someone needed to adapt new updates to the specific hardware for each device, so they don't bother for anything but their latest products).