
You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS - willsinclair
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/08/you-can-now-run-linux-apps-on-chrome-os/
======
paultopia
I think this is great. I bought a chromebook flip a couple of years ago, with
the intention of putting Linux on it---only to find that the hardware is
depressingly bad and the ARM processor makes the Linux experience terrible
(had to install Arch, never did manage to make basic things like the JVM work
right, eventually gave up on it). Since then, I've been very skeptical of the
notion of buying chromebooks as cheap and lightweight mobile working tools.

But I will buy a pixelbook in an instant if I can get a fully functional, no
bullshit with having to install custom kernels or new firmware or god only
knows what and what will happen to the hardware and what just won't work
despite The Internet insisting it does, insisting! Oh Lordy. A Linux
environment available on decent hardware, without having to MacGyver it
together with bubble gum and safety pins? Where things like power management
actually work? What other options are there, really, for that? Purism? Dell
XPS13! All of those are actually _more_ expensive than the Pixelbook. (Though
the Dell thing does look pretty sweet.) Hell, I may go order one now.

~~~
jmagoon
The other good thing about this is that the Pixelbook is a 3:2 screen, so
finally there's a laptop with a proper display resolution that can run Linux
nicely.

There's a good community of folks over at
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Crostini/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crostini/) who
have been tinkering with this for quite some time.

~~~
Daycrawler
Why is 3:2 better than standard 16:9?

~~~
ptman
It depends on what you do. 16:9 is better for wathing 16:9 movies. But if you
read lots of text, narrower, longer columns are usually a lot more handy. We
have way more vertical than horizontal scrollbars.

~~~
jeffhuys
I prefer 16:9 or 16:10 because I have a lot of windows side-by-side most of
the time. I don't have 1 file open while coding, most of the time 2 or 3, in
that case a wider screen is better in my opinion.

~~~
cube2222
I've got a surface and in my opinion 3:2 is actually better for multitasking.
You can fit two windows vertically. So you end up having 4 windows side by
side.

------
tinix
Tech journalists, especially, almost always fail to do even a tiny bit of
research or due diligence. I mean... Crostini is not "new", it's been on dev
channel for months[1]! But this article ending... hilarious icing on the cake.

> "Now, it’s probably only a matter of hours before somebody starts running
> Windows apps in Chrome OS with the help of the Wine emulator."

Someone should also tell them about running Crossover on Chrome OS via
Android[2], which has already been possible for months!

[1] [https://chromium-
review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/87...](https://chromium-
review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/879173)

[2]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codeweaver...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codeweavers.cxoffice)

~~~
wlesieutre
While they're at it, they could discuss what WINE is, and more specifically,
what it is not ;)

~~~
sp332
That's funny, but just because it _says_ it's not an emulator... Well, see
this page where it used to be short for Windows Emulator.
[http://www.faqs.org/faqs/windows-emulation/wine-
faq/](http://www.faqs.org/faqs/windows-emulation/wine-faq/)

~~~
chungy
There is a lot of confusion about what emulation means, and the name shifted
to reflect that it will not, in fact, allow you to run your x86 Windows EXEs
on a SPARC or PowerPC.

~~~
Volt
It's emulating the Windows libraries, not the CPU instructions.

~~~
idonotknowwhy
That's like saying that Windows Explorer is emulating a filing cabinet with
folders and files in it.

~~~
chungy
There is a good deal of validity towards calling Wine an emulator in this
vein. It is reimplementing an executable format loader, calling conventions,
and the entire runtime and libraries of a foreign operating system -- in other
words, emulating the Windows operating system.

However, emulating has also often been used to describe software that
implements the opcodes of a foreign instruction set in software. For example,
a program that implements 6502 opcodes and related modules that allows you to
play NES games on a PC. Wine isn't an emulator of this type. Wine relies on
the fact that x86 Windows programs can be made to run on x86 Linux by means of
implementing everything I stated in the first paragraph. It does not allow for
running x86 Windows programs on a SPARC machine (QEMU can assist in doing
this, but that's a digression...). Wine is not an ISA emulation, but it is an
ABI emulation.

------
owaislone
Ever since I bought a Samsung Chromebook Plus for a friend and had a week to
play with it, I've wanted Google to do this. This is probably my favourite
announcement from I/O this year. I love how simple and well designed Chrome OS
is. Now I can get proper access to all the tools I'm used to on Linux while
not having to deal with terrible UX when it comes to things like
notifications, daily schedule, calendar and mail. This to me looks like the
perfect balance between running Linux and macOS.

I'm running Kubuntu on a 1 year old XPS 13 and most things work quite well. I
do however miss a nice mail clients, reliable notifications about meetings,
daily schedule, etc. I've tried almost everything available on Linux and while
some things do work, they either are not reliable enough (with cloud APIs,
etc) or are too ugly and clunky to use.

I'll wait for the next Pixelbook before jumping ship. Hopefully, Linux apps
support would have matured enough by then.

~~~
konschubert
I recently discovered "mailspring" as a snap package in the software center.

It's quite a powerful and polished mail app. The disadvantage is that it
breaks down on me sometimes and by default it adds tracking features to your
email, so you'll have to turn that off.

------
tambourine_man
You hear that Adobe? You now have a lot of potential costumers to sell your
Creative Cloud package to. I bet those Chromebooks are selling like hot cakes
and many schools would love to offer training for your tools. As a side
benefit, you'd get a lot of neglected Pro Apple costumers (well, one at
least), which would love to use some blessed by Adobe Linux distro.

Also…

>…meaning that even less powerful machines should be able to handle a code
editor without issues.

Being able to run a code editor is a statement of a machine's power and system
optimization? Welcome to the wonderful world of Electron apps.

>…Wine emulator

Wine is not an emulator, for crying out loud.

~~~
simonh
>Wine is not an emulator, for crying out loud

To those of us that used it back when Wine officially stood for Windows
Emulator, people nowadays getting all upset on this point is an ever green
source of amusement.

~~~
calcifer
It never officially stood for that.The backronym was there even when the name
WINE itself was very, very new [1].

[1]
[https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.os.linux.misc/_g3F2H4ie...](https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.os.linux.misc/_g3F2H4ieDc/1tN3XZODaYwJ)

~~~
simonh
Interesting linked post, thanks, but the project FAQ was headlined "The Wine
(Windows Emulator) FAQ" even in 1998. Wine clearly is an emulator of the
Windows APIs, it's just not a CPU emulator which was a much more common thing
back then.

~~~
calcifer
> Wine clearly is an emulator of the Windows APIs

No, WINE is a third party _implementation_ of Windows APIs, that doesn't make
it an emulator. Otherwise, Oracle JDK would be an "OpenJDK emulator".

------
indescions_2018
More details in XDA Developers interview with Kan Liu. Also suggesting GPU
acceleration support later this year

[https://www.xda-developers.com/chrome-os-linux-app-
support-g...](https://www.xda-developers.com/chrome-os-linux-app-support-
google-pixelbook/)

My prediction: VS Code / Pixelbook becomes a formidable devenv for many in the
coming months ;)

You can always try Neverware on a live usb to get a taste

[https://www.neverware.com/freedownload](https://www.neverware.com/freedownload)

~~~
solarkraft
The ironic thing is that VS Code is made in web technology.

~~~
gcb0
linux -> android -> browser -> linux -> browser -> VS

~~~
microcolonel
Not exactly, it's more like

    
    
        +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
        | Linux kernel + Android kernel bits                                 |
        |         |                                                          |
        |         |                                                          |
        | Various and sundry                                                 |
        |         |                                                          |
        |         |                                                          |
        | Wayland compositor -----------------------------+                  |
        |         |                                       |                  |
        |         |                                       |                  |
        | Wayland browser windows     Wayland surfaces proxied from Qemu-KVM |
        +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

------
nickjj
If anyone wants to run Linux apps on their Chromebook right now, you can just
install GalliumOS.

I think it's better than the VM solution that's mentioned in the article
because GalliumOS gets installed natively, so there's no VM. You can choose to
dual boot it with ChromeOS.

It runs really well, and it's hyper optimized for Chromebooks. It's just a
fork of xubuntu.

I've been running it on my Chromebook for 2 years and I use it as a portable
development machine. It's nice having a $350 laptop with a 1080p IPS screen,
SD ports, enough computing power to run Dockerized web apps and weighs under 3
pounds.

Details on how I set it all up can be found at
[https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-
chromeboo...](https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromebook-
cb35-into-a-linux-development-environment-with-galliumos).

~~~
jacksmith21006
You lose the security when using GalliumOS. Used all the methods to use
GNU/Linux on a CB. From using Crouton, Gallium, GNURoot, Termux and now using
this as have a PixelBook.

In the US so our school uses Chromebooks which replaced all the Macs. Had to
hack together a way to use the CBs for AP CS 1 and 2. But now it will have
support built in.

By far the best approach is what Google is doing here. Keep all the security
and no need to dual boot or put in developer mode.

Plus this makes GNU/Linux far more approachable. Will also be able to walk
into a BestBuy and chose between a bunch of different machines depending on
your requirements.

We also have five new higher end CBs in development and would guess partially
because of this new functionality.

This is ideal as you can use the hook if a power user to basically do anything
you want. Run Wine or Steam or Docker or pretty much anything as you have the
vector you needed. But then also can be used by a new user as the approach is
basically just a click. Also we should get instant GNU/Linux applications.
Container comes down, spins up, do what you need, goes away.

"Here are five high-end Chromebooks in development to challenge the Pixelbook"

[https://www.xda-developers.com/google-pixelbook-
alternative-...](https://www.xda-developers.com/google-pixelbook-alternative-
high-end-chromebooks/)

~~~
nickjj
> You lose the security when using GalliumOS.

Depends on who is using it. For me (and I imagine most developers), it's not
losing security. It's allowing us to set up a proper Linux development
environment with no wasted resources or hacks.

It's no less secure than installing xubuntu or Ubuntu on a different device.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Every user losses the security. Difference is some are more careful than
others. But I am old, and should know better, but still run into things and
much prefer something that has first class security.

But then also to get to do whatever I want on a machine AND have the security
to me is ideal.

I have used Crouton for years and this will be far better.

Love the approach Google has taken and keeping security first and center.

BTW, what I like about this approach is the hacks are no longer necessary. No
need to use Termux or GNURoot with a fake chroot. No need to put in developer
mode any longer to use Crouton.

This is ideal for our High school for teaching AP CS 1 and 2.

~~~
curioussavage
You know what is a huge security loss? Being forced to use your email password
to log into your computer. Your stinking email account! The keys to the
kingdom these days. Responses from google forum - “google is really good at
protecting your account”, “oh just use two factor or yubikey” and other stuff
that the average joe is NOT going to do. How many chromebook users out there
probably have 4 letter passwords?

Incentivizing people to use crappy passwords for their email and making it
harder to use password managers sucks. Saying that it doesn’t matter because
Google thinks it is pretty good at protecting my account(because they
constantly monitor me) also sucks.

I would much rather run gallium OS on my chromebook.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Your email address password is not passing unencrypted so no problem. But key
is ChromeOS is going to be far more secure. Plus supports 2FA.

Gallium is going to be far less secure. Better to use Crouton.

But this new functionality is ideal. Just love it. Get the most secure
GNU/Linux solution you can get.

------
totallysnowman
Neat! So now you can run JavaScript "IDE" inside a browser inside a Linux VM
inside a browser on Linux!

~~~
ulyssesgrant
is chrome OS still considered a browser if it's providing a VM for non-
javascript applications?

~~~
jacksmith21006
Never thought ChromeOS was a browser. Plus already had Android support.

------
timvisee
I wonder why they are using a VM running Debian for Linux applications, as
Chrome OS is already Linux (Gentoo) based itself.

~~~
dfaigonio
Why does the Chrome OS team do anything the Chrome OS team does? They decided
the best idea for low-end hardware is to run everything as a web app. They
decided to make it practically useless without an Internet connection because
clearly no one will use an _ultraportable_ somewhere without Internet access.
They decided to develop their own distro mostly from scratch because
contributing to an existing project would be too easy, to useful, and would
get them too much goodwill. They decided the best way to make the system easy
to use was to split your files between local storage and the cloud so you
don't know where anything is.

It's a stupid idea from start to finish. You shouldn't try to make sense of
it.

And it depresses me. Its success demonstrates that Linux desktops could catch
on in the mainstream market just fine if they had the marketing budget, brand
recognition, and vendor support of Google. This team of idiots _could_ have
ended the hegemony of Microsoft and Apple for good.

~~~
johnvaluk
On the other hand, Chrome OS has finally ended my nightmare as the family IT
support specialist. I have to help people who don't know what a "mouse" is,
what a "browser" is, or that you can read the same email on multiple devices.
When I switch them to a ChromeBook, life is much easier. Do they still have
problems? Yes, because they don't understand the underlying concepts and face
an enormous learning curve. But they don't get viruses anymore and nearly any
problem is solved with a restart. Plus, Chrome OS is truly multiuser in the
sense that anyone with a Google account can log into the device and access all
of their online resources without affecting any other users, so I've been able
to modify the owner's idea of what it means to share the device in a secure
manner. Frankly, it's a godsend for some types of users who are incapable of
maintaining any system running Windows, MacOS or a mainstream Linux
distribution.

~~~
tbyehl
So much this.

Frankly, the more I use a ChromeBook myself, the less I want to use another
mainstream OS for day-to-day computing. I don't game or do much photo / video
editing so I go weeks at the time on the ChromeBook without reaching for
something else. It's nice having a computer that I _genuinely_ don't need to
think about.

Next step is ditching my work-provided Windows laptop for a ChromeBook...

------
chrisfarms
I'm really happy Google are giving a go at making ChromeOS into something more
than browser on steroids. I really believe this is a path to a decent Linux
Desktop future.

I'm def considering getting a pixelbook for my main machine this year now.

------
williamstein
Will this make it possible to run Docker in a Chromebook? With Crouton, which
is just a chroot, you can't run Docker at all (without changing the ChromeOS
kernel), and can only run rkt containers. If this new Linux apps support
really runs in a Debian KVM virtual machine, then _maybe_ it will be possible
to run Docker in that, which would be a massive advantage over what crouton
provides. Anybody know?

~~~
thesandlord
Yes, you can run Docker.

Source: I've been testing Crostini for a while now, and Docker works great!

~~~
williamstein
Thanks! This is really fantastic news!

------
JepZ
I wish they would also offer some runtime environment to run Android apps on a
normal Linux (e.g. Debian/Arch). And no, I am not talking about some weird,
full size VM with a few Gigs of ram overhead. But since the business case
seems to be missing, I will probably have to wait forever ;-)

~~~
beagle3
Anbox[0] already does that. It's not official, it's not from Google, it's not
perfect, but .. it works, and integrates the android apps into your system
(does not have a weird VM or few gigs of ram overhead).

[0] [https://anbox.io/](https://anbox.io/)

------
chrononaut
Pixelbook development will continue to be an interesting affair as Chrome OS
becomes a more functional environment for developers.

Curious if the next version of Pixelbook will contain a 3G/LTE interface with
support for Project Fi.

------
bikamonki
Or you can wipe it off, fully install Gallium OS before you finish a warm
coffee and be super happy with your brand new super cheap fanless ssd linux
laptop. Later, if you miss ChromeOS just click run a browser :)

~~~
fluxsauce
That doesn't seem like an active project.

Looking at [https://galliumos.org/download](https://galliumos.org/download)

> GalliumOS 2.1 was released on 2017-02-28

[https://wiki.galliumos.org/News](https://wiki.galliumos.org/News)

[https://wiki.galliumos.org/Special:RecentChanges](https://wiki.galliumos.org/Special:RecentChanges)

Is there another resource I should be looking at?

~~~
bikamonki
Maybe here?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/GalliumOS/](https://www.reddit.com/r/GalliumOS/)

------
darren0
I've been playing with crosvm and containers (lxd) in ChromeOS for awhile and
I've been very impressed at the technical expertise that has been required to
bring this to ChromeOS. Now that the terminal app is released I can say (I
have a pixelbook and am currently using it), the user experience is really
quite slick. This is a very promising platform.

------
fareesh
Are there any good reasons why a developer would buy a Chromebook over some
other laptop, unless they are developing _for_ the Chromebook itself?

~~~
city41
MacBooks are out for me now that they have the touchbar and bad keyboard. I
currently use a ThinkPad and it's pretty good, but the touchpad is mediocre at
best.

I think a ChromeBook with really first class support for Linux apps is very
compelling. I run Linux in a VM on Windows 10 on my ThinkPad and it's a great
setup. A ChromeBook would be a very similar setup but probably with better
native OS integration (for example they are exposing the Linux filesystem in
ChromeOS's file browser) and this would all be a first class use case
supported by Google.

~~~
xfer
You mean pixelbook, $300 chromebooks would obviously be of poor build quality;
although i am not sure of the hardware quality of pixelbook either. For me a
thinkpad works pretty well for a linux machine.

~~~
jdietrich
A lot of the lower-end Chromebooks are surprisingly well built. Education is a
huge market for Chromebooks, so durability is important. My Acer Chromebook is
mostly plastic, but there are hefty metal hinges and a metal backplate for the
LCD. I've dropped it several times and it just seems to bounce. The keyboard
and trackpad aren't exceptional, but are perfectly pleasant to use. The only
major downside is the screen, which is a fairly dim and low-res TN panel.
Still, you really can't complain for the price.

------
johnvega
This is great. I've been exploring Chromebook for the first time, but
immediately got it in dev mode, then installed ubuntu gnome using crouton
(chroot). Then installed golang and vscode, chrome and firefox browsers, and
some tweaking for keyboard. It's been okay for several weeks. I can switch
back to ChromeOS and have TeamViewer and Windows Remote Desktop to access more
powerful computers at home or VMs from the cloud. Long battery life, fanless,
(Acer 14 full hd) good stuff, great experience overall, but it looks like it
will get better.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Acer 14 is an excellent machine. We have a bunch of them as have 8 kids and
not had a single issue with a machine. I hand them to my kid and to not hear
back which is my ideal. I am the house admin even though never applied for the
job.

Purchased all Acer refurb for about $200 USD. One was $180.

You just can not get any other laptop that is all metal, peppy performance,
incredible security, etc for so cheap.

------
segmondy
But would these cost $200 like the original chromebooks? The entire sell of
Chromebooks to me was that they were really cheap. The newer models tend to
cost as much as a macbook.

~~~
bergie
There are both cheap and expensive Chromebooks available. So the main change
is that now you have mid- and high-range Chromebooks _alongside_ the cheap
ones, depending what you prefer

------
hs86
How does Chrome OS and its display server compare security-wise to a regular
GNU/Linux distribution?

Is each desktop application going to live in its own sandbox?

------
newnewpdro
I assume the reason this is being abstracted behind a VM where the app must
bring not just a userspace but its own kernel is because Chrome OS is about to
become Fuchsia, and the only vestige of Linux on the future Chrome OS devices
will be in a VM for niche applications.

Hooray.

This isn't more Linux, this is a compatibility step towards _less_ Linux being
spun as something else.

~~~
jacksmith21006
What? If the Linux support remains how is it "less Linux"? Linux is embedded
inside ChromeOS and could be Fred and nobody would know any difference.

The complaining on HN is becoming just baffling. seems for the sake of just
complaining.

We finally have a machine that support GNU/Linux applications out of the box
and from the UI standpoint basically a first class citizen. But the most
secure GNU/Linux machine you can get.

Honestly there is no reason the same technique being used by Google could not
have been also done by MS and/or Apple.

Could even have been a standard. Click, container comes down, spins up, do
what you need, disappears.

It is a bit insane we have basically the same hardware for Windows, Macs and
ChromeOS and we make each different in the OS.

I get some CBs are ARM but really not as common as people think.

~~~
newnewpdro
It's less Linux because this is another step towards Chrome OS devices not
running any Linux at all _except_ for in niche situations, and in those cases
only as a VM. The decision to use a VM is the telling part. If they were
committed to Linux as the underlying kernel in Chrome OS this would just use
process-level isolation like containers.

When measured in terms of number of devices actually running a Linux kernel on
physical hardware, in a post-Fuchsia Chrome OS world there will be less Linux
kernels executing on devices at the bare metal, according to my prediction.

Between this and Android pivoting to Fuchsia, the number of non-server devices
executing Linux kernels on physical hardware will have dropped substantially.

For anyone who values having a well-supported GPL kernel with maintained and
modern hardware drivers as an option it should be viewed as incrementally more
bad news.

Microsoft and WSL is another facet of this attack on the Linux kernel. By
providing a way to run a Linux userspace directly from existing proprietary
Windows installs, they remove a bulk of the impetus a Windows user may have
had to attempt running the Linux kernel directly on their physical hardware.

We're headed towards a future where relatively few people run Linux at all
directly on non-server hardware. Which enters into a self-reinforcing scenario
of even fewer people doing so because the kernel development community will be
working with fewer resources to keep up with hardware developments.

I hope I'm wrong, but it's looking increasingly like the future of Linux-based
clients will be IoT and raspberry pi like devices.

~~~
jacksmith21006
ChromeOS supporting GNU/Linux applications now has ZERO to do with this new
capability. Completely unrelated. Different kernels and even GUI is forwarded.

Plus how they implement Fuchsia is unclear or even for sure going to happen.
ChromeOS already uses Skia so could be where they chose to tap into. But once
again this has ZERO to do with this.

"it should be viewed as incrementally more bad news. "

Bizzare statement. GNU/Linux is using virtual drivers so if Fuchsia does a
better and more secure job then all is good.

What you do not seem to understand is what Google has done is no different
than if it was done on Windows or OS X.

It is purely a coincidence both are using the Linux kernel.

Running GNU/Linux on the client just got the biggest tail wind since it came
out. This is a huge development for GNU/Linux on the desktop.

60% of K12 in the US is CBs. That is a big number of people now going to be
able to use CBs to support things like AP CS 1 and 2.

BTW, how Google implemented is a huge plus to be intact if they moved to
Fuchsia for ChromeOS not less.

------
emiliosic
While on the surface this is great, I also find it concerning in the way this
is going. First, you can only access this feature (for now) on a Pixelbook.
This is not Android where patches are delivered first on Google's own
hardware, or is it? Then Chrome OS runs no 3rd party apps, but it runs Chrome
'Native' code, which is being phased out, where Chrome acted as a VM. I think
Google wanted this to happen very much but opened all sort of backdoors into
managed deployments of Windows and macOS. Then ChromeOS started supporting
Android apps, although the experience is very much like running an emulator.
Now it can run Linux on a VM. Fair enough, but it can run Linux only if it's
Ubuntu. Ubuntu is fine but it's not the only choice for Linux, and with good
reason.

------
shmerl
_> To enable support for graphical apps, the team opted to integrate the
Wayland display server_

So why VM if they provide a Wayland compositor? For security they can use
apparmor or other sandboxing methods without resorting to full virtualization.

------
hutzlibu
I only dived in crouton etc. for a short view, but I think the main reason why
I did not continue (besides that it was messy) was the lack of GPU rendering
(I believe there was none, at least for my ARM Modell)

Is this going to be different with this approach?

~~~
glibgil
Yes, [https://chromeunboxed.com/news/chromebook-crostini-
container...](https://chromeunboxed.com/news/chromebook-crostini-containers-
gpu-support/)

~~~
hutzlibu
Ok.. now it is good news for me ;)

------
kartickv
I'm happy that Chromebooks are finally powerful enough to meet my needs, but
I'm concerned about running three different types of apps — web, Android and
Linux. Each of these are built for different platforms, with different
expectations, different UX standards, and different capabilities. Won't
throwing them together on the same device be a mess?

------
eric24234
I run nodejs server, postgresql db server(configured to use low memory),
installed android studio, developing an react native android app on emacs with
i3 window manger on a crouton based chrooted debian os. I am really surprised
i can do all these without much delay. Chromebook is really working well for
me. The only problem is the samsung chromebook i use has only 8 gb of ssd and
after all these i have about 2 gb left. I hope google takes the low ssd memory
chromebooks in to account.

~~~
eric24234
Oh i forgot to mention i have installed android on the chrome book and i can
run react native android app on the chrome book.

------
sologoub
Got super excited about this - I mean what’s not to like?!

Then, decided to check my other big usecase for when on the road - Netflix and
other entertainment... total flop:

Resolution:

\- Up to 1080p on Google Chrome

\- Up to 480p on the Netflix app from the Google Play Store
[https://help.netflix.com/en/node/296](https://help.netflix.com/en/node/296)

So if you want to save a movie for the flight, 480p is all you get...

Really wish we could get this functionality on iOS. iPad Pro is definitely big
enough to code on. All it’s really missing is being able to run commandline
tools.

------
Abishek_Muthian
At-last, Android Studio's memory consumption might be improved upon for
Chromebook sake at-least ! Compiling a decent sized project on a 4GB RAM
chromebook is going to take ages.

------
fergie
Does this mean that you can just open a bash shell and start doing bash stuff?
If so that is fantastic, and is maybe enough to get me back onto a Chromebook.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Yes. Have on my PB already.

------
SomeHacker44
...the Wine [Wine is not an emulator] emulator... :)

------
rbanffy
How am I supposed to live without a Super key?

No. Seriously, how is the keyboard mapping? Can the function keys emit F1-F12
or just their special functions? How is people running Linux on them working?

When I was in doubt about getting one, I got an Acer "Cloudbook" that came
with Windows 8 and just installed Linux on the eMMS space just because it came
with a full keyboard.

------
deft
This is cool! I won't be stuck with hterm and the bugs that have always been
present in it any more :)

------
jacksmith21006
Just heard the Google IO attendees are getting 75% off of a Pixel Book.
Incredible deal and picked wrong year to skip IO.

------
codedokode
Virtual Machine will probably mean poor performance for GUI apps, especially
HTML-based apps. Why don't they just use containers?

------
gyrgtyn
can we access network / tun/tap stuff?

------
z3t4
I guess "web apps" are not as successful as Google hoped. There _are_ some
great web apps, but they are electron apps ... Maybe bake in "elevated" mode
in Chrome so it basically becomes Electron, but with some kernel hooks to
limit an apps abilities and let users pick what the app is able to access,
network, hdd, etc.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Google has 60% of K12 in the US coming decades later than Apple and MS and a
fail?

~~~
z3t4
It's kinda insane! what apps are they using !?

~~~
jacksmith21006
Google Docs, sheets, slides, and a big one is Google Classroom.

But what I like is the analytics. It is all about taking the gut out of
matching students and teachers.

I have 8 kids and you get a link with everything broken down by kid and can
drill down.

------
sitepodmatt
Will gnome-terminal work? What about a clipboard manager? A screenshot tool?
OpenVPN?

------
kristianp
Cool, now how about making the Pixelbook available in Australia?

------
GogoAkira
I can't run some linux apps on some linukss

------
dajohnson89
I got excited until I remembered that I have a bricked chromebook under my
bed. It just stopped working one day, and before that froze often enough to be
annoying.

------
ryanpcmcquen
This is a great and unexpected move by Google.

------
trumped
Isn't Chrome OS based on Linux? so in other words, Google just removed
restrictions that they added? I wonder what they added for this to be possible
for their advertising company.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Yes ChromeOS is based on Linux. But no actually has nothing to do with how
they implemented.

Instead they enabled the KVM on the ChromeOS Linux kernel. Then they
implemented a second Linux kernel and then are using machine containers
(LXC/LXD) on top of the VM.

This approach gets you container separation of GNU/Linux applications and then
a container and a VM from the ChromeOS Linux kernel.

This gets you a very high level of security. Just love the approach. Should
also get you instant GNU/Linux applications. Just click, container comes down,
spins up, do what you need, disappears.

This also allows a power user to use the hook to do almost anything you can do
with any GNU/Linux machine. But also provides a far more approachable way for
new to GNU/Linux users to get into Linux.

Have a PB and used Wine, Steam, Docker and not had any problem using anything
I would on a regular distro so far.

Would love to see MS and Apple to implement GNU/Linux the same way on their
desktop OSs. You could have a standard. But doubt we will see it.

------
jphalimi
"Google’s PM director for Chrome OS Kan Liu told me the company was obviously
aware that people were using Crouton to do this before. But doing this also
meant doing away with all of the security features that come with Google’s
operating system."

I don't know if I am the only one, but this one made me laugh.

~~~
iodiniemetra
Yes, disabling signed boot and allowing untrusted, unsandboxed code is what
sets chromebooks apart from the competition.

Of course, you can do away with these checks by entering developer mode.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Plus the automatic updating and even done in the background. Just pick it up
next reboot.

True story. Son was turning his Win PC off for the night and it indicated do
not shut off as updating. Told him just leave it on for the night. Wake up in
the morning and still do not turn off updating. Just a terrible UX.

I am a huge fan of CBs. Now GNU/Linux support makes it that much better.

