Crouton Cookbook

A select set of simple recipes for crouton.

Mapping Chroot to SD Card

  1. format the SD card in ext2 and name it ‘chrome-32’ in our example.
  2. insert the SD card in the chromebook
  3. open a terminal
  4. enter “cd /usr/local”
  5. enter “sudo mkdir /media/removable/chrome-32/chroots”
  6. enter “sudo ln -s /media/removable/chrome-32/chroots/ chroots”

Run the normal crouton install process and the chroot installs will happen on the SD card and the defaults will function without tweaking.

Ubuntu Versions Fully Supported [sudo sh -e crouton -r list]

  • precise – 12.04 LTS
  • quantal – 12.10
  • raring – 13.04
  • saucy – 13.10

Targets Supported [sudo sh -e crouton -t list]

  • audio : Support audio playback via Chromium OS’s audio system. Requires: core
  • chrome : Google Chrome browser, stable channel. Requires: x11
  • chrome-beta : Google Chrome browser, beta channel. Requires: x11
  • chrome-dev : Google Chrome browser, dev channel. Requires: x11
  • chromium : Chromium browser. Uses the distro’s version, which may be old. Requires: x11
  • cinnamon : Installs the Cinnamon desktop environment. (Approx. 300MB) Requires: gtk-extra
  • cli-extra : Basic CLI tools such as wget and ssh. Requires: core
  • core : Performs core system configuration. Most users would want this.
  • e17 : Installs the enlightenment desktop environment. (Approx. 50MB) Requires: gtk-extra
  • gnome : Installs the GNOME desktop environment. (Approx. 400MB) Requires: gtk-extra
  • gtk-extra : GTK-based tools including gdebi, gksu, and a simple browser.Requires: x11
  • kde : Installs the KDE desktop environment. (Approx. 800MB) Requires: x11
  • keyboard : Adds support for Chromebook keyboard special keys. Requires: x11
  • lxde : Installs the LXDE desktop environment. (Approx. 200MB) Requires: gtk-extra
  • touch : Touchscreen and limited generic gesture support. Requires: x11
  • unity : Installs the Unity desktop environment. (Approx. 700MB) Requires: gtk-extra
  • x11 : Basic X11 install. Does not install any desktop environment. Requires: core audio
  • xbmc : Installs the XBMC media player. (Approx. 140MB) Requires: x11
  • xephyr : Nested X11 install. Replaces X11 if specified first. Requires: core audio
  • xfce : Installs the Xfce desktop environment. (Approx. 250MB) Requires: gtk-extra

Installing Chroot Ubuntu [13.04 (raring) Unity desktop]

  1. Download crouton to Downloads
  2. Open a chrosh terminal via “ctl-alt-t”
  3. Enter ‘shell’.
    1. Target OS List: ‘sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r list’
    2. Window Mgr List:  ‘sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t list’
  4. (optional) Map the chroot location to the SDCard (directions above)
  5. Create / Install : ‘ sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r raring -t unity’ / with Raring release and Unity window manager – pick your favorites
  6. To Run Chroot: ‘sudo startunity’
  7. To Switch Screens: use “ctl-alt-shift->” and ctl-alt-shift-<” to switch between Chrome desktop and Ubuntu Unity Desktop. Note: <ctl-alt->> and <ctl-alt-<> switches between Chrome desktop and VT2 (Chrome terminal 2)
  8. Ubuntu Package Load: Open a terminal from inside the chroot and enter:
    1. ‘sudo apt-get install ubuntu-standard’
    2. ‘sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop’
    3. ‘sudo apt-get install synaptic’

Installing Chroot Ubuntu [12.04 (precise) CLI]

Follow steps 1-4 from above, and then follow these steps:

  1. Create / Install : ‘ sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r precise -t cli-extra’ / with Precise LTS release and no window manager – pick your favorites
  2. To Run Chroot: ‘sudo startcli’
  3. To Switch Screens: From the main screen, jump to VT2 with “ctl-alt->” and then jump to VT3 with <ctl-alt-refresh>” . VT1 (the main screen) is accessed with “ctl-alt-<“, VT2 is accessed with “ctl-alt->” from VT2 or Vt3.
  4. Ubuntu Package Load: Open a terminal from inside the chroot and enter:
    1. ‘sudo apt-get install ubuntu-standard’

Chroot Backup / Recovery / Delete

  • Chroot Backup: ‘sudu edit-chroot -b <chrootname>’ / the image is stored in Downloads and is date stamped.
  • Chroot Restore: ‘sudo edit-chroot -r <chrootname>’ / recovers the most recent backup in Downloads with that name.
  • System Restore: ‘sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -f <chrootbackup.tar.gz> / extracts scripts and rebuilds chroot from a named backup.
  • Chroot Delete: ‘sudo edit-chroot -d <chrootname>’ / deletes the chroot of that name
  • Chroot Rename: ‘sudo edit-chroot -m <new chrootname> <chrootname>

Other Scripts [/usr/local/bin]

  • delete-chroot <chrootname> : a wrapper around ‘edit-chroot -d <chrootname>’
  • edit-chroot : a multi-function administration script that includes backup, recovery and deletion of chroots.
  • enter-chroot : a chroot launching script
    • Starting by Name: ‘sudo enter-chroot -n precise-unity startunity’
  • mount-chroot : mounting chroot directories
  • unmount-chroot : unmounting chroot directories

Chroot Internal Scripts

  • brightness :
  • croutonpowerd :
  • croutoncycle :
  • croutonversion :
  • croutonwheel :
  • croutonwm :

Reference

12 thoughts on “Crouton Cookbook”

  1. Thanks! This is a lifesaver for my HP 14 Chromebook! I’m very glad you have the mapping to the SD card instructions available. Thanks again!

    Reply

    1. @diranda: Thanks for leaving a comment, it helped me find Tom’s HowTo.
      @tom: Thank you for the instructions. I too have Falco (HP Chromebook 14) and your steps work great with Trusty Unity 14.04. One thing you might want to add at the top is, make a restore USB before doing anything else; It can be a lifesaver for noobs.

      I am adding Crouton in an attempt to replace my old desktop tower along with all of my developer applications (CS4, LTSpice, Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc.). Thus I ventured to add some steps to yours. The result was; Don’t just add repositories and application packages you think will work…remember KISS (keep it simple st.p.d). The more you add the slower things will run, especially if you use a SD card chroot to run Crouton. Which I installed Crouton on a 32GB USB…and with everything I installed beyond your steps, I experience delays in the initial session loading of Ubuntu to include a 10 second dark screen while the SD card is accessed.

      Cheers, and thanks again for the compendium!
      Stephen

      Reply

  3. @diranda: Thanks for leaving a comment, it helped me find Tom’s HowTo.
    @tom: Thank you for the instructions. I too have Falco (HP Chromebook 14) and your steps work great with Trusty Unity 14.04. One thing you might want to add at the top is, make a restore USB before doing anything else; It can be a lifesaver for noobs.

    I am adding Crouton in an attempt to replace my old desktop tower along with all of my developer applications (CS4, LTSpice, Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc.). Thus I ventured to add some steps to yours. The result was; Don’t just add repositories and application packages you think will work…remember KISS (keep it simple st.p.d). The more you add the slower things will run, especially if you use a SD card chroot to run Crouton. Which I installed Crouton on a 32GB USB…and with everything I installed beyond your steps, I experience delays in the initial session loading of Ubuntu to include a 10 second dark screen while the SD card is accessed.

    Cheers, and thanks again for the compendium!
    Stephen

    Reply

  4. Tom,

    I have an Intel “Haswell” based Chromebook (Dell Chromebook 11), and I’d like to try to get WebEX up and running on it.

    I have the following questions for you (assuming that you’ve tried, at some point, to use WebEX from a Chromebook):

    What linux version / desktop target would you recommend when running the crouton script?

    What version of Java (i.e. Oracle or OpenJDK, 6 or 7, 32 or 64 bit) do I need to install?? I have no plans to be a Java developer. . .I’m looking for the minimum install of Java that will allow me to use WebEX. . .i.e. will the runtime environment provide all that I need for WebEX?

    Do I need to install 32-bit libraries?

    What web-browser plugin?? IcedTea, other??

    What browser works best for getting WebEX to run – FireFox, Chromium or Chrome?

    Please provide specific instructions for installing Java, getting the symbolic links in place for the browser-plugin to work, installing any missing libraries, etc. . .

    I’m hoping that someone who’s actually gotten WebEX to work on an Intel-based Chromebook can respond with detailed instructions. . .I’ve reviewed many “tutorials” on the web thus far on this topic, and they all leave out some elements. . .I’ve not had any success in getting WebEX to work by following them. . .

    Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide. . .

    Reply

  5. Miraculous, thank you. I’ve had Precise Unity installed on my Dell Chromebook’s SDD for a few months, and it’s been great, but for the lack of storage and inability to fall back to ChromeOS stable.
    Following this link (https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton/issues/8), I added the prefix /media/removable/[card name] to the crouton installation command, which let me skip step 4 of the “Mapping chroot to SD option” and install Debian LXDE on a high-speed SD card without losing my local Ubuntu install. A pleasure to have the space to learn a new distro. I can’t speak to the speed yet, but with a quality microSD and lightweight environment, I’m looking forward to it.

    Reply

    1. Have you had any joy getting the special keys on the keyboard working in KDE for brightness/volume adjustment etc? Really struggling to get them working on my Dell chromebook 11!

      Reply
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  7. In the past I have successfully installed precise with the xiwi,xfce extensions.

    I want to run xbmc but other versions such as trusty and saucy do not seem to work well, so I am stuck with precise.

    Although I can successfully install precise, recently I cannot install the xiwi extension which is necessary for crouton integration.

    sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -t xiwi -u

    I receive the following message after an install, but only with a precise install

    The following packages have unmet dependencies:
    xserver-xorg-video-dummy : Depends: xorg-video-abi-11
    Depends: xserver-xorg-core (>= 2:1.10.99.901)
    E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

    Any assistance would be appreciated.

    Reply
  8. Pingback: Quia de como instalar linux en un chromebook español | Mi blog

  9. Thanks, Tom. I was wondering if there is any way I can use the crouton integration extension now that I’ve set up crouton in the way outlined above.

    -h.

    Reply

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