I'd been mulling the possibility of converting my busted-screen Lenovo Chromebook into a desktop machine for a little while, but the "Your Chromebook has received its last software update in accordance with the Auto Update Policy" situation with my Asus Chromebox pushed me over the edge.
The problem: The Chromebook only has one video out port, and I must run dual monitors.
The solution: Either get a USB monitor, or find a way to hook another video type to USB.
Hello, eBay: "USB 3.0 to DVI Video Adapter."
And it works. HDMI out to my HDMI monitor, USB out to my DVI monitor, lid shut so it isn't trying to display on the broken screen. I'm in business.
I do need to grab a USB hub, because I don't have any ports left (one for the video out, one for a wireless keyboard/mouse dongle), but now I'm running a newer ChromeOS hardware platform (this one supports Android apps -- last time I checked, it didn't handle native Linux apps like some newer Chromebooks, but I haven't checked recently and there have been several OS updates) on the same amount of RAM (4Gb) and IIRC similar CPU type and speed (Intel Celeron @ 1.x where x > 5 -- GHz).
But I'm still thinking about that Pi 4. The Chromebook takes up more space than I like and I haven't set my mind to figuring out a better place to put it where all the cables will still reach and so forth.
UPDATE SHORTLY AFTER POSTING: Bam! It does support a Linux virtual machine now! I'm rusty on my command line skills, but plan to try a few things.
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