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ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

aboutchromebooks.com

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Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#31

Post by xt00 »

slim wrote: post #15
maxamillion wrote: post #6

Google put in a ton of work to make all the Linux and Android sandboxing while still being able to do file sharing into the sandboxes, Wayland GUI app bridging, usb pass-through, and a bunch of other stuff. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con... ChromeOS got good and is wildly underrated for software development. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do google developers develop on Chromebooks ?

So wait to be specific here -- is the setup that people develop on:

1. chrome-os device

2. install a debian VM

3. do all their development in a VM where they can easily install packages they need etc?

4. so they are doing dev in a VM on a core-i3 intel machine I guess?

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#32

Post by nolist_policy »

westurner wrote: post #25
AJRF wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All new devs are given Chromebooks unless they need a specific device (like a MacBook for iOS devs)

But aren't devs also provided with: SSH, CI build minutes, and GCP budgets for containers and VMs? To actually dogfood Chromebooks internally like Chromebooks for Education and for Families, Google would need to deny its devs containers behind a greyed out "Turn on Linux" button and deny them access to Colab notebooks and AI platform etc (while only allowing Play Store apps); nothing to SSH to, no notebooks, no devpo…

I'm pretty sure the grayed out "Turn on Linux" button due to policy setting by the organization managing the Chromebook.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#33

Post by Laremere »

maxamillion wrote: post #6

Google put in a ton of work to make all the Linux and Android sandboxing while still being able to do file sharing into the sandboxes, Wayland GUI app bridging, usb pass-through, and a bunch of other stuff. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con... ChromeOS got good and is wildly underrated for software development. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I loved Chromebooks. However I've been pretty turned off by them when my Chromebook which was working perfectly fine recently told me it's not getting security updates anymore. Now because the OS and browser are the same machine, the whole system is insecure.

Next laptop will be a framework, so I guess I'll see how that goes.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#34

Post by hnlmorg »

the_gipsy wrote: post #24
_ea1k wrote: post #2

Yeah, it is funny how successful Linux became as a desktop while basically noone was paying attention. I just wish the keyboards were more developer friendly. Give me F keys!

I haven't used F keys in years.

I used them heavily. Multiple times an hour. I’d be utterly lost without them. It would be like taking the shift key away.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#35

Post by ajross »

westurner wrote: post #25
AJRF wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All new devs are given Chromebooks unless they need a specific device (like a MacBook for iOS devs)

But aren't devs also provided with: SSH, CI build minutes, and GCP budgets for containers and VMs? To actually dogfood Chromebooks internally like Chromebooks for Education and for Families, Google would need to deny its devs containers behind a greyed out "Turn on Linux" button and deny them access to Colab notebooks and AI platform etc (while only allowing Play Store apps); nothing to SSH to, no notebooks, no devpo…

I don't follow? Software developers... aren't students or children.

It's a different market with different product segmentation and feature sets, it just happens to run on the same hardware and OS. And it's true that schools and parents often demand that their kids not hack stuff that the "admins" don't understand. And maybe that's bad or misguided or whatever. But it's not a statement about using a Chromebook as a developer client, which IMHO works very well.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#36

Post by treyd »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #9
systems wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would it be correct, to say, it is a linux, but not gnu linux ?

No, it literally is GNU/Linux, with glibc and coreutils and everything. EDIT: Rereading the thread I should spell out: I only meant ChromeOS; Android is indeed different.

The Android libc is called bionic.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#37

Post by isp »

maxamillion wrote: post #6

Google put in a ton of work to make all the Linux and Android sandboxing while still being able to do file sharing into the sandboxes, Wayland GUI app bridging, usb pass-through, and a bunch of other stuff. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con... ChromeOS got good and is wildly underrated for software development. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ChromeOS is wildly underrated in general, not only for software development.

App sandboxing on standard (non-ChromeOS) Linux distributions is painful and finicky, while it "just works" on ChromeOS.

I wish there was a non-hacky way to use Chromebooks without a Google account.

The hacky options are:

- "Switch to dev mode". But I don't want to be prompted to factory reset each boot.

- "Create a dummy Google account and use that". But I don't want file syncing and tracking to reach Google at all, not even on a dummy account.

- "Create a dummy Google account and use guest mode". But I want persistent storage.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#38

Post by VWWHFSfQ »

septic-liqueur wrote: post #29
maxamillion wrote: post #6

Google put in a ton of work to make all the Linux and Android sandboxing while still being able to do file sharing into the sandboxes, Wayland GUI app bridging, usb pass-through, and a bunch of other stuff. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con... ChromeOS got good and is wildly underrated for software development. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Couldn't agree more. I recently bought a cheap $200 Chromebook and I have to say that it outperforms my high end Windows + WSL2 machine from work for programming related tasks. Linux just works without all the WSL issues, I can run Visual Studio Code, Docker and anything that I tried so far. It's actually a delight to work on. I can only imagine how much better yet it will be with a top tier Chromebook

I find this very hard to believe. There is no "$200 Chromebook" that will ever out-perform a "high-end" machine no matter if it's running Windows + WSL2 or not. So what are the specs of this "high-end" machine?

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#39

Post by ajross »

mdwalters wrote: post #26
AJRF wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All new devs are given Chromebooks unless they need a specific device (like a MacBook for iOS devs)

Which brand, though? I have a feeling it's one of those first-party Google Chromebooks...

My daily driver right now is a mid-tier Tiger Lake board. You can get the equivalent for sub-$300 on Amazon. The client doesn't need to do much in the modern developer flow, running a browser, an X server and an ssh client is 90% of anything that needs to happen, with the occasional Linux Wayland client from the VM thrown in (Thunderbird for personal mail, occasional use of Audacity, stuff like that).

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#40

Post by bitwize »

slim wrote: post #15
maxamillion wrote: post #6

Google put in a ton of work to make all the Linux and Android sandboxing while still being able to do file sharing into the sandboxes, Wayland GUI app bridging, usb pass-through, and a bunch of other stuff. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con... ChromeOS got good and is wildly underrated for software development. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do google developers develop on Chromebooks ?

As I understand it, yes, albeit it's much easier at Google than some places. Google is pretty much a supercomputer with a company built around it; the Chromebook can serve as your terminal into that supercomputer, accessing your files, codebase, and other resources all remotely.
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