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Will Google ever provide a Chrome OS “distro” to install on non-Chromebook machines? I’m aware of things like CloudReady by Neverware[1] which seem to have som

Will Google ever provide a Chrome OS “distro” to install on non-Chromebook machines? I’m aware of things like CloudReady by Neverware[1] which seem to have some investment from Google, but last I checked, it did not have support for Android or Linux. Using community built images of Chromium OS and scripts that “hack” it into a Chrome OS installation has been a huge pain. I’d love to test a full-featured Chrome OS on my machines, but I’m not dropping money for a Chromebook despite how cheap they may be because I have plenty of machines that it could run (with good performance) on. [1]: https://www.neverware.com https://www.neverware.com

sowbug 7y ago
Doubtful. Chrome OS without Verified Boot isn't Chrome OS.
qhwudbebd 7y ago
Something similar I've wondered about is grabbing a (full) Chrome OS filesystem image and running the compositor/browser/interface in a chroot with a Linux installation more to my taste on the outside, including up-to-date upstream kernel, etc. Could perhaps even prune away all the stuff that's not used/wanted in this configuration. Essentially using Chrome OS as an alternative and conveniently pre-built graphical interface on the front of a proper Linux box, give the only non-command-line program I use is a browser anyway. I've not actually tried doing this, so maybe it's just doomed to failure or has more downsides I haven't thought of than upsides.
chronogram 7y ago
https://github.com/imperador/chromefy https://github.com/imperador/chromefy does a good job at that. After trying it out and looking into it more, as well as trying out a normal Chromebook, Chrome OS just doesn't seem very interesting to me. You can't even disable mouse acceleration or set a hostname, and the devices are stuck on the same kernel forever. Bit of a let down, although the A/B root is nice.
- nvrspyx 7y ago
  > Using community built images of Chromium OS and scripts that “hack” it into a Chrome OS installation has been a huge pain. That's actually the exact project I was referring to with the quoted bit above. I was on mobile and didn't have the chance to look up the exact project. However, I had a bunch of issues when I tried it months ago. I don't necessarily blame the script because I'm not sure if the trouble was caused by the script, my hardware, or user error on my end. I didn't really have the patience for it since I could get all the same functionality from any run-of-the-mill Linux distro (Fedora in my case) + Chromium + Anbox.

sowbug 7y ago

Doubtful. Chrome OS without Verified Boot isn't Chrome OS.

qhwudbebd 7y ago

Something similar I've wondered about is grabbing a (full) Chrome OS filesystem image and running the compositor/browser/interface in a chroot with a Linux installation more to my taste on the outside, including up-to-date upstream kernel, etc. Could perhaps even prune away all the stuff that's not used/wanted in this configuration. Essentially using Chrome OS as an alternative and conveniently pre-built graphical interface on the front of a proper Linux box, give the only non-command-line program I use is a browser anyway. I've not actually tried doing this, so maybe it's just doomed to failure or has more downsides I haven't thought of than upsides.

chronogram 7y ago

https://github.com/imperador/chromefy https://github.com/imperador/chromefy does a good job at that. After trying it out and looking into it more, as well as trying out a normal Chromebook, Chrome OS just doesn't seem very interesting to me. You can't even disable mouse acceleration or set a hostname, and the devices are stuck on the same kernel forever. Bit of a let down, although the A/B root is nice.

nvrspyx 7y ago
> Using community built images of Chromium OS and scripts that “hack” it into a Chrome OS installation has been a huge pain. That's actually the exact project I was referring to with the quoted bit above. I was on mobile and didn't have the chance to look up the exact project. However, I had a bunch of issues when I tried it months ago. I don't necessarily blame the script because I'm not sure if the trouble was caused by the script, my hardware, or user error on my end. I didn't really have the patience for it since I could get all the same functionality from any run-of-the-mill Linux distro (Fedora in my case) + Chromium + Anbox.