Support/Braswell

Intel processors with Braswell SoC's are the replacement for the previous-generation Bay Trail family.

Braswell support incomplete, but being tracked at GitHub: Braswell Platform Validation. You can subscribe to that ticket for the latest updates.

Braswell models do not include firmware support for booting legacy OSes, but custom firmware is available -- see Firmware.

Important Note

We have received several reports of hardware speaker damage in models with the Realtek ALC5650 audio chip. This includes most Braswells, except the Acer R11 Chromeboom (CYAN), which has a Maxim MAX98090 chip instead.

This issue is not limited to GalliumOS or Linux, but it seems to happen more frequently when the machine is not booted into ChromeOS (so at the dev mode screen, in firmware, in GRUB, or running Linux). The CromeOS bootloader (depthcharge) initializes the audio chip, and no further initialization is performed until ChromeOS is loaded. If ChromeOS is not loaded, no further initialization is performed at all. It is possible that depthcharge is leaving the chip in an inappropriate state, but that should not be an adequate explanation -- unless some percentage of the Realtek chips are faulty.

Full details and current speculation can be found on the GitHub Braswell Platform Validation ticket.

The ultra-cautious approach is to disconnect your Chromebook speakers until and unless the ultimate cause of the problem can be prevented.

A more casual approach is to carefully observe your Chromebook for unusual noises/heating around the speaker area while in use (or powered on), and be prepared to return any defective hardware within ordinary return windows if problems occur. We estimate the failure rate at about 2-3% of all devices, and the failure is expected to happen within a short period of use (minutes to single-digit hours).

At this time, and for reasons detailed at the aforementioned link, we suspect a hardware problem with the Realtek ALC5650 chips. We are still investigating. If you have a failed device that you have decided not to return (or you have adequate time remaining on your return window), which you are willing to let us borrow for a few days, please get in touch (contact. at. galliumos.org). Thank you!