Maybe there is some background that you are not mentioning about the
machine(s) in question, but ...
My understanding is that
* Chrome OS is the OS on all Chromebooks,
* Chrome OS is Google's platform for their attempt at "world
domination" 🙂,
* Chrome OS development is alive and well,
* Chrome OS *ONLY* runs on /certified-compatible/ hardware,
* Updating an *existing* Chromebook should be /relatively/
straightforward, (if that hardware model of Chromebook is
"supported" by a given version of Chrome OS) but you may be forced
to adopting *ChromeOS Flex*, which is intended to deploy Chrome OS
features on /non-certified/ hardware, essentially as Google's
designated path for migration from MS Windows or Apple Mac OS into
the more robust, flexible and extensible Linux-based environments.
Given the nature of ChromeOS Flex, it may be the choice offering the
widest range of choice for older hardware drivers.
*PROVISO*: I don't know anything about what they do for that, but
it /may be/ a different set of people maintaining the
device/hardware database for Flex, having their database content
being a superset of the recently "distilled" database used by the
remainder of the Linux community. I could be wrong on that, but I
don't think so.
https://www.androidpolice.com/google-chromeos-flex-install-guide/
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/chrome-enterprise/chromeos-flex-ready-to-scale-to-pcs-and-macs
The simplest possible explanation is that some of the hardware component
manufacturers *have stopped development of the firmware drivers* for
their particular hardware components (i.e. USB interface, RJ45
interface, disk drives, etc). If, however, you can find a supported
version of firmware (any source) for that hardware, you might be able to
re-qualify your configuration as an acceptable configuration for
Google-originating updates.
If not, you will need to pursue other environments in order to find one
that will provide you with the security coverage you are looking for on
you specific computer hardware.
Some that might address that need are:
* *Chomium OS* (the OS from which Chrome OS is built as an overlay
with Google's customizations; Chromium *does not* have the benefit
of the "proprietary-code" plugins that Google has licensed as a
built-in to ship along with Chrome OS);
https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChromiumOS (gives a good synopsis of
evolution)
* Any one of the Linux distributions; *Debian Linux* being the
long-time "driver" of the Linux codebase, but *Ubuntu Linux* has
done significant strides in making it more user-friendly for
first-timers, as well as a parallel effort for Enterprise-scale
application development/support (but still open-sourced); I am
partial to Ubuntu MATE myself. Note that Ubuntu 24.04 is about to
be released at end of April (04) of 2024.
https://www.debian.org/
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
If you are interested, there is also another Linux with a different
code-base. Namely, Red Hat Linux. It was the first to go "mainstream",
driving the initial wave of LAMP server deployments, way back at the
dawn of the internet. It has two flavours,
* *Fedora Linux* (community-based open-sourced), and
https://fedoraproject.org/
* *Red Hat Linux* (proprietary overlay developed for enterprise
deployment).
https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/linux-platforms/enterprise-linux
As for other "derivative" distros, there are almost as many that are
offshoots from Debian (a.k.a Ubuntu being one) as there are offshoots
leveraging Ubuntu's modified/enhanced codebase. It all depends on the
what *you* prefer in the areas of
* packaging mechanism (/*very* important consideration/) for
application packaging and distribution,
* version development and release cycles,
* GUI look and feel, and
* participation and contribution levels of the community in the
distribution's development and evolution.
You'll have to examine a few different distros to decide whether that is
what you want to pursue.
I got tired of Windows virus/trojan crap way back and switched to Ubuntu
Feisty Fawn (version 7, 2007) and never looked back. Best decision I
ever made!
I am on Ubuntu MATE 20.04 and am about to make the jumpt to 24.04, but
need to perform the "upgrade" to 22.04 before doing the one for 24.04,
as is recommended by Ubuntu.
Bottom line, you might be best to look at an upgrade, or reinstall of
the latest Chrome OS on your Chromebook, but make sure you make backups
of any hardware/firmware drivers *BEFORE* doing that, to ensure you have
the original versions that supported your actual hardware, *AND* look to
get the latest revisions of those that are supported on the Chrome OS
*version you install*.
*IMPORTANT*: To get full support of you Chromebook's hardware, you *MAY
NOT* be able to go to the latest Chrome OS version, but resort to an
earlier version, *BECAUSE* the linux community "flushed" some of the
drivers for older hardware not long ago. Depending on the hardware,
some have been deemed in sufficient demand to garner support to keep
support for that hardware component (/specific combinations of
Manufacturer, part design, model configuration/) to be retained in the
"recognized" hardware database, for which there will always be a driver
identified/available (generic/custom/vendor). Being frozen at a
"known-good version" may be you "best" alternative. It all depends on
how exposed you are and the quality of your desktop firewall
configuration. In the end, you may be forced to change computer.
Hopefully
Hope that helps.
Eric,
retired
ex CAD/CAM Systems Engineer, Nortel
On 2024-04-03 00:27, Michael Goguen via linux wrote:
Does anyone know or share on securing older devices that no longer
receive security updates so they can work a bit longer?
In particular I'm wondering about using ChromeOS devices like
chromebooks that no longer receive security and other updates to maybe
put on developer mode and tweak to make them a bit more secure and
possibly still able to be updated to stay a bit functional, ie so old
google web store apps might still be able to work, preferred
extensions etc and is it still possible to... set them up so if they
have problems you can still wipe them (if for instance some people
like me might otherwise not be able to fix problems manually) and
restore the important bits so it can still keep working hopefully
after a wipe?
Thx
Michael Goguen