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Chromebooks now support a Linux installation officially in the form of Crostini. It runs securely in a VM and work is done to make your linux apps and sharing a

Chromebooks now support a Linux installation officially in the form of Crostini. It runs securely in a VM and work is done to make your linux apps and sharing as first party options in Chrome OS. Crouton was never an officially released and supported product by Chrome OS. Crostini is.

pjmlp 7y ago
Some flagship Chromebooks do, not all of them. So if one is paying flagship prices, then why not just buy a regular laptop from a Linux vendor?
- mav3rick 7y ago
  First of all it's not just flagship devices, here you go - https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md#Supported-Now https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/c... Also all Chromebooks produced 2019 and onwards will support Crostini. Flagship or not flagship. https://www.extremetech.com/computing/291185-all-chromebooks-will-support-linux-going-forward https://www.extremetech.com/computing/291185-all-chromebooks... Chromebooks' update model, speed and security are way ahead of any Linux vendor. Security is the pride of this product. And the hardware quality is great too. What you buy is your prerogative but the ability to run both Android apps and also a Linux install makes Chromebooks a good value.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    That just sounds like Google marketing. First of all, speed is hardly a feature when compared with laptops on the same price range. Specially when taking into consideration the VMs being executed, namely browser instances, gVisor and the Crostini hypervisor. Then just like on Android devices, Chromebooks have a limited duration of updates, namely 6 years since device market release. Hardware quality is debatable when I need to pay MacBook class prices for getting such quality.
    - mav3rick 7y ago
      You can get a Crostini supported device for around 400 Dollars. These are not MacBook class prices. Chromebook's security story is far ahead. You can do your own research and you'll find ample links proving the same.
      - pjmlp 7y ago
        Yes I can, but that is hardly the quality and speed you are advocating versus what regular Linux laptops offer on that price range. My Windows and Linux laptops are kept up to date since ever, with hardware encryption turned on.
        0b0001 7y ago
        Disk encryption protects you from somebody who steals your switched-off laptop. This discussion is about the permissions that applications get. Desktop Linuxes don't have such an permission system in place - "just run as root" with ultimate trust in the application is quite common. Sandboxing isn't a thing either.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        Sandboxing is surely a thing, you just have to configure it.
        mav3rick 7y ago
        And that is where things fail. Expect all users to setup sandboxing on their own ? Don't make a mistake ? And "disk encryption" is not a catch all solution to security. Otherwise every OS would be secure.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        Just like Chromebooks are a market failure outside the US school system, because a large target of the world population requires more than a browser manager OS on their laptops. Amount of Chromebooks on sale across European electronic consumer stores, less than 1%. The 1% is left for when they occasionally pop up under "deal of the day", when the shop decides to test waters and is more than happy when it finally goes away after a couple of weeks on display.

pjmlp 7y ago

Some flagship Chromebooks do, not all of them. So if one is paying flagship prices, then why not just buy a regular laptop from a Linux vendor?

mav3rick 7y ago
First of all it's not just flagship devices, here you go - https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md#Supported-Now https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/c... Also all Chromebooks produced 2019 and onwards will support Crostini. Flagship or not flagship. https://www.extremetech.com/computing/291185-all-chromebooks-will-support-linux-going-forward https://www.extremetech.com/computing/291185-all-chromebooks... Chromebooks' update model, speed and security are way ahead of any Linux vendor. Security is the pride of this product. And the hardware quality is great too. What you buy is your prerogative but the ability to run both Android apps and also a Linux install makes Chromebooks a good value.
- pjmlp 7y ago
  That just sounds like Google marketing. First of all, speed is hardly a feature when compared with laptops on the same price range. Specially when taking into consideration the VMs being executed, namely browser instances, gVisor and the Crostini hypervisor. Then just like on Android devices, Chromebooks have a limited duration of updates, namely 6 years since device market release. Hardware quality is debatable when I need to pay MacBook class prices for getting such quality.
  - mav3rick 7y ago
    You can get a Crostini supported device for around 400 Dollars. These are not MacBook class prices. Chromebook's security story is far ahead. You can do your own research and you'll find ample links proving the same.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      Yes I can, but that is hardly the quality and speed you are advocating versus what regular Linux laptops offer on that price range. My Windows and Linux laptops are kept up to date since ever, with hardware encryption turned on.
      - 0b0001 7y ago
        Disk encryption protects you from somebody who steals your switched-off laptop. This discussion is about the permissions that applications get. Desktop Linuxes don't have such an permission system in place - "just run as root" with ultimate trust in the application is quite common. Sandboxing isn't a thing either.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        Sandboxing is surely a thing, you just have to configure it.
        mav3rick 7y ago
        And that is where things fail. Expect all users to setup sandboxing on their own ? Don't make a mistake ? And "disk encryption" is not a catch all solution to security. Otherwise every OS would be secure.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        Just like Chromebooks are a market failure outside the US school system, because a large target of the world population requires more than a browser manager OS on their laptops. Amount of Chromebooks on sale across European electronic consumer stores, less than 1%. The 1% is left for when they occasionally pop up under "deal of the day", when the shop decides to test waters and is more than happy when it finally goes away after a couple of weeks on display.