I was gifted a Lenovo IP (ideapad) Slim 3 CHROME 14M868 (SN: YX0789H8) which I love for its light weigh and simplicity and hate because it fully depends on Mr Google.

It seems that "chromebooks" do not have BIOS/UEFI.

My attempts at installing linux on it did not work following the howtos available on the internet, may be it's because its date of manufacture is July 2023 using the most modern chips and the best Google control.

So far, I made it try to read the USB stick but it gets stuck there saying that what is on the stick is invalid format (or similar words) - insert proper media and try again.
Info I found tells it's then expecting to find Mr Google's autograph on the stick.

Is there a way I can make it boot from USB stick on which I have a bootable ARM linux iso and install it?

It would be perfect if I have first to remove its Google OS.

Thank you for your help.

I don't know of any replacement BIOS/UEFI for ARM processors - most I know of are for Intel/AMD, which I'll post here in case others are looking to install 'standard' Linux distro.

https://wiki.galliumos.org/Firmware

https://wiki.mrchromebox.tech/Supported_Devices

#1 that platform was not designed to run anything other than chrome.
#2 The processor is the ARM A76, an image for any non-arm processor will not work. Some came with the Mediatek Kompanio, which is even more problematic.

These are nice little chromebooks, if you want a cheap platform with significant bang for the buck. It is NOT a powerhouse or or easy to adapt to any other use. It is underpowered for anything except Chrome and using web resources. For what it is intended, it is great at the price and even better if you get it free!

I would expect that if you could get Linux onto it that would not make you happy. You would be better served in looking for a cheap refurb business Dell or HP designed to run Windows 10/11 with an X86-64 style Intel or AMD processor: EVERYTHING will run on that.

1 members found this post helpful.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/faqs/op...nux-chromebook might be of help.

In my case wpeckam answer is 100% suitable since the machine has the Kompanio chip.

Although I initially had little use for such a machine, I have one usage for which it would be perfect, provided it is possible since I have never used a Chromebook before.
This usage does not require Internet at all and only requires that I store on the machine a few hundreds PDF files to be discussed in physical meetings with people who have access to the original database providing the same files.
The machine would not be used for months except for the occasional loading of a number of files and its purpose would be to simply remind me of the details of each file.

I found transferring these files from a USB stick onto the Chromebook challenging but if I can find how to do it then I can use the machine. Perhaps I would have to leave it permanently in "developer" mode and perhaps keep the files on the USB stick. If the download is a simple and only procedure, I can also have those files transferred to a private website first.

Of course, I can use the machine as it is designed but everything I do on the net is done restricting access to my details as much as possible and using the chromebook - as designed - is simply giving full access.

Perhaps if you put something like "how to copy files from usb to chromebook" into a search-engine, you'd find lots of answers with detailed non-challenging instructions. Like:
https://support.google.com/chromeboo...n-memory?hl=en
...which seems pretty non-challenging.

To do this you'll need to boot it from a USB stick with a bootable ARM Linux ISO. Since Chromebooks don't have BIOS/UEFI, you might face some challenges, especially with newer models like yours. First, ensure your USB stick is properly formatted and contains the Linux ISO. Then, try accessing the boot menu by pressing the appropriate key during startup (usually Esc, F2, or Del). If it doesn't work, you may need to enable Developer Mode or disable Secure Boot in Chrome OS settings. Once you've successfully booted from the USB stick, follow the installation instructions for your chosen Linux distribution. You may have to wipe Chrome OS during the installation process. Good luck!