Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 329 posts

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#191

Post by pjmlp »

tambourine_man wrote: post #70

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 shoul…

> Chromebooks are selling like hot cakes

Not in Europe they aren't, here even as "Deal of day" they hardly get a buyer on consumer shops, always stuck alone in a dark corner of the shop, if they are there at all.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#192

Post by pjmlp »

omeid2 wrote: post #127
pier25 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously doubt Adobe will release Linux apps, ever. They hardly can keep up with Mac and Windows...

The tide is shifting, I thought Microsoft would never endorser Linux, but here we are with at least two three version of Microsoft Linux.

Because they need devs on Azure and their IoT offerings.

Adobe will do pretty fine with Windows and OS X customers.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#193

Post by pjmlp »

hutzlibu wrote: post #108
dfaigonio wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Did you actually used ChromeOS? Anyway, short answer: because they heavily customized and changed a lot of things. They could not have done this with an existing Distro so easy. And sad as it is -> their goal is and was not to help the linux desktop - it is to help the google Eco system. Cloud-Service. Webapp. Makes perfect sense. No matter how much you want them to support the things you (or me) want. We linux users…

It was already declining in the late 90's.

Had Linux not appeared on the scene, BSD kept busy with their ongoing trial and UNIX like OSes would be surely much less relevant today.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#194

Post by pjmlp »

rileyphone wrote: post #181
redial wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux desktops could catch on in the mainstream market just fine if they had the marketing budget, brand recognition, and vendor support of Google The problem with Linux on the mainstream is Linux, it has nothing to do with not having a huge brand like Google's nor with marketing, just ask Dell. Linux offers exactly what the enterprise market needs and it is a huge success, far bigger than anyone in the 90s ever im…

Linux isn't the problem: with enough money and time, you could build an OS around Linux that a user can use just like MacOS or Windows. Sony built an operating system around FreeBSD for the PS4 that noone recognises as such. The problem is that open source software (which Linux necessarily attracts due to licensing and reputaion) is designed by people with a fundamentally different view of ergonomics, and the number…

The PS4 has very little from FreeBSD beyond the kernel.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#195

Post by pjmlp »

vatueil wrote: post #186
hutzlibu wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Fuchsia OS as well, kust no GPL?

Yes, various parts use BSD/MIT/Apache licenses, e.g.: https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror/docs/blob/master/LICENSE That said, parent comments seem to be talking about two different topics. Later comment about Google switching the underlying foundation of Chrome OS from Linux to Fuchsia sounds plausible, while earlier comment complaining about Fuchsia being proprietary is nonsense.

It might not be proprietary, but if OEMs already only release updates at gun point with GPL, just wait until they get an OS with MIT like licenses given to them. It will be a big party.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#196

Post by chungy »

idonotknowwhy wrote: post #138
Volt wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

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.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#197

Post by mastazi »

donatj wrote: post #184
mschuster91 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with a proper display resolution 3:2? No thanks I don't really want black bars when watching movies... What I'd really really like is something with the build quality (especially the touchpad!) of a MacBook Pro, with decent and recent hardware, first class Linux support for all features, support for both USB-C and "old" USB and a decent keyboard with it. And that without paying more than for an technologically outd…

> No thanks I don't really want black bars when watching movies... I genuinely never understand people that watch movies on laptops. I find it a wholly unenjoyable experience. Do you own a TV? You’re missing so much of the experience watching a movie on anything smaller than 45” and TVs are dirt cheap these days. I saw a 65” the other day for $250...

> You’re missing so much of the experience watching a movie on anything smaller than 45”

genuinely curious: given the same resolution, what's the difference between watching a e.g. a 45" from your couch and watching something like a 20" while getting closer to the screen until it covers the same angle of view? Just the fact that it's (probably) more relaxing for your eyes to focus on relatively distant objects?

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#198

Post by keithpeter »

johnvaluk wrote: post #111
dfaigonio wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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 the…

You can add the education market into that as well, for similar reasons.

Local storage is available on later instances of ChromeOS I gather.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#199

Post by rifung »

grumdan wrote: post #123
mschuster91 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give me a Thinkpad with a full aluminium body, a touchpad with a size that's actually usable and we'll talk. Sorry but I have developed a real dislike for small touchpads incapable of reliable gestures and full plastic bodies.

This is pretty subjective, but I spend a lot more time typing than using the touchpad and while the MBPs touchpad may be nicer, I think the MacBook keyboards can't hold a candle to ThinkPad keyboards. I'm happy to trade a worse touchpad for that any day.

I use a Thinkpad with Linux for work and I agree that the keyboard is better than a MBP's.

However, even though I use the keyboard more than the trackpad, I find that I still rather use a MBP because the difference between the trackpads is greater than the difference between the keyboards. Also I like the screen on the MBP better.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#200

Post by reacharavindh »

willtim wrote: post #97
mschuster91 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give me a Thinkpad with a full aluminium body, a touchpad with a size that's actually usable and we'll talk. Sorry but I have developed a real dislike for small touchpads incapable of reliable gestures and full plastic bodies.

A metal body is heavy, prone to dents and attenuates radio. Why are you so keen on having one? The X1 Carbon is lighter, tougher and more serviceable than a MacBook Pro, in part because of a better choice of materials. As for trackpads, Apple keep making them larger and larger, so a ThinkPad trackpad is no smaller than a MacBook from a few years ago. The keyboard is surely the primary concern.

This. I don't buy MacBook Pro because it has Aluminium body, but because of the quality of the components inside, and how they integrate well with the OS.

My dream computer would be

- ThinkPad like casing. Light weight, yet durable. Not some cheap flimsy plastics.

- XPS like thin bezel display, with Apple like screen with colour calibration. While at it, please give me a 16:10 or some other tall displays where I can have more vertical space. 16:9 is only good for media and it is a secondary use-case on my laptop.

- Components with wider/open source drivers like intel wireless card instead of the Broadcom stuff. Some bluetooth module that has proper working Linux drivers.

- Trackpad - Mac like smooth trackpad. It's been decades and nothing comes even close to what Apple could do.

- Decent 12 hour real world battery life. I don't care if it makes the laptop slightly thicker or heavier - it is worth it.

- Keyboard with a good bit of travel - Like a ThinkPad.

- No Dongle life. Want USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, MiniDP, Full size SD card slot.

So far, only MacBook pro (with VMs running Linux) comes closest with several compromises.

Post reply on HN