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You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

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Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#261

Post by newnewpdro »

jacksmith21006 wrote: post #245
newnewpdro wrote: post #128

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.

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…

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.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#263

Post by mkozlows »

Mindwipe wrote: post #257
toast0 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Since then, I've been very skeptical of the notion of buying chromebooks as cheap and lightweight mobile working tools. You have to be careful about which processor powers your Chromebook if you want to do non chrome os things. The processors from the mainstream core line (Haswell, Skylake) etc do pretty well, although they're usually fairly low clocked. The chromebooks with Atom or ARM processors usually have a ha…

By the same token... if you want to run Android applications the situation is much worse on x86 processors, because while Android is supposed to be agnostic the reality is that there hasn't been any requirement for developers to target x86 market wise for a long time, and anything that goes remotely near direct graphics rendering or video DRM tends to break quite badly.

This isn't my experience. I have a Chromebook Pixel, which is x86, and games and movie apps work fine on it. I think anything major is likely to be cross-compiled, and it's only niche apps that won't run.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#264

Post by dmihal »

xfer wrote: post #71
city41 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exa…

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.

Just got my parents a $500 Samsung Chromebook, and the build quality is incredible.

Macbooks continue to look less and less appealing to me, if Chromebooks somehow got Adobe CC, I'd switch immediately.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#265

Post by 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.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#266

Post by citruscomputing »

nickjj wrote: post #237

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 a…

I've also been using GalliumOS, for 2 years as well, as my only OS. (On an Acer 15[0]) It has been pretty fantastic, aside from a few small issues. (Sometimes I have to boot into ChromeOS and reinstall GRUB, 32gb storage for 2 operating systems and all my files isn't a ton, 4gb RAM gets in the way.)

The battery lasts a long time, the screen is very nice, and it is quite lightweight.

For general programming, web browsing, word processing, etc it does everything I need it to. I don't feel the need to "upgrade" to a real laptop, except for the hardware concerns and that I can't dual boot into Windows or MacOS to run non-Linux apps.

I can highly recommend GalliumOS.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Chromebook-CB5-571-C09S-15-6-Inc...

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#267

Post by rahimnathwani »

sandGorgon wrote: post #159
paultopia wrote: post #41

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…

XPS 13 with Fedora is sheer brilliance. I'm actually hoping that Android apps will run natively on Linux. Thats really the endgame.

This is what Anbox is trying to do: https://github.com/anbox/anbox/blob/master/README.md

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#268

Post by jacksmith21006 »

newnewpdro wrote: post #261
jacksmith21006 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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…

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.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#269

Post by jacksmith21006 »

Y_Y wrote: post #256
jacksmith21006 wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry not following? "post your code"? What code?

I think you probably did follow, but just didn't like it. I thought your post just read like technobabble and I was being stupid and snide and implying it had been written by a bot with some commercial agenda.

I thought that might be it but did not seem to make any sense to say "post your code".

But what was inaccurate with my post? Or is this attack the poster?

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#270

Post by 8draco8 »

chi3 wrote: post #212
confounded wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re pretty much describing Purism’s Librem line of laptops: https://puri.sm/products/librem-13/

Aren't they just Clevo computers? If so, the ones I've used have _nowhere_ near premium build quality.

Because they are Clevo. In my opinion the whole "linux laptops" are just a scam in general. Virtually all of them are just slapping their logo on top of generic machine from vendor like Clevo or Compal and are saying that those are "machines designed for linux" ... no they aren't. The most that they are doing is to negotiate with Clevo to put a WiFi card that will work with linux out-of-the-box, which is basically the same what you can do yourself.
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