Have been trying to find the ‘Right‘ Linux OS to install onto ‘Sam‘ the $314.57 converted Samsung Chromebook’s 32GB eMMC storage…in a Dual Boot wid Porteus Linux which is installed on a 32GB microSD card in the card slot (could not get Porteus to installed on the eMMC drive).

  • NOTE: Lots of pics so am breaking it down into 3-parts.

The Search

Puppy Linux 9.5 installed easily ‘n worked great on that 32GB eMMC drive, but I use Puppy mainly for ‘Rescue‘ needs (when needed), and don’t care for the JWM window manager.

Fedora 36 Cinnamon SPIN installed also, but was slow booting up and would not shutdown fully whilst on that 32GB eMMC drive.

I tried 4 or 5 other Linux OSes that would not even recognize the 32GB eMMC drive. Have tried in the past to find a Linux OS for that eMMC spot, but always seemed to go back to putting CloudReady OS (free version of Google OS) on it.

I wanted a Linux OS that I liked ‘n could use in combination wid Porteus Linux on ‘Sam‘. Needed to be quick ‘n fast, offer Fulltime Linux Root User option, and choices of either a KDE Plasma or Cinnamon DE.

Sparky Stable MinimalGUI

SparkyLinux has been in Tier Three on Karmi’s Top 10 Linux Distros page for some time now, i.e. I never gave it much respect – sorta the Rodney Dangerfield ‘I get No Respect‘ of Linux OSes. 😉

Yesterday I ran a “SparkyLinux” search of my blog ‘n came up wid enough info that I decided to give SparkyLinux a try on that eMMC drive.

The ‘Test Run‘ worked, i.e. the ‘Live’ Sparky USB booted up ‘n recognized the eMMC drive.

Installing SparkyLinux 6.3 Cinnamon

Had downloaded the Sparky stable edition’s 1.18GB MinimalGUI: sparkylinux-6.3-x86_64-minimalgui.iso

Went wid stable after checking the SparkyLinux Cinnamon – with ‘Fulltime Linux Root User‘ option (*UPDATED* w/ Cinnamon Stable version) post’s “11/16/2021 UPDATE” at the bottom, which showed that the stable version offered the Sparky Advanced Installer in the apps section:

  • NOTE: That can also be found by clicking secondary mouse button.

Used balenaEtcher to create the ‘Live’ bootable Sparky USB.

From Porteus OS, I prepped the 32GB eMMC drive for installation…have found it is easier to prep wid GParted before starting the installation, but it can be done during the installation also.

That’s a pic of the prep work & the final installation. Sparky 6.3 Stable MinimalGUI edition is a little heavier than I wanted @ 1.18GBs, but ended up just using 6.48 GiB of space of 32GBs…that’s after adding apps like GParted & Gnome Disks utility & LibreOffice & etc. The converted Chromebook only has 4GBs of memory, so a Linux OS needs to be light quick ‘n fast. Sparky recommended the Swap partition.

It can be a tricky installing, so don’t worry if it takes you 2-3 attempts before getting it installed. The eMMC drive doesn’t show drive partitions as sda or sda1 or sdb ‘n so forth…it shows as mmcblk0p1 or mmcblk0p2 ‘n so forth. Just make sure you have the right partitions selected.

Sparky has all kinds of options, but if you want something besides their default DE’s, e.g. Cinnamon, then you need to go this route using their Sparky Advanced Installer option.

Next is Part 2…mainly just pics.

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