DIY – robtomroe

June 8, 2015

Gaming on a Chromebook – Just Add Steam

A few years ago I picked up an Acer C710 Chromebook for barely $200. It was great for taking to a cafe and checking email, or going on youtube, without lugging around a 15 inch laptop. But I quickly found out there wasn’t much else to do with it but that.

No one buys a chromebook to game on it, and naturally there are definitely more suited chromebooks then the 1.1Ghz, 2 Gb of Ram C710, but I like a challenge.

First off Disclaimer: This worked for me, but this is using electronic equipment for uses other than it was intended. By following this you agree that if this causes any issues, I can’t be held responsible, go forward at your own risk.

Installing Linux – Let’s Get Happy Feet Dancing

The first step was to get Linux running on it. You need to have your Chromebook in developer mode as well as it’s not a bad idea to backup Chrome OS in case you run into a problem. You’ll need to search online for the instructions for your specific chromebook model.

Once you have that you are ready to install Ubuntu! There are a few ways to do this, through either installing Chrubuntu or downloading and running the Crouton install script. I had gotten Chrubuntu running before, but Crouton is more versatile as it lets you switch between ChromeOS and Linux, and I found you didn’t sacrifice much performance either.

June 6, 2015

DIY

Enabling Linux Transparency in XFCE

I run XFCE 14.04 through Crouton on Linux. The first thing I install after a fresh Linux install is Guake Terminal. Pressing F12 brings down an overly terminal that is really handy to use.