Installing Crouton and R-Studio on a Chromebook for Beginners Pt.1: Decisions and Developer Mode

The Decision

I have a chromebook that I love. I knew that I wanted one, but didn't have the time/interest in figuring out which one was best for my uses, so my husband did the research and got it for me. At the time, I was working as a animal behavior consultant and really only needed access to the internet and a word processor, and I was tired of having to use my ancient laptop from undergrad or borrow my husband's laptop which is functional, but also kind of falling apart. I ended up with an ASUS C202S -- the rugged version since I was bringing it to clients' houses and you could never tell what might happen.

Fast forward to a month ago when I was struggling with my career and decided I wanted to go back to school and get my masters in business analytics. I'll be using R and Python for sure, neither of which can run directly on my chromebook. So we brainstormed and came up with a few options:

1. We can figure out how to run a remote desktop off of my husband's beastly video-editing computer

2. I can use the browser-based R and Python platforms available for now, and count on using university computers for school-related projects

3. I can hack into the Chrome OS to make a Linux partition and run the programs directly on my computer


The remote desktop option is great in theory, since I wouldn't be limited by the Chromebook's minimal processing power and storage. However, the Chrome remote desktop app that exists is really more of a screenshare than anything else, which wouldn't work for us since we would basically be sharing the computer a lot of the time. The other apps available weren't working easily (something about the way our network is set up which is above my current technical understanding), and really I liked the idea of being a little bit more independent than that anyway. If he needed to shut down his computer while I was working at school, for example, I would be stuck and might lose what I'd been working on. Also, this was his solution, and while it was a good one, this seemed like an opportunity for me to stretch my computer skills and take ownership of the problem/solution myself.

Option 2 is obviously not ideal. The browser-based platforms are probably fine in a crunch, but not being able to save my work and being limited to doing all of my classwork on campus is not really a realistic solution for the next two years.

So option 3 it was, even though it was the biggest and scariest option of them all. 

Developer Mode

The very first step for this is to switch your chromebook into developer mode, which the internet says is fine if you know what you're doing (I didn't) and understand the security risks (I definitely didn't). I hesitated at this step because it felt so permanent (it isn't). They tell you to do scary things like "powerwash" your computer and ignore flashy beepy warning signs, all of which I would normally avoid. Then I grew a pair and did it anyway, and it wasn't that bad.

To get into developer mode, you have to hold down Esc + refresh (where f3 usually lives) and then tap the power button. Simple enough, right? But the first 3 times I did it all I got was a forced restart. So apparently they mean that you have to keep holding down the Esc + refresh buttons even after you tap the power button. Who knew?

Then you're in recovery mode which brings up a screen that says "Chrome OS is missing or damaged." Which sounds scary, but is a lie. So you ignore that and hit Ctrl+D, which brings up a screen that says, "To turn OS Verification OFF, press ENTER." What they mean is, "To enter Developer Mode, press Enter". After you press Enter, you get another scary white screen that says "OS verification is OFF", which you should get used to, because it will show up every time that you reboot now and will apparently beep at you if you wait long enough (I have been able to avoid this so far). Every time that you see this screen from now on, just hit Ctrl + D to reassure your computer that you know what you're doing (because you do, don't you?) and everything will be OK.

Then your chromebook restarts and takes awhile to figure out developer mode (or whatever it's doing) and that's it! Developer Mode is UNLOCKED! WOOHOO! The internet may tell you to consider Enabling Debugging Features while you're setting up your new fancy super-technical-coder-hacker-genius OS, but DON'T LISTEN! IT'S A TRAP! Just ignore that little box that you can click that does some things that I don't really understand but that sound appealing--I had to re-powerwash my chromebook several times because of this mistake since it seems to disagree with the Crouton installation. There's probably a solution out there that will fix the problem, but I couldn't find one other than don't click the box. So just don't click it.

Now, pleasantly, you'll find that your chromebook looks just like it did when you first got it. You sign in with your google account like normal, and everything is shiny and clean and not at all scary. Congrats :-)

Now on to the Crouton installation in Pt. 2!