On 2022-09-01 21:00, Michael Galea via talk wrote:
On 2022-08-26 18:40, Michael Galea via talk wrote:
I am hoping to tap the wisdom of the list. I'm going traveling and I
don't want to lug around my 5.2 pound T420. Not on this trip.
If I buy a cheap refurb Chromebook from Best Buy or Canada Computers:
- Will I have luck wiping ChromeOS and installing Debian? Can I still
encrypt the disk?
- If instead I just run Linux on Chromebook, can I run a wireguard VPN?
- Can anyone recommend a minimum spec level for the machine?
Thanks to Colin, Hugh and others for their advice.
I went with the Lenovo Ideapad 3 11", mainly because of the weight.
Setup was straightforward, and performance was surprisingly good.
I installed the latest Debian on it but found that ChromeOS would not
use Debian's kernel. This breaks wireguard VPN as debian builds a
kernel module that matches the resident kernel.
There is a voodoo approach to flashing the chromebook with debian
directly but this version is new enough to not be supported by the tool
chains that are out there, and I am cowardly.
So for now I'll use Linux to ssh and mutt while away. In retrospect, I
should have taken Colin's advice and blown away the Windows laptop with
debian.
The final point I have arrived at with running Linux on Chromebook is:
1) I'm running Debian Bullseye in the Linux container on the chromebook.
2) I can ssh home through a hole in the firewall opened by knockd.
3) I can vnc home through a hole opened by knockd.
4) I can raise a VPN home using the StrongVPN wireguard android app.
5) I have ran gimp, calibre and thunderbird on chromebook from the Linux
container.
Its #4 that is giving me pause. I have to have real trust in the
StrongVPN app which I can't audit. The company, which offers commercial
access for their own VPN, seems to get rave reviews. Does anyone on the
list have any experience with strongVPN?
--
Michael Galea
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