[ I thought there was a Chromebook area, but I didn't see it. I'll certainly understand if this gets moved ... ]
Maybe someone else will appreciate these notes. Just finished working out how to get a dual-boot ChromeOS + Core on an Acer c720.
Kudos to the Archlinux wiki + ChrUbuntu install script. By examining those, I was able to figure out how to do this.
START HERE
* Make a recovery USB stick. You'll use it, and it's painless. 4GB stick
recommended (2GB reported as possible). Log into ChromeOS, browse to
chrome://imageburner. Yes, this will wipe your stick - COS repartitions
your stick and does some other stuff because it's GPT.
* ChromeOS really doesn't like parted editing the partition table. Use
cgpt instead (built into ChromeOS). By "doesn't like", I mean "ChromeOS
won't boot if you edit the partition table using parted." You'll have to use
the recovery stick if you try it.
* You can reset the Chromebook by pressing Refresh + Power (F3 + Power).
* If you use a GUI in TC, the mouse/trackpad won't work. Plug in a wired one
or use the keyboard to navigate. For a trackpad module, see google -
you'll have to rebuild the module. I'll post that once I have it myself.
* Get to the developer terminal by pressing CTRL+ALT+F2 at the ChromeOS
login window.
TO BOOT FROM USB, DATA ON SSD
* get into developer mode. Google or see the Arch Linux wiki on how to do this.
* To boot USB, use the 'legacy BIOS': on boot, press Ctrl-L. As
of 20140622 I haven't tried disabling the write protect screw for a permanent fix.
See google regarding that screw.
* On another computer, make a bootable USB stick with Tiny Core.
I made/used a stick that had grub, Xorg, FLWM, and gparted. 1GB stick
was plenty for all this.
BOOT FROM SDCARD (not the same as booting from SSD)
* This isn't really possible, as SeaBIOS doesn't recognize the SDCARD
as a boot device. You can probably chainload, but I'm not interested
in this myself. The SDCard reader leaves half of the card sticking out
of the laptop. It's not convenient to leave a card in all the time, so
you might as well use USB boot anyway.
SETTING UP DUAL BOOT FROM SSD
* Start up ChromeOS as normal.
* Before google log in, call up the developer terminal (CTRL + ALT + F2)
* use cgpt to repartition
1) shrink STATE (sda1), but start it where it currently starts.
STATEstart=$(sudo cgpt show -i1 -n -b -q /dev/sda)
STATEsize=$(sudo cgpt show -i1 -n -s -q /dev/sda)
let STATEnewsize=$STATEsize-32768-2048
cgpt add -i1 -s$STATEnewsize /dev/sda
2) expand/move KERN-C. 16MB, start at STATE end.
KERNC=$(cgpt find -n -l KERN-C /dev/sda)
let STATEend=$STATEnewsize+$STATEstart
cgpt add -i6KERNC -b$STATEend -s 32768 /dev/sda
3) expand/move ROOT-C. 16MB, start at KERNEL-C end.
ROOTC=$(cgpt find -n -l ROOT-C /dev/sda)
let STATEend=$STATEnewsize+$STATEstart
cgpt add -i$ROOTC -b$STATEend -s 32768 /dev/sda
for instructions on using cgpt, consult cgpt [command] -h, or just
run cgpt without any arguments. ChromeOS sector size is 512b.
* now boot your TC USB stick. Mount ROOT-C, install grub to /dev/sda with:
mount /dev/sda$ROOTX
grub-install --force /dev/sda --root-directory=/mnt/sda$ROOTC
* place your corepure64.gz and vmlinuz64 files on sda7.
* create your grub.cfg at /mnt/sda$ROOTC/boot/grub/grub.cfg. Use
something like:
> menuentry "TC 5.x" {
> set root=(hd0,gpt$ROOTC)
> linux /boot/vmlinuz64 base norestore
> initrd /boot/corepure64.gz
> }
* If you're lucky ... you're golden. Boot ChromeOS with CTRL+D, or
TC with CTRL+L.
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