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Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

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Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#31

Post by Closi »

minerva23 wrote: post #17
SoftTalker wrote: post #8

With Google's track record for discontinuing products, would you commit to moving your school or business to this OS? Yes, schools and businesses often replace technology on a schedule, but standardizing on an OS is a longer-term decision than desktop replacement.

You shouldn’t be getting downvoted for that. It’s a fair question for those educated in Google’s history of cancelling products and uneducated in Chrome OS. A lot of people are unaware that Google is deeply committed in the OS space. Apart from Android, which they saw/see as an existential need for their business, Chrome OS fills a similar space on the desktop (especially as MS ramps up their anticompetitive efforts…

Lol at the comment around Microsoft's "anti-competitive efforts" which were making IE a core part of Windows, in a thread about Chrome OS which makes Chrome core to the OS, and in a world where Chrome has the dominant market share and is solidifying it by building it into their products.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#32

Post by DoctorOW »

dagmx wrote: post #11

Title on HN seems cut off. Missing "have been waiting for" as of right now

Personally I would cut off more. "Early access to Chrome OS Flex" is the factual statement about the topic of the post and "The upgrade PCs and Macs have been waiting for" isn't

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#33

Post by boddhi »

kybernetyk wrote: post #26
andrewmutz wrote: post #23

I am writing this comment on Chrome OS Flex and can not say enough good things about Chrome OS Flex. I installed it on my wife's old macbook air (~2013) and it brought new life to a machine that we had written off as useless. The OS does a great job of exactly two things: web browsing and linux stuff. It won't do more than that, but if that's all you need it is great. I honestly think you could make some decent cash…

Is there a terminal emulator included? What shell is installed by default?

ChromeOS has their own terminal app. It installs BASH by default and the linux distro is Debian.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#34

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

andrewmutz wrote: post #20
raggi wrote: post #10

I was really excited about Flex when I first heard about it. I then heard it didn't have Widevine or Android or Linux features. I don't know if that changed, but I wouldn't be surprised if not. If it did ship those it would be a great distro for a lot of people.

> Linux features Not sure what you are referring to, but I am writing this post from Chrome OS flex and the linux features work perfectly.

What are the "Linux features" exactly? Can you install packages? What distro or packaging format are they based off?

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#35

Post by andrewmutz »

prmoustache wrote: post #28
andrewmutz wrote: post #23

I am writing this comment on Chrome OS Flex and can not say enough good things about Chrome OS Flex. I installed it on my wife's old macbook air (~2013) and it brought new life to a machine that we had written off as useless. The OS does a great job of exactly two things: web browsing and linux stuff. It won't do more than that, but if that's all you need it is great. I honestly think you could make some decent cash…

What does it do better than simply installing any decent linux distro?

The UX is extremely easy to use. For most users, you're just using web browsers and the window manager for chrome os is designed for just manipulating browser windows.

Unless you install Linux stuff (most users don't) you can't download any software. This means no malware is possible.

It guides you to store everything in the cloud, which allows you to treat your workstations as cattle rather than pets.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#36

Post by rufugee »

wmf wrote: post #29
leejoramo wrote: post #22

Love how Google is advocating this for cost savings and sustainability. If only my School District could use Chrome OS Flex to get some more life out of the fleet 4 year old Chromebook's that can no longer get updates

Replacing an EOL version of Chrome OS with a different version of Chrome OS makes no sense.

I think their point is that Google is forcing perfectly good hardware into obsolescence unnecessarily.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#37

Post by andrewmutz »

dijit wrote: post #25
andrewmutz wrote: post #23

I am writing this comment on Chrome OS Flex and can not say enough good things about Chrome OS Flex. I installed it on my wife's old macbook air (~2013) and it brought new life to a machine that we had written off as useless. The OS does a great job of exactly two things: web browsing and linux stuff. It won't do more than that, but if that's all you need it is great. I honestly think you could make some decent cash…

Last time I ran chromeOS it was those unofficial builds by a guy called “Lex”, needless to say it was a long time ago. Back then it wasn’t possible to run anything other than Chrome itself outside of dev mode, but I’ve seen people running/installing VSCode on chromeOS (not in the web browser). Is that feasible? At the same time as I was seeing this, it appeared that the OS actually has a windowing system now, so you…

By default, there is only web browsers and no Linux. Which is nice because by default there can be no malware and it's a good OS for non technical users.

But with one click it installs and makes available Linux. It appears to the user as a debain variant. You can install anything and when you run apps they seamlessly work with the window manager. I've used VScode for software development and it works great. Steam is even available for games, but I haven't tried it.

Window manager is the right balance of powerful and simple. Great at manipulating web browser windows (has virtual desktops if you want them), but works fine interacting with Linux apps as well.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#38

Post by kennywinker »

In the 1990s Microsoft was heavily criticized, and litigated against, for the deep integration of internet explorer with windows, and their monopoly on operating systems and web browsing. Stunning to think that people are willingly installing chrome the browsers, and chrome the os in 2022.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#39

Post by [deleted] »

kennywinker wrote: post #38

In the 1990s Microsoft was heavily criticized, and litigated against, for the deep integration of internet explorer with windows, and their monopoly on operating systems and web browsing. Stunning to think that people are willingly installing chrome the browsers, and chrome the os in 2022.

[deleted]

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#40

Post by LoveMortuus »

kennywinker wrote: post #38

In the 1990s Microsoft was heavily criticized, and litigated against, for the deep integration of internet explorer with windows, and their monopoly on operating systems and web browsing. Stunning to think that people are willingly installing chrome the browsers, and chrome the os in 2022.

It is actually possible to install non-chrome browsers on ChromeOS either through the App store or just via the console.

But I totally understand your point and the options I've listed aren't either user friendly or straight up require you to be able to use a console.

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