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this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Chromebooks are unfortunately meant to be disposable like phones. Nobody should buy one, but unfortunately schools get them because they're cheap.
On an individual basis you can install Linux, but for millions of devices thrown out by schools around the world, there's no solution because the residual value is so tiny, you'd have to pay the techs minimum wage and hold a gun to their heads to get enough devices per hour to justify it.
I used to work at a refurb place and when we saw a chromebook that wasn't immediately OK (it could've had a bad display or keyboard, or locked to an account), we just removed the eMMC, smashed the chip and threw the device on our scrap pallet.
Give them to the kids with a QR code guide sticker about installing Linux on them? I'm not a kid, but I would love if someone "threw" a couple of these in my general direction.
Almost certainly not allowed, schools are responsible for privacy and security on these devices.
Any standard desktop linux is more private and secure than google spyware
And as soon as the IT guy at school installs Linux on these machines, he's responsible for said privacy and security. And he's a lot easier to sue than Google if something goes wrong.
This is exactly why right here, cost aside.
I would not hand out hundreds of Chromebooks to kids running some Linux distro I installed even if I could. It's critical to have full manufacturer support in these types of environments.
Yes but there might already be personal data on them from the child, so they cannot give the chromebooks out before wiping them, which seems hard to do so they just bin em.