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Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS
- rwmj 14y agoOr Fedora: https://www.berrange.com/posts/2012/11/30/installing-fedora-17-arm-on-a-samsung-google-chromebook/ https://www.berrange.com/posts/2012/11/30/installing-fedora-... Or countless other Linux distros.
- mjs 14y agoLooks like this is crouton: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton "Anyone who wants to run straight Linux on their Chromium OS device, and doesn't care about physical security. You're also better off having some knowledge of Linux tools and the command line in case things go funny, but it's not strictly necessary." The bit about physical security seems to refer to the fact that for some reason you can't even password protect your machine.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- dmm 14y agoEveryone is confused! This guy is not dual-booting or using virtualization. He installed ubuntu to a chroot. Ubuntu is running in a chroot along side ChromeOS. He's using the ChromeOS kernel.
- drivebyacct2 14y agoI'm fairly sure it's a reference to the generally disposable and fully encrypted nature of Chrome OS. There's no reason it wouldn't be password protectable and the link describes that the chroot can be encrypted as well.
- mjs 14y agoTo run crouton you need to put your machine into developer mode though, which could mean that all bets are off. (e.g. if you power it off, it comes back up without requiring a password, since this is annoying/unnecessary if you're actually developing for Chrome OS.)
- trsohmers 14y agoUh, no. I have had my Samsung ARM chromebook in developer mode since day one, and I always need to put in my Google password to log in, even if you are not connected to a network.
- drivebyacct2 14y agoSame here, not sure what mjs is talking about.
- mjs 14y agoHuh, I wonder what the crouton developer was talking about then. No encrypted disk? (I don't have Chrome OS, I was just guessing what the crouton README might mean.)
- yungchin 14y agoFurther down in the Crouton Readme: "Note that developer mode, in its default configuration, is completely insecure, so don't expect a password in your chroot to keep anyone from your data. crouton does support encrypting chroots, but the encryption is only as strong as the quality of your passphrase."
- sgarman 14y agoIf this is good enough to replace a macbook air why does this exist? http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebooks.html#pixel http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebooks.htm... This product seems way out of line with Google's strategy.
- glesica 14y agoIt may not be good enough for you to replace your Macbook Air, but it was good enough for the author to forgo a Macbook Air. Subtle, but important difference.
- ZeroGravitas 14y agoTo replace a Retina MacBook Pro?
- dman 14y agoI think its about time Apple got challenged on the high end. For the rest of the market to survive they eventually have to pierce the myth that Apple is the upper bound in terms of quality in every market that they operate in.
- r00fus 14y agoChromebook Pixel doesn't really challenge Apple in this regard yet. It's underpowered, underfeatured hardware costs equivalent to an MB Air and almost MBP-r. It's a shot across the bow of battleship Apple, but the low-cost Chromebooks are far more of a threat to both MS and Apple.
- dman 14y agoApple doesnt compete on the power of their hardware - they compete on desirability. I would say hardware wise this is at least as desirable as anything that apple ships. This with a haswell refresh is going to be sweet.
- zenocon 14y agoY, the google+ article was a little light on details (i.e. what the heck is Crouton?). Found this link with more info: http://datko.net/2013/02/04/ubuntu-is-just-a-keypress-away-with-crouton/ http://datko.net/2013/02/04/ubuntu-is-just-a-keypress-away-w...
- untog 14y agoMy initial thought about the Chomebook Pixel is exactly that it would be a good Linux machine. But with a maximum of 64GB storage, it'll never be my main machine, sadly.
- harpastum 14y agoThe 13" Retina MacBook Pro [1] matches the wifi Pixel in almost every characteristic except the touch screen, and is just $200 more expensive for the model with 128GB storage. However, there's no LTE option. [1] http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/ http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/
- bryanlarsen 14y agoAnother difference between MacBooks and Chromebooks is the guaranteed availability of Linux drivers. If you buy a MacBook to run Linux, you have to do your research first, just like a Windows laptop.
- PanMan 14y agoAre there any mac components that don't have full linux support? I would expect that Mac's are so popular with geeks, they would have full driver support, but I never checked.
- ecspike 14y agoThe new crop of macs always go through a six month's cycle when they aren't supported because Apple decided to use new nonstandard hardware.
- joezydeco 14y agoIf you watch the Apple Store, you can get a refurbished 13.3" Air for $1,269. Retina display (2560x1600, 227 dpi), 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD.
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- bryanlarsen 14y agoI really hope that "Ubuntu for Android" does well, which promises to deliver something similar but even better integrated, except on Android rather than ChromeOS.
- justatdotin 14y agoI've done this with the 550. I'm using the secure shell app to shell into a chroot running sshd, monogdb and node. pixel? shrug don't (won't) get it.
- 3pt14159 14y agoThat is f'ing awesome. The only thing holding me back from completely jumping in is Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Right now I'm dual booting Mac and Ubuntu and it is a massive pain. It crashes frequently enough for me to think about it and switching OS just to touch up some photos or cut some assets sucks. Disclosure: I have financial interest in Apple succeeding. I also have worked on a project for Google regarding the new Chromebook pixel.
- taligent 14y agoWhy don't you just run Ubuntu in VirtualBox/Parallels ?
- dylangs1030 14y agoThe virtue of the method detailed in the article using crouton is that Ubuntu runs alongside Chrome OS without sucking up memory like a dehydrated sponge.
- lucian1900 14y agoLikely because Ubuntu is his/her preferred OS, and switching to OS X is only done when strictly necessary.
- 3pt14159 14y agoThis is correct. I find Ubuntu to be the most usable operating system, but the photo development software is still in its infancy.
- danellis 14y agoIs it possible to entirely replace Chrome OS, though? I have a Chrome box that I don't use, and I'd like to entirely replace the installed OS with straight Debian.
- EwanToo 14y agoYes you can wipe the SSD and replace it with Ubuntu (or with some fiddling, Debian). It's what Chrubuntu does, you can even choose to install to an SD card leaving the existing OS in place. http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.co.uk/ http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.co.uk/
- nathansobo 14y agoIt boggles my mind that Google isn't making Chrome OS more developer-friendly. If they could bring developers on board, they'd have a good beachhead for taking over the desktop market. They should enable us to build privileged native applications that use the DOM for their user interface but have unfettered access to the underlying OS just like any other application would.
- Alterlife 14y ago> they'd have a good beachhead for taking over the desktop market. But do they want the desktop market? As far as I've seen so far, Chrome OS devices are consumer targeted devices iPhones... only laptop/htpc shaped. Developers are just not the target audience.
- Raphael 14y agoSounds like Firefox OS. Yes, Google should do that.
- EvanYou 14y agoTake a look at Chrome packaged apps: https://developer.chrome.com/apps/about_apps.html https://developer.chrome.com/apps/about_apps.html It's probably not as powerful as you want but it already can do quite a lot.
- chrisbuc 14y agoYes, to clarify, you have sandboxed access to filesystem, also access to usb, bluetooth, serial...
- karanmg 14y agoPlease look at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5296238 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5296238
- bernardom 14y agoOK, I need a portable dev machine. I thought about installing Ubuntu on my old 2008 Macbook Air (1,1), but the Ubuntu page itself says that it's a painful install. How good would a chromebook be for, say, developing a small rails app?
- btgeekboy 14y agoHighly depends on your workflow and the hardware you've chosen. If you're developing locally and have the $249 Samsung Chromebook, it only comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB disk soldered onboard, so things are going to get pretty tight.
- micro_cam 14y agoI set this up on my io chrome box. It is pretty great. I hope it becomes a fully supported feature with better security and x integration...I word love to have my dev setup in a chroot on google drive that I could use from any (x86) chrome device.
- craigerrington 14y agoI wrote this technique up in detail a few weeks ago - about how to do this on the internal storage, another guide on doing it from SD... etc etc, all here: http://craigerrington.com/blog/ http://craigerrington.com/blog/
- Splendor 14y agoThanks! I used your instructions last night.