Transform a Chromebook into a Neovim development platform running in a text TTY console. Minimal Linux installation using Debian 11 netinst non-free firmware version on an Acer Chromebook 14 (Model CB3-431-12K1, Hardware ID: EDGAR) based on the Intel Braswell architecture. It has a full aluminum alloy housing, 14-inch HD screen (1366x768), an Intel Atom x5-E8000 (Quad-Core 1.04GHz, Turbo 2.0GHz, 2MB Cache), 4GB DDR3 RAM, and 32GB eMMC storage.

• Full stereo sound support
• Uses 8x12 Terminus font with Powerline symbols
• A TTY console with 227x64 of text real-estate
• TUI network-manager for wireless connections
• SEARCH key working as CAPSLOCK

Open the backside of the Chromebook (10 screws) and remove the Write-Protect screw as shown below:

Now we enable Developer Mode in order to flash a new boot UEFI firmware:

• Turn on your device with Esc + Refresh + Power
• Press Ctrl + D and press Enter to enable developer mode
• Press Ctrl + D to boot Chrome OS
• Open a browser tab and press Ctrl + Alt + T
• Type in "shell" and press Enter

Paste the following into the shell and press enter:

cd; curl -LO https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh

• Select "Install/Update Full ROM Firmware" from the options.

Go grab a cup of coffee and wait for your Chromebook's emancipation from Chrome OS.

On another computer, download 64-bit Debian 11 "netinst" ISO with non-free firmware

• Create a USB installer with Etcher
• Plug the USB Drive into the Chromebook
• Turn on the Chromebook, and boot from the USB drive

During the installation package selection, de-select everything and just keep the "Standard System Utilities" and/or "SSH Server" if you want to remotely log in to this machine. This will keep things nice and light. After installation, your disk usage will be a lean 1.1GB used and 25GB available.

As root user, use the commands below to find the name of your wireless device and ethernet device, in my case it was wlp2s0 (normally wlan0):

ip addr show

Bring your wireless device up with:

ip link set wlp2s0 up

Find your wireless router SSID with:

iwlist wlp2s0 scan | grep ESSID

Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file with nano and add the section below:

allow-hotplug wlp2s0
iface wlp2s0 inet dhcp
     wpa-ssid "your_ssid"
     wpa-psk "your_password"

Now you can activate your wireless device with ifup and ifdown.

ifup wlp2s0

Now test your setup with:

ping 8.8.8.8

Once Internet connection is working, now is a good time to make sure the system is updated to the latest packages:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Now we are ready to install all of our desired packages in a fully automated manner.