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ChromeOS adding almost zero value here. Faster Gapps? Kinda. The explorer is better for drive files, for sure. Can unlock with my Android phone. Cool, I guess?

ChromeOS adding almost zero value here. Faster Gapps? Kinda. The explorer is better for drive files, for sure. Can unlock with my Android phone. Cool, I guess? Can't think of any other reason to boot to ChromeOS.

sempron64 7y ago
ChromeOS power management is amazing, and makes 8-12 hours of battery life while using the browser a reality. Firefox saps the battery incredibly quickly, though I prefer to use it when that's not an issue. For me, the battery life is a huge technical value add, and is why I prefer to use linux via crouton on my acer c720 over installing it directly. I haven't tried the new Android app support but I think that will be huge as well for mobile-centric consumers.
tdb7893 7y ago
If you're mainly just going to be using a browser (which is true most of the time for me) I don't know why you would want to boot anything else. At the end of the day most operating systems I use are interchangeable for my workflow so unless you need a specific tool there's rarely a reason to use over over another.
- jklinger410 7y ago
  >I don't know why you would want to boot anything else The privacy and convenience Firefox offers me over Chrome, to start. Containers, etc. Programs that run as programs but not Chrome Apps (Signal, Email, ETC)
SEJeff 7y ago
It is very secure. A lot of the Kernel Self Protection project patches that Kees Cook and other push into Linux upstream start out as patches they deploy to ChromeOS to keep users happy and secure. Look it up.
tapoxi 7y ago
ChromeOS is an incredibly secure and simple base. There are a few Linux distributions that act like it (Fedora Silverblue, Endless OS) but they're not ideal for everyday use yet.
- freedomben 7y ago
  Why do you think Fedora Silverblue isn't ideal for everyday use? I'm going to try out F30 Silverblue here pretty soon, but I had heard that is was great, so I'm just curious what problems you've run into.
  - tapoxi 7y ago
    For example, the PyCharm Flatpak has difficulty understanding the window scaling setting I use, and appears unreadable. Some RPMs wouldn't install because they needed to write to /opt, but that may have been fixed. I had difficulty using external repos. I'm running normal Fedora 30 now and tried Silverblue during the Fedora 28/Fedora 29 release cycles. I hear it's getting better but I'll give it another year or so.
    - freedomben 7y ago
      Makes sense, thanks. My buddy said that installing RPMs was easy, but the more I hear the more I think that is bad information :-) The Silverblue docs seem to imply that you're really going against the grain by doing that and that it may not work. You also have to reboot after every install IIRC. I'm still gonna try it out but I may be on regular F30 pretty soon.
Osiris 7y ago
No local state. You can do a full wipe then login and all your settings, apps, data are there (because they are in the cloud, not the device). Wipe your Linux partition and tell me how long until you have your computer back to how you had it. Also, I love Chrome OS for my kids laptops because I don't have to worry about viruses or malware. In the case, I purposefully want a less feature rich OS.
- fenwick67 7y ago
  The first paragraph sounds like you are describing using Firefox sync or chrome with a Google login.
  - forgot-my-pw 7y ago
    It is, but more. When it's tied into the OS, wiping data is much easier. Resetting / removing your profile just takes seconds. It's a great OS too to give your parents who only need it for web browsing. Less maintenance and tech support.
  - jethro_tell 7y ago
    Not really, because you can factory reset, cross a border and log back in in 10 minutes and everything is up to speedish. It's not your threat model but it's someone's threat model and a chromebook does that better than anyone else, and your mom can do it.
    - laurentoget 7y ago
      I wish there was a way to do this without being locked in with Google as the backend.
      - markstos 7y ago
        Chromebooks are locked to using Google for authentication, but you don't have to use most Google services once logge din. Now you can even use an alternate Android or Linux browser instead of Chrome.
carlosdp 7y ago
Battery, browsers are a huge power hog and ChromeOS is basically just Chrome as an OS ui, so it's heavily optimized and running a browser tab doesn't effect battery as much as it would on a Mac, for example. I use a Pixelbook now as my primary dev machine and compile a decently heavy Rust codebase in the linux env all day long and the battery doesn't die. If I move compilation to a cloud-based IDE, it'll last even longer.
- bduerst 7y ago
  Do you use crouton or have you switched to the linux containers?
  - carlosdp 7y ago
    I'm using Crostini, so yea I'm using the container
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- jklinger410 7y ago
  >as much as it would on a Mac We're comparing Linux to Chrome OS, not Mac. I wiped my CB and loaded Gallium OS and have yet to see any significant battery depletion. At most I'm sacrificing some battery for a whole host of other tools, so it's a pretty decent trade.
  - carlosdp 7y ago
    I don't think this is meant to attract people who are ok with managing a Linux distro as their desktop today, I think it's for people like me that need a Unix environment for development, but want something that "just works" for rest-of-life stuff. Today, in the tech world at least, that need is largely filled by Macs.
    - ngcc_hk 7y ago
      Totally agreed. Just today compared the cost to get a mac air 2018 16 gb 512g with asus s. Just double the costs. Not sure chromebook can help.
shubhamharnal 7y ago
I'll give you one perspective: a lot of enterprise apps are developed for Android as well, though not at all for Linux. While using Linux, I may not be able to access my organization's Exchange server from Linux ( at least not without running quite a few hoops ) OR I can install one of the myriad suite of enterprise apps for Android that let you access your enterprise exchange. Similarly, 2FA token generation apps for the enterprise are not all made for linux but you can install an android app for it. Idea is: use linux for your workflow, android apps for connectivity to your organization's walled garden.
- jklinger410 7y ago
  I was never able to get android apps to install onto my Chrome OS.
kllrnohj 7y ago
> ChromeOS adding almost zero value here. Functional hardware accelerated video playback is a pretty big value to have (neither firefox nor chrome supports hwa video decoding on linux, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration#Application_support https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_accelera... ). It also has a much better system compositor than X11, actually shaking off the broken legacy cruft that Linux distros seem determined to cling on to. You can get some of this on "regular" linux with projects like https://github.com/intel/ozone-wayland https://github.com/intel/ozone-wayland but the state of graphics & video support on Linux continues to be a joke (relevant xkcd from 10 years ago https://xkcd.com/619/ https://xkcd.com/619/ )
mkozlows 7y ago
Great high-DPI (which Linux is still not great at); great trackpad support (ditto).

sempron64 7y ago

ChromeOS power management is amazing, and makes 8-12 hours of battery life while using the browser a reality. Firefox saps the battery incredibly quickly, though I prefer to use it when that's not an issue. For me, the battery life is a huge technical value add, and is why I prefer to use linux via crouton on my acer c720 over installing it directly. I haven't tried the new Android app support but I think that will be huge as well for mobile-centric consumers.

tdb7893 7y ago

If you're mainly just going to be using a browser (which is true most of the time for me) I don't know why you would want to boot anything else. At the end of the day most operating systems I use are interchangeable for my workflow so unless you need a specific tool there's rarely a reason to use over over another.

jklinger410 7y ago
>I don't know why you would want to boot anything else The privacy and convenience Firefox offers me over Chrome, to start. Containers, etc. Programs that run as programs but not Chrome Apps (Signal, Email, ETC)

SEJeff 7y ago

It is very secure. A lot of the Kernel Self Protection project patches that Kees Cook and other push into Linux upstream start out as patches they deploy to ChromeOS to keep users happy and secure. Look it up.

tapoxi 7y ago

ChromeOS is an incredibly secure and simple base. There are a few Linux distributions that act like it (Fedora Silverblue, Endless OS) but they're not ideal for everyday use yet.

freedomben 7y ago
Why do you think Fedora Silverblue isn't ideal for everyday use? I'm going to try out F30 Silverblue here pretty soon, but I had heard that is was great, so I'm just curious what problems you've run into.
- tapoxi 7y ago
  For example, the PyCharm Flatpak has difficulty understanding the window scaling setting I use, and appears unreadable. Some RPMs wouldn't install because they needed to write to /opt, but that may have been fixed. I had difficulty using external repos. I'm running normal Fedora 30 now and tried Silverblue during the Fedora 28/Fedora 29 release cycles. I hear it's getting better but I'll give it another year or so.
  - freedomben 7y ago
    Makes sense, thanks. My buddy said that installing RPMs was easy, but the more I hear the more I think that is bad information :-) The Silverblue docs seem to imply that you're really going against the grain by doing that and that it may not work. You also have to reboot after every install IIRC. I'm still gonna try it out but I may be on regular F30 pretty soon.

Osiris 7y ago

No local state. You can do a full wipe then login and all your settings, apps, data are there (because they are in the cloud, not the device). Wipe your Linux partition and tell me how long until you have your computer back to how you had it. Also, I love Chrome OS for my kids laptops because I don't have to worry about viruses or malware. In the case, I purposefully want a less feature rich OS.

fenwick67 7y ago
The first paragraph sounds like you are describing using Firefox sync or chrome with a Google login.
- forgot-my-pw 7y ago
  It is, but more. When it's tied into the OS, wiping data is much easier. Resetting / removing your profile just takes seconds. It's a great OS too to give your parents who only need it for web browsing. Less maintenance and tech support.
- jethro_tell 7y ago
  Not really, because you can factory reset, cross a border and log back in in 10 minutes and everything is up to speedish. It's not your threat model but it's someone's threat model and a chromebook does that better than anyone else, and your mom can do it.
  - laurentoget 7y ago
    I wish there was a way to do this without being locked in with Google as the backend.
    - markstos 7y ago
      Chromebooks are locked to using Google for authentication, but you don't have to use most Google services once logge din. Now you can even use an alternate Android or Linux browser instead of Chrome.

carlosdp 7y ago

Battery, browsers are a huge power hog and ChromeOS is basically just Chrome as an OS ui, so it's heavily optimized and running a browser tab doesn't effect battery as much as it would on a Mac, for example. I use a Pixelbook now as my primary dev machine and compile a decently heavy Rust codebase in the linux env all day long and the battery doesn't die. If I move compilation to a cloud-based IDE, it'll last even longer.

bduerst 7y ago
Do you use crouton or have you switched to the linux containers?
- carlosdp 7y ago
  I'm using Crostini, so yea I'm using the container
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jklinger410 7y ago
>as much as it would on a Mac We're comparing Linux to Chrome OS, not Mac. I wiped my CB and loaded Gallium OS and have yet to see any significant battery depletion. At most I'm sacrificing some battery for a whole host of other tools, so it's a pretty decent trade.
- carlosdp 7y ago
  I don't think this is meant to attract people who are ok with managing a Linux distro as their desktop today, I think it's for people like me that need a Unix environment for development, but want something that "just works" for rest-of-life stuff. Today, in the tech world at least, that need is largely filled by Macs.
  - ngcc_hk 7y ago
    Totally agreed. Just today compared the cost to get a mac air 2018 16 gb 512g with asus s. Just double the costs. Not sure chromebook can help.

shubhamharnal 7y ago

I'll give you one perspective: a lot of enterprise apps are developed for Android as well, though not at all for Linux. While using Linux, I may not be able to access my organization's Exchange server from Linux ( at least not without running quite a few hoops ) OR I can install one of the myriad suite of enterprise apps for Android that let you access your enterprise exchange. Similarly, 2FA token generation apps for the enterprise are not all made for linux but you can install an android app for it. Idea is: use linux for your workflow, android apps for connectivity to your organization's walled garden.

jklinger410 7y ago
I was never able to get android apps to install onto my Chrome OS.

kllrnohj 7y ago

> ChromeOS adding almost zero value here. Functional hardware accelerated video playback is a pretty big value to have (neither firefox nor chrome supports hwa video decoding on linux, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration#Application_support https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_accelera... ). It also has a much better system compositor than X11, actually shaking off the broken legacy cruft that Linux distros seem determined to cling on to. You can get some of this on "regular" linux with projects like https://github.com/intel/ozone-wayland https://github.com/intel/ozone-wayland but the state of graphics & video support on Linux continues to be a joke (relevant xkcd from 10 years ago https://xkcd.com/619/ https://xkcd.com/619/ )

mkozlows 7y ago

Great high-DPI (which Linux is still not great at); great trackpad support (ditto).