Slashdot Mirror


Google Just Made It Easier To Run Linux On Your Chromebook

TechCurmudgeon writes A story in PCWorld's "World beyond Windows" column outlines coming improvements in Chrome OS that will enable easily running Linux directly from a USB stick: "Have you ever installed a full desktop Linux system on your Chromebook? It isn't all [that] hard, but it is a bit more complex than it should be. New features in the latest version of Chrome OS will make dipping into an alternative operating system easier. For example, you'll be able to easily boot a full Linux system from a USB drive and use it without any additional hassle!"

32 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. But is that what people are actually doing? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I thought they were wiping the Chromebook's internal drive, then reinstalling with their preferred Linux variant.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:But is that what people are actually doing? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I thought they were wiping the Chromebook's internal drive, then reinstalling with their preferred Linux variant.

      I don't know about most, but I keep the ChromeOS also. I use the Chromebook as my take out to breakfast and go on vacation computer. It's a breeze to use in a restaraunt on wifi, and if I need anything more serious, I boot into Linux. It's also nice to keep my stuff separate from my home computers, except for the gmail account I use that syncs on all my computers.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:But is that what people are actually doing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Protip: Most people are doing neither.

    3. Re:But is that what people are actually doing? by Fwipp · · Score: 2

      Crouton is still my favorite approach, unless you need more disk space.

    4. Re:But is that what people are actually doing? by aunchaki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I replaced my nine-year-old ThinkPad a few months ago (it's slowly running the latest Ubuntu). I went round and round for about a year and finally decided to get a used Chromebook Pixel. It's awesome! I thought I'd play around with crouton for a while, but eventually wipe the whole thing and install Linux on it.

      I haven't done that. I do run crouton and can flip between ChromeOS and Ubuntu 14 in a keystroke. The thing is, ChromeOS is a really nice broswing experience and 75% of what I do is browser based. I could spend all day in Ubuntu, but it's just too nice using ChromeOS.

      I'm really happy with my Chromebook.

    5. Re:But is that what people are actually doing? by quenda · · Score: 2

      I thought they were wiping the Chromebook's internal drive, then reinstalling with their preferred Linux variant.

      Why do that? Chromebook is already running Linux, and you can easily install a full Ubuntu (or whatever) environment under ChromeOS, running them side-by-side, using Crouton scripts.
      No need to reboot. A bit like a using a virtual machine, but its all native.

      The biggest problem is having to wipe all your data when switching to developer mode, and Google considers this a feature. Couldn't they just encrypt the private data instead? I cannot see the point. If a bad buy gets hold of your Chrome-book and switches to developer mode, he can just install a login screen that grabs your password, and gets all your private data from the cloud.

    6. Re:But is that what people are actually doing? by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      Actually, no. Most people use Crouton in developer mode. That means they run Chrome OS side-by-side with their preferred Linux variant.

      It's less risky that way. Because if you replace Chrome OS completely with your own Linux distribution, you'll probably lose the small amount of free Verizon data that comes with it for three years, or the 10-fingers touch support, or the very high resolution support, that may come on some of those newer Chromebooks. Because don't believe what the Ubuntu guys say, they may claim to have designed Unity to be a touch interface, but Unity is actually just as awful for people with actual touch screens.

      That being said, running in developer mode carries its own set of risks. If a Verizon repair person ever opens my Chromebook, or one of my nephews opens it, they'll probably just wipe everything by mistake (because in developer mode, the first instructions that pop up is that you should wipe the device to get out of developer mode by pressing the space bar. Yes, thanks a lot Google for having that feature, I'm glad I don't have kids thought. This means I only need to hide my Chromebook Pixel when my nephews are visiting).

      And don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind wiping my Chromebook if I only had Chrome OS on there, but I've had to wipe my Chromebook so many times to get the linux environment on Crouton just right for Android development purposes, the next time I have to do it, I might have a complete melt down.

  2. Re:Pedantic, but... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Funny

    Get back in your box, Richard Stallman!

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  3. Gee by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've been running Linux dual boot on my Chromebook since last summer. I'm surprised that anyone thought it was so difficult to install and use. I think it took me all of 15 minutes to download and do the necessary alterations.

    It's fun actually

    "you'll be able to easily boot a full Linux system from a USB drive and use it without any additional hassle!"

    As opposed ot the insufferable hassle of hitting control+L and booting direct? If that's too much trouble, plugging a USB stick is too.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Gee by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

      True, but you can run the USB stick on multiple computers, keeping your work environment and files all in one place wherever you go. With 64 gig USB 3.0 flash keys going for $25, and 128 gig USB 3.0 going for $40, why not?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Gee by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      True, but you can run the USB stick on multiple computers, keeping your work environment and files all in one place wherever you go. With 64 gig USB 3.0 flash keys going for $25, and 128 gig USB 3.0 going for $40, why not?

      Well, a thumb drive is a lot easier to lose than a whole laptop for one thing. I've found quite a few over the last several years. Also, I have to guess that the thumb drive is going to be slower than the SSD in the Chromebook. Because that's the biggest thing going for them. They move. Chrome boots in something like 7 seconds, depending on how fat you can type your password, and Linux about the same.

      Regardless, I don't think its necessarily a bad idea, just that the presumed inconvenience of doing a dual bootsetup, then install of a distro is way overplayed.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  4. Re:Pedantic, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

    Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

    There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

  5. Chromebook Shmomebook by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wake me up when they post a useful article on how to run Unix on my Macbook Pro.

  6. Re:Chromebook Shmomebook by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fuck that, I've been trying to install FreeBSD on my Commodore 64. Crapping Commodore 1541 disk drive keeps mangling my installation CD.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  7. Re:Pedantic, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I use Buzybox/Linux, you insensitive clod.

  8. Re:Pedantic, but... by Dynedain · · Score: 5, Funny

    How long before that's SystemD/GNU/Linux?

    --
    I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
  9. Re:Chromebook Shmomebook by ogdenk · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's pretty easy. First, take it out of the box. You lift the LCD into a proper viewing angle and push the power button. There you go. Unix.

  10. Re:Pedantic, but... by arth1 · · Score: 2

    You summoned him!
    Apparently he doesn't have a /. account, but still is a reader.

    He probably doesn't like the license for using the anonymous account, and I can't really blame him.

    Anyhow, I think you're triggering a /. law here: As the mentioning of RMS in a Slashdot thread grows, the chance of Bruce Perens posting approaches unity.

  11. Re:Pedantic, but... by arth1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe I speak for everyone when I say

    You must be new here.

    Whenever I read the word "believe" anywhere, I replace it with "make up" or "confabulate". It helps my reading comprehension.

  12. Re:Yea, POSIX complaint by ogdenk · · Score: 2

    And this is different from every single commercial UNIX workstation vendor, how?

    Solaris was littered with AT&T and badly documented Sun bullshit everywhere.

    A/IX is littered with IBM bastardization everywhere.

    HP-UX is littered with indescribable horrors.

    Digital UNIX/Tru64? Now THAT was bastardization done right.

    A/UX was littered with Apple bastardization and undocumented bullshit too, that didn't make it any less interesting.

    So yeah, your argument is stupid.

  13. Again, why? by unixisc · · Score: 2

    So there is this trend about wanting to run 'foreign' OSs on computers that come w/ one already. The other day, the question was running Linux on a MacBook Air, then one about running standard non-Libre Linux on the Librem, and today, running a normal GNU/Linux distro on a Chromebook.

    I can understand why people replace Windows - particularly Windows 8.x, which is what I did (using PC-BSD). What I don't understand is why anyone would replace any POSIX based OS w/ your run of the mill distro. If you have a MacBook, then OS-X already supports whatever the MacBook will be dealing w/. If you have a Librem, you have Purism OS, which is Trisquel, and which has been specifically engineered to that box. If you have a Chromebook, Google has already made ChromeOS support anything that the Chromebook will have to do.

    So aside from losing some of the capabilities you have of your laptop, what exactly is the fun in getting a run-of-the-mill Linux on your Chromebook, replacing ChromeOS? Why not take that box, and see what other apps are there - maybe Android apps - that could run on your Chromebook?

    1. Re:Again, why? by quenda · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you have a Chromebook, Google has already made ChromeOS support anything that the Chromebook will have to do.

      Oh, no they have not.

      A macbook can install 3rd party apps out of the box. It is not locked down.
      But if you want Skype, Minecraft, or Steam for example, on a Chromebook, you need to unlock it (developer mode, unsupported) and install a full Linux environment first.

      But yes, no need to replace ChromeOS, just supplement it.

  14. Re:Chromebook Shmomebook by tlambert · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wake me up when they post a useful article on how to run Unix on my Macbook Pro.

    Mac OS X *is* UNIX. It's certified. Wake me up when Linux passes conformance testing.

    PS: We even put UUCP on the damn thing to pass the tests; it's definitely UNIX, so feel free to spin up your own NetNews node on your MacBook Air.

  15. Re:Chromebook Shmomebook by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 2

    I'm trying to install Solaris on my Vic 20 but transferring the CDs over to cassettes is taking forever!

  16. we dual boot to an sdhc, except don't by raymorris · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I set my wife's up to boot Linux from a high-performance SD card. Her previous computer ran Linux, so I figured I'd make the Chromebook run what she's familiar with.

    It turns out, everything she does on the computer she does through a web browser, so she's never had any reason to boot to Linux. ChromeOS suits her use case perfectly. I find that surprising, but ChromeOS is apparently very good at what it's designed for - email, general web browsing, YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, etc.

  17. Pedantic busybody with busybox by dbIII · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think they mean "GNU/Linux,"

    Not necessarily. Some distros, especially for lean systems, have nothing from GNU. There is more than one libc and busybox is not a GNU project.

  18. Re:Lennart already announced the systemd glibc rep by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

    Sun Mar 31 17:22:15 PDT 2013

    April the 1st, east of the Atlantic.

  19. Re:I'm sold! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    For porn, get yourself an Android tablet. The user experience of the Chromebook is not optimized to keep and navigate your porn locally. So unless, you want to re-download the same porn videos again and again, consider using an Android tablet instead.

    The app support for porn on Android is awesome (personally, I prefer Opera the best for that, especially for the animated gif previews, plus an app for hiding the porn, plus a video app for looping the small parts of the videos I prefer). Also, consider a 7 inch or 8 inch Android tablet. A 10+ inch tablet gets really heavy if you're holding it with just one hand while in bed (even two hands gets tiresome). And even if you have a stand for your 10+ inch tablet, the stand won't really be that useful unless you can pivot it 360 degrees.

    Not to mention, you should probably consolidate your porn with your games, your music, and/or your manga collection, and Android has really the best free (free as in beer) support for any of those.

  20. Re:Chromebook Shmomebook by ogdenk · · Score: 2

    Depends how you have your login and shell profile scripts set up.

    In fact, you can plug in a USB->Serial adapter and set up a real VT220 as a secondary console, or if you have a hackintosh with a real serial port, you can just use that.

    Or if the machine is set up to ask for a username and password instead of clicking a picture, you can even type '>console' as the user name and drop directly to shell without using terminal.app.

  21. Re:Pedantic, but... by nateman1352 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now don't get me wrong, I really really appreciate all the hard work the GNU project and the FSF have contributed, but to imply that _only_ the GNU project and the Linux kernel deserve credit seems quite unfair to me.

    If we call in GNU/Linux because GNU deserves credit then we should name it GNU/Apache/Xorg/KDE/SystemD/Samba/LibreOffice/Mozilla/Linux, because all those other projects are just as critical to creating the modern, functional operating system that we have today.

    Or we could grow up and just call it Linux because its just a name after all.

    My theory is RMS and all his buddies over at the GNU project are still butt hurt about Linux stealing the thunder from GNU Hurd (25 years after the fact!) If they really want to have their GNU OS, then just finish Hurd already build your GNU package.

    It's amazing how childish RMS can be sometimes, look at how he reacted to the fact that Clang and LLVM are now technically superior to GCC. Wrote a whiny blog post about how he admits it hurts on a personal level and then in the same paragraph attacks Clang as not being open source enough because it is BSD licensed instead of GPL! Honestly I think deep down inside RMS would have preferred that Apple kept Clang closed source even though he would never say that publicly. Apple gives us something for free that they totally didn't have to give us so obviously we should bite their hand off because they licensed it in a way that would allow them to continue using it in Xcode.

    There is a lot of things I really like about the open source movement, but self righteous crap and the cliquey project leaders definitely leave a bad taste in my month.

  22. Re:Pedantic, but... by grahamlee · · Score: 2

    While we're in a thread called "Pedantic, but..." I feel safe with posting that OS X actually _is_ a UNIX, with SUS03 compliance. They did that after being sued by The Open Group for claiming to OS X be a UNIX when they weren't in compliance.

  23. Re:yes but was it missing usb boot before?wtf? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

    What they're saying is it wasn't an option on Crapbooks before. And what's the excitement - most chromebooks only have 2 gig of ram and 16 gig of storage. Even the "high end" ones only have 4 gig and 32 gig. And at the price of a high-end chromebook you can buy a laptop with 4 cores, 8 gig ram, and 500 gig-750 gig storage so if you're going to run an OS off a USB key anyway, you're better off without a chromebook. (Of course, you have the option of running it directly off the hdd as well with a laptop).

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.