The first question in your head is 'why would I want to install Chrome OS, even on my old laptop, when there are perfectly adequate awesome full-fat Linux distros to choose from?' Good question, and the answer is not everyone wants a full-fat distro, nor can everyone use a full-fat distro. Part of the success of Chromebooks – and they are successful with 5.7 million Chromebooks being sold in 2014 and 7.3 million predicted for 2015 – is their cut-down, lightweight Gentoo-based OS. If you want to give someone easy, no fuss access to Google services it should be a tempting choice. The good news is that it's easy to install Chromium OS, which is the open source project name for the official Google Chrome OS, which is only available through officially licenced Chromebook PCs.
While it looks superficially different with a blue-theme running through it, Chromium OS taps into the same Google Accounts and services and it offers the same advantages of automatically picking up your plugins and the rest, which are stored in the Google cloud. Built on Gentoo, it is Linux based and so has all the advantages of the Linux kernel, but keep in mind it was only rolled out in late 2009, so if you're planning on trying it on hardware older than that you might not have as much luck. Having said that we tried it on a standard Lenovo X200 laptop from 2008 and everything worked without a hitch. A general rule of thumb is: any standard Intel hardware should work without a hitch. One thing we do know is that non-Intel wireless adaptors do cause issues, we'll go into this in more detail in a moment.
A number of sites have maintained builds of Chromium OS. It's unlikely you'll want to build it yourself from source, so there are versions ready for VirtualBox and for running and installing off a USB drive. We're, which is kept current. Another popular build is over at the.
This doesn't appear to be maintained as of April 2013, but it will still work. Take Chromium OS for a spin You've got an array of options for trying Chromium OS.
The easiest of them is to download an image, write it to a USB drive or SD card and boot this from your laptop or PC. There are live disc versions too, but with writable media you're able to save your settings and carry the OS around with you. It's not advertised within the OS but there's a command which easily copies the OS partitions to an internal hard drive. This does wipe all existing data but with cheap SSDs it's not beyond the realms of possibility you could buy a dedicated drive. We did try dual-booting Chromium with Linux Mint, but it seems Chromium saw this as a repair state and wouldn't play ball. Let us know if you have more luck, as it seems a relatively straight-forward process of recreating the two ROOT-A and STATE partitions, dd over these from the USB drive and update Grub.
Prev Page 1 of 7 Next Prev Page 1 of 7 Next 1. Grab a build. The keys are case sensitive, so carefully enter them, when asked for the password, which is password. To do this open Crosh, $ shell, $ sudo su, $ mount -o remount,rw /, $ cd /etc, $ vi chomedev.conf in vi enter the keys as detailed below.
Chromium OS Builds. Chromium OS is an open-source project that aims to build an operating system that provides a fast, simple, and more secure computing experience for people who spend most of their time on the web. For instructions on how to use the downloads, follow the link here.
Press Esc wq!, logout and log back in and Chromium Files should now have access. Google API keys This part of the walkthrough isn't strictly required and frankly it's a pain in the bum to implement as the keys are long and if your font obfuscates 1, L and I then it's a pain to enter as well.
But if you want the Chromium Files app to work nicely with your external Google Drive account, this is the way to do it. You'll need to get the keys from the. Under API you need to select Credentials followed by Create New Client ID for Installed Applications and Other type, then select Create New Key.
Two entries with your API, ID and Secret key will be listed. The second major step is adding the environmental variables to Chromium. In vi add the following three lines to the end of the configuration file along with your new keys. GOOGLEAPIKEY= GOOGLEDEFAULTCLIENTID= GOOGLEDEFAULTCLIENT SECRET=. Enjoyed this article?
Expand your knowledge of Linux, get more from your code, and discover the latest open source developments inside Linux Format. Prev Page 7 of 7 Next Prev Page 7 of 7 Next.
Advertisement You don’t need to buy a Chromebook to enjoy the features of Google’s desktop operating system (OS). In fact, all you need is a working computer and a USB Drive. Google doesn’t officially offer a way to try it out, but developers have figured out ways for you to experiment with the open-source OS. This method works whether you are running Windows, macOS, or Linux. And no, you won’t be overwriting your existing OS. Here’s what you need to know.
Running Chrome OS from USB We will basically create, loaded with the Chromium OS disk image. But you will need a few things before you start. a working computer with a USB port. a USB drive of at least 4 GB capacity. a 7-Zip extractor:.
for Windows, macOS, or Linux Note: The USB drive will be completely erased in the installation process. If you have any valuable data on the drive, please save it elsewhere. Step 1: Download the Latest Chromium OS image Google doesn’t have an official Chromium OS build that you can download. The best alternative source is Arnold The Bat. For added comfort, when asked to name the new drive, give it the name “Chrome”. Step 4: Download and Install Etcher There are plenty of software tools to install images to external drives, but we reckon Etcher is the best of them. It’s cross-platform, which means it works the same way on Windows, macOS, or any Linux distro.
More importantly, it validates the burning process i.e. Once it’s done creating the image on the USB drive, it will verify that everything is right. Download: (Free) Step 5: Run Etcher and Install the Image By now, you should have a fully formatted USB drive, named “Chrome”, plugged into one port of the computer (as shown in step three). You will also have an unzipped image file of the latest Chromium OS (as shown in steps one and two). And you have Etcher installed on your computer (as shown in step four). Start Etcher. Click Select Image and browse to where the Chromium OS image file is.
Add it in Etcher. Click Select Drive and choose the Chrome USB Drive you have created.
Click Flash to begin the process of installing the image and validating the installation. Once Etcher finishes, this will be a bootable USB drive with Chromium OS. Step 6: Reboot Your Computer and Enter Boot Options “Boot” is the process of choosing the OS.
Every computer lets you select which drive it should boot the OS from, whether it’s a hard drive, a USB drive, or even a DVD drive. For a Windows or Linux PC: Different computers have different BIOS settings. Usually, the Boot Options menu has the keyboard shortcut F5, F8, or F12. If you’re unsure, you can To get into the BIOS, you usually press a specific key at the right time. Here's how to enter the BIOS on Windows 10.
For a Mac: As soon the Mac shuts down and restarts, press and hold the Option key. You will be doing this while it’s a black screen, but that’s okay. Keep holding it till you see the boot menu, which lets you choose between a Macintosh hard drive or the USB drive you have plugged in (usually denoted as “EFI”). Step 7: Boot Into Chrome OS Choose the USB drive in the boot menu, hit enter, and the computer will boot from the drive. You are now experiencing all the glory of Chrome OS, without affecting your main hard drive and OS.
You won’t have any trouble, it’s simple enough that or as a first computer for kids. Don’t worry, this setup is only during the first time you boot up. Whenever you run it in the future, it will go directly to the login screen. Do You Run any OS From a USB?
The idea of running an operating system from a USB drive has some merit. After all, you’re basically carrying your PC with you, and are ready to turn any computer into your own. But is that convenience worth using an OS on a USB stick regularly? Do you run any operating system from a USB drive? Would you rather With this step-by-step tutorial, you can turn almost any computer into a Chromebook or Chromebox with CloudReady. or Looking for a new laptop on Black Friday?
Torn between a Windows laptop, Macbook, or Chromebook? Here's what you need to know.? Explore more about:,.