Acer Chromebook 315 2H - linux?

fargodwe

I was just gifted a Chromebook 315 2H by my brother inlaw as a Christmas gift.  He asked to be sure I could put Linux on it since that is the OS I prefer.  The salesperson said yes.

I tried activating the Linux VM included with the system but since it runs in a VM all of the restrictions that apply to Chrome OS in turn apply to the VM.

I have a USB SSD that has a full installation of Linux Mint on it - basically Ubuntu.

I have looked on the internet to try to find out if I can just boot from that USB SSD.  The articles all say I have to go into developer mode and somehow boot from USB.  These are not working as I get a bunch of loud beeps and a small black window with white text in the upper left saying something about legacy boot not supported.

All I want to do is run the system off the USB SSD.  I am quite experience with Linux so I know not to touch the interal emmc so nothing would change there except having the ability to boot from USB.

Is there a way to do this or am I stuck with a very restricted system of Chrome OS?

thanks in advance.

David Eaton
Fargo, ND, USA

fargodwe

I have USB boot and legacy boot enabled.  The external disk I have (msdos partition table) boots on my other laptop fine.  It doesn't show in the boot menu only 2 options that I have no idea what they are.  I would have assumed it would show my Linux Mint installation.  If it makes any difference, and I'll be the first to say I don't know how to do it any other way, the disk uses grub to show a menu of boot options for the installation.

I don't know if this is a restricted topic on these forums - if so please just delete the thread.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated!