Since Tom figured out how to fix the chromebooks by reflashing them, today we
focused on finding the BIOS chip pins on the accessible side of the board
(which we need to access to get to the Write Protect screw anyway)
turns out we can get to all the pins of the BIOS chip from the bottom of the
board and Paige is making a laser-cut pattern for a piece of acrylic that will
hold pogo pins, which will touch those contact points when aligned with the
board by two scews. Then we can hit "reflash" and when that's done, move
onto the next chromebook.
these are what pogo pins look like in use:
our model is "candy" something? I don't know maybe Tom knows, i'm
focusing on
the electrical connections described above.
-jake
On Fri, 19 May 2023, Peter Mui via sudo-discuss wrote:
Hi Tom and cc: Sudoers:
Thanks for for organizing this. I'm still hoping that FUSD will unlock the
Chromebooks so check occasionally as you process them to make sure they're
still locked.
Also see:
USPIRG’s petition to extend the life of Chromebooks:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-QGoW0UzE0t0oUsKzM6Xsxft1kHM-d6b…
For more background see “Chromebook Churn”:
https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/chromebook-churn-report-highlights-proble…
And Fixit Clinic's efforts to keep already AUEed Chrombooks in service as
general purpose computing devices:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JSbGXhJFJeABWVOn1wO4M6bPT-gPBLV4oQ85xMy…
Maybe we can launch a broader "Keep 'Dem Chromebooks" public good program
at
Sudoroom and get a bunch of Linux-enhanced Chromebooks in circulation in the
community to improve digital literacy, digital equity, and digital inclusion?
Cheers, -Peter
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Date: Fri, 19 May 2023 11:11:34 +0000
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* Pi.BerkeleyLUG: This Sunday Raspberry Pi meeting at SudoRoom
<#group_thread_0> - 1 Update
Pi.BerkeleyLUG: This Sunday Raspberry Pi meeting at SudoRoom
<http://groups.google.com/group/berkeleylug/t/f48694e818adf03f?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email>
tom r lopes <tomrlopes(a)gmail.com>om>: May 18 09:24PM -0700
This Sunday 21 May 2023 from 11am to about 2pm at SudoRoom in Oakland.
SudoRoom is on Shattuck Ave between 51st and Telegraph
4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland, CA 94609
The entrance is on the corner of Shattuck and 48th
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wtxH4mtxL2HUe3y5JXJlhe7iqSDnikT8/view?usp=…
The project this time is converting chromebooks to Linux. Peter Mui of
Fixit Clinic was given a stack of EOL chromebooks from the Fremont school
district. Unfortunately they neglected to unlock them first. But I have
found that the bios can be reflashed so you can boot a Linux installer
bypassing the Google check. I had a thought of using a Pi to do the flash
as PI gpio can do SPI. But most of the chromebooks have 1.8V bios chips
while the PI has 3.3V gpio. I probably have level shifters but I have
recently dumped stuff unorganized into storage. So I will likely not find
them in time. For now I am using a USB programmer with an 1.8V adapter.
Yes I will also try to be online at meet.jit.si/Pi.BerkeleyLUG This will be
a conference room mic and speaker in a shared space so maybe some background
noise.
Thomas
P.S. You may be interested: SudoRoom has a hardware hack night every
Tuesday from 7pm
Also It's a Fixit Clinic.
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