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Is XFCE really any faster or lighter than the Chromium OS desktop environment (IIUC, basically Chromium without an intervening display server like Xorg or a Way

Is XFCE really any faster or lighter than the Chromium OS desktop environment (IIUC, basically Chromium without an intervening display server like Xorg or a Wayland compositor)? My guess is that, since one basically has to run a web browser anyway, it's probably not.

mikece 5y ago
I might be bringing my own biases but I don't think speed is the primary feature of this. Rather, not being connected to Google's data collection/surveillance capitalism system is the feature.
- flatiron 5y ago
  I would think running stuff other than just a web browser is the use case. The device goes from portable web browser to Linux laptop with every tool a professional developer uses at your finger tips (and a web browser)
  - mwcampbell 5y ago
    I suspect that this distinction will be irrelevant to the next generation, as services like GitHub Code Spaces, which provide a full development environment inside a web browser, become more normal.
    - flatiron 5y ago
      Can you run node in the web browser and debug through there? I’m not the brightest crayon in the box, I spend most of my life in the debugger!
      - nickcoury 5y ago
        Yes, there's at least one option for that now! https://blog.stackblitz.com/posts/introducing-webcontainers/ https://blog.stackblitz.com/posts/introducing-webcontainers/
  - azornathogron 5y ago
    I've run vscode, docker and node in crostini (the debian-in-a-VM that you can just enable in settings in normal Chrome OS). Worked great for me. I'm not at all claiming Chrome OS or crostini are without problems or limitations, but I have been very happily surprised at how well it stood up to some basic web dev work.
- mwcampbell 5y ago
  For that, one would only need a Chromium OS build without Google API keys. But then, replacing Google account login with something else could take some work.
pjmlp 5y ago
Yes, because ChromeOS and Crostini, both run on top of virtualized environments, so already there you are using more resources than on a regular Linux distribution.

mikece 5y ago

I might be bringing my own biases but I don't think speed is the primary feature of this. Rather, not being connected to Google's data collection/surveillance capitalism system is the feature.

flatiron 5y ago
I would think running stuff other than just a web browser is the use case. The device goes from portable web browser to Linux laptop with every tool a professional developer uses at your finger tips (and a web browser)
- mwcampbell 5y ago
  I suspect that this distinction will be irrelevant to the next generation, as services like GitHub Code Spaces, which provide a full development environment inside a web browser, become more normal.
  - flatiron 5y ago
    Can you run node in the web browser and debug through there? I’m not the brightest crayon in the box, I spend most of my life in the debugger!
    - nickcoury 5y ago
      Yes, there's at least one option for that now! https://blog.stackblitz.com/posts/introducing-webcontainers/ https://blog.stackblitz.com/posts/introducing-webcontainers/
- azornathogron 5y ago
  I've run vscode, docker and node in crostini (the debian-in-a-VM that you can just enable in settings in normal Chrome OS). Worked great for me. I'm not at all claiming Chrome OS or crostini are without problems or limitations, but I have been very happily surprised at how well it stood up to some basic web dev work.
mwcampbell 5y ago
For that, one would only need a Chromium OS build without Google API keys. But then, replacing Google account login with something else could take some work.

pjmlp 5y ago

Yes, because ChromeOS and Crostini, both run on top of virtualized environments, so already there you are using more resources than on a regular Linux distribution.