title: Microcontroller development on ARM Chromebook
body: <p>I have an ARM Chrombook and would like to use it to program a microcontroller.
  If possible I want to keep the Chromebook in normal (not "developer") mode.</p>
  
  <p>This presents two problems:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>The Chromebook currently only supports HID and mass-storage USB profiles, but most microcontrollers are programmed using old-school serial (or on-the-micro usb-serial conversion).</li>
  <li>The Chromebook doesn't have a way to compile code (can't install GCC).</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>So far I have found <a href="http://mbed.org/" rel="nofollow">mbed</a> which looks like it would work but is beyond my budget.</p>
  
  <p>Number 1 is more of an annoyance because if it comes down to it I could always use the TRRS headphone/mic jack as a serial TX/RX port.  The real problem is #2.  I have had zero luck finding a (free/cheap) fully online compiler that exports hex files.</p>
  
  <p>Does some online GCC toolchain equivalent exist, or am I stuck with doing my development on a desktop computer?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>
  
  <p>[edit] I tried using a USB-serial adapter (Digi Edgeport/8) and ChromeOS did not recognize it.</p>