Hackers Dual-Boot Chrome OS With Ubuntu Linux on CR-48

jbrodkin writes "Google's Chrome OS makes Web surfing an incredibly pleasant and secure experience, but most of the knocks against it relate to what it can't do — namely, nearly everything traditional desktop operating systems like Windows, Mac and Linux can. The easiest solution might be dual-booting, allowing users to choose either Chrome OS or a Linux distro at startup. Google's Chromium project site is now hosting instructions for booting Ubuntu Linux alongside Chrome OS. The process is cumbersome but indicates that dual-booting Chrome OS should be possible — and hopefully a bit simpler — once Google releases commercially available netbooks in mid-2011."

Comments

Re:Wow, really?

[metrometro]

Testing the boundaries of the cage is among the OS tests I care most about. Already, we know it's superior in this respect to, say, an iPad, which isn't dual booting a damn thing.

Re:This is hacking now?

[multisync]

I really don't think following instructions from the people developing the product that's "being hacked" is in any way skilful.

The author of the article - who as you said followed instructions he found on the Chromium site - was referring to whoever wrote those instructions as hackers, not those like him who followed them.

An Engadget post says that "certified" Chrome OS laptops, when they become commercially available in mid-2011, will not support dual booting with any non-Google operating system. I haven't been able to confirm yet whether this is true, but it is certainly very difficult to boot a second operating system onto the Cr-48 prototype version that Google has shipped to thousands of testers and journalists ... So I was happy to see that a step-by-step installation guide for booting Ubuntu on Cr-48 has now appeared. I don't think it was written by a Google employee, but it is being hosted on what appears to be Google's official Chromium project site.

From the sounds of it, the manufacturer has every intention of making it hard for the user to duel-boot. The prototype the author has suggests this as well. So I think this more than qualifies as a hack, as it gives the user control over his hardware that he might not otherwise enjoy.

You've just misidentified who the hacker in this story is.