You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS • Hacker News Board

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#31

Post by chrisfarms » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:10 PM UTC

I'm really happy Google are giving a go at making ChromeOS into something more than browser on steroids. I really believe this is a path to a decent Linux Desktop future.

I'm def considering getting a pixelbook for my main machine this year now.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#32

Post by totallysnowman » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:11 PM UTC

neuland wrote: post #26

JepZ wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because the Gentoo ecosystem (package tree, package managers) is build for source packages and not for binary packages.

Do you know if pacman is available on Chrome OS? My understanding is that it's based on Gentoo but it's heavily modified. So adding a different binary-based package manager isn't that crazy of an idea, especially for Google.

Two package managers are a bad idea. They would need to cooperate somehow. Pacman developers probably have heard of Gentoo, but I wouldn't call it "based on Gentoo".

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#33

Post by hutzlibu » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:12 PM UTC

glibgil wrote: post #25

hutzlibu wrote: post #22

I only dived in crouton etc. for a short view, but I think the main reason why I did not continue (besides that it was messy) was the lack of GPU rendering (I believe there was none, at least for my ARM Modell) Is this going to be different with this approach?

Yes, https://chromeunboxed.com/news/chromebook-crostini-container...

Ok.. now it is good news for me ;)

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#34

Post by cbhl » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:12 PM UTC

timvisee wrote: post #4

I wonder why they are using a VM running Debian for Linux applications, as Chrome OS is already Linux (Gentoo) based itself.

apt-get is still the golden standard for installing apps on Linux because of its dependency resolution system, and being able to "sudo apt-get install " is a core use-case for end-users (i.e. students who are learning how to use Linux / code for the first time).

Disclaimer: I work at Google, but not on Chrome OS.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#35

Post by hs86 » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:13 PM UTC

How does Chrome OS and its display server compare security-wise to a regular GNU/Linux distribution?

Is each desktop application going to live in its own sandbox?

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#36

Post by beagle3 » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:14 PM UTC

JepZ wrote: post #21

I wish they would also offer some runtime environment to run Android apps on a normal Linux (e.g. Debian/Arch). And no, I am not talking about some weird, full size VM with a few Gigs of ram overhead. But since the business case seems to be missing, I will probably have to wait forever ;-)

Anbox[0] already does that. It's not official, it's not from Google, it's not perfect, but .. it works, and integrates the android apps into your system (does not have a weird VM or few gigs of ram overhead).

[0] https://anbox.io/

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#37

Post by andmarios » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:14 PM UTC

timvisee wrote: post #4

I wonder why they are using a VM running Debian for Linux applications, as Chrome OS is already Linux (Gentoo) based itself.

I believe they don't use Gentoo, rather they use Gentoo's build system (portage) to build ChromeOS. They use their own tree (ebuilds) and they don't include portage into ChromeOS.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#38

Post by cbhl » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:14 PM UTC

neuland wrote: post #26

JepZ wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because the Gentoo ecosystem (package tree, package managers) is build for source packages and not for binary packages.

Do you know if pacman is available on Chrome OS? My understanding is that it's based on Gentoo but it's heavily modified. So adding a different binary-based package manager isn't that crazy of an idea, especially for Google.

Chrome OS puts the core operating system on a read-only partition, which is why people have been using chroots in developer mode up until now.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#39

Post by terminalcommand » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:15 PM UTC

timvisee wrote: post #4

I wonder why they are using a VM running Debian for Linux applications, as Chrome OS is already Linux (Gentoo) based itself.

I'd guess they wanted a simpler solution. Debian mostly has stable packages, but if users want more it is easier to get it compatible with Ubuntu repositories and packages.

For example if chromeos users wanted to install steam on their system having a Debian base would help.

Aside from this I'm really surprised that they are using Wayland instead of X11, this decision ought to bring some stability issues until Wayland gets widely adopted.

If I were to guess this feature has been added as a freetime project amongst Google employees. As such, I don't think we can expect continuity. If those developers go away/get reassigned or lose enthusiasm, I don't think Google would allocate resources to maintain a linux VM inside their OS. IMHO if it were important to Google that users could be able to use Linux apps, they would've strived for binary compatibility with Linux from the beginning.

Re: You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

#40

Post by aurailious » Tue, May 08, 2018, 9:16 PM UTC

timvisee wrote: post #4

I wonder why they are using a VM running Debian for Linux applications, as Chrome OS is already Linux (Gentoo) based itself.

Technically it's a container not a VM. So using this is about sandboxing it from the OS.