Live data from Hacker News

Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

plus.google.com

11–20 of 60 posts

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#11
post #6

My initial thought about the Chomebook Pixel is exactly that it would be a good Linux machine. But with a maximum of 64GB storage, it'll never be my main machine, sadly.

I'm anxiously waiting for teardown info to see how easy it is to upgrade. I used a 64GB SSD in my main work machine until very recently and would have no problems going back, but if I buy a $1300 laptop, it has to have a little bit of room to grow.

The 4GB RAM spec is more worrisome to me, and far less likely to be user upgradable.

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#12
post #3

Looks like this is crouton: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton "Anyone who wants to run straight Linux on their Chromium OS device, and doesn't care about physical security. You're also better off having some knowledge of Linux tools and the command line in case things go funny, but it's not strictly necessary." The bit about physical security seems to refer to the fact that for some reason you can't even password…

[deleted]

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#13
post #12
post #3

Looks like this is crouton: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton "Anyone who wants to run straight Linux on their Chromium OS device, and doesn't care about physical security. You're also better off having some knowledge of Linux tools and the command line in case things go funny, but it's not strictly necessary." The bit about physical security seems to refer to the fact that for some reason you can't even password…

[deleted]

Everyone is confused! This guy is not dual-booting or using virtualization. He installed ubuntu to a chroot. Ubuntu is running in a chroot along side ChromeOS. He's using the ChromeOS kernel.

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#14
post #6

My initial thought about the Chomebook Pixel is exactly that it would be a good Linux machine. But with a maximum of 64GB storage, it'll never be my main machine, sadly.

The 13" Retina MacBook Pro [1] matches the wifi Pixel in almost every characteristic except the touch screen, and is just $200 more expensive for the model with 128GB storage. However, there's no LTE option. [1] http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/

Another difference between MacBooks and Chromebooks is the guaranteed availability of Linux drivers. If you buy a MacBook to run Linux, you have to do your research first, just like a Windows laptop.

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#15
post #6

My initial thought about the Chomebook Pixel is exactly that it would be a good Linux machine. But with a maximum of 64GB storage, it'll never be my main machine, sadly.

I'm anxiously waiting for teardown info to see how easy it is to upgrade. I used a 64GB SSD in my main work machine until very recently and would have no problems going back, but if I buy a $1300 laptop, it has to have a little bit of room to grow. The 4GB RAM spec is more worrisome to me, and far less likely to be user upgradable.

The SSD is soldered to the MB. Neither piece is user serviceable. This was mentioned in the comments of a googler g+ post showing off crouton the day of the announcement by the author.

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#17
post #3

Looks like this is crouton: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton "Anyone who wants to run straight Linux on their Chromium OS device, and doesn't care about physical security. You're also better off having some knowledge of Linux tools and the command line in case things go funny, but it's not strictly necessary." The bit about physical security seems to refer to the fact that for some reason you can't even password…

I'm fairly sure it's a reference to the generally disposable and fully encrypted nature of Chrome OS. There's no reason it wouldn't be password protectable and the link describes that the chroot can be encrypted as well.

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 13" Retina MacBook Pro [1] matches the wifi Pixel in almost every characteristic except the touch screen, and is just $200 more expensive for the model with 128GB storage. However, there's no LTE option. [1] http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/

Another difference between MacBooks and Chromebooks is the guaranteed availability of Linux drivers. If you buy a MacBook to run Linux, you have to do your research first, just like a Windows laptop.

Are there any mac components that don't have full linux support? I would expect that Mac's are so popular with geeks, they would have full driver support, but I never checked.

Re: Chromebook: Ubuntu alongside stock Chrome OS

#20
post #6

My initial thought about the Chomebook Pixel is exactly that it would be a good Linux machine. But with a maximum of 64GB storage, it'll never be my main machine, sadly.

The 13" Retina MacBook Pro [1] matches the wifi Pixel in almost every characteristic except the touch screen, and is just $200 more expensive for the model with 128GB storage. However, there's no LTE option. [1] http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/

If you watch the Apple Store, you can get a refurbished 13.3" Air for $1,269. Retina display (2560x1600, 227 dpi), 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD.
Post reply on HN