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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

#51

Post by mderazon »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #38
septic-liqueur wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I meant to say that it "outperforms" less in terms of speed (although it's not bad relative to the price of the laptop) but more in terms of developer experience. Everything just works in Linux and it's fast compared to WSL which I get constant issues.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#52

Post by ajross »

westurner wrote: post #49
ajross wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 d…

The kids can't code locally on a git repo on Chromebooks and run make; they don't even have a terminal. Googlers only code remotely on Chromebooks. The kids MUST be able to run `pytest arithmetic.ipynb` on whichever platform. (It was not appropriate for Google 2016-2020 (?) to decide that we should all accept WASM runtime vulnerabilities in sandboxed browser processes running as the same user instead of per-app SELin…

I'm still not understanding the criticism. You're saying it's bad that kids can't hack on their school-supplied/parent-managed computers. And... I think I agree, as far as it goes.

But you're responding to a thread saying "Chromebooks are good for Developers", where's it's just not responsive. There's absolutely no reason schools or parents can't hand kids unmanaged/unrestricted Chromebooks; they just choose not to (for some good and some bad reasons). Take that up with schools and parents, I guess?

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#53

Post by sillywalk »

_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 just wish the trackpad had more than one button. My C434 has the Apple Hockey-puck mouse of trackpads.

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#54

Post by mdwalters »

xt00 wrote: post #31
slim wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Not exactly. There are some ways to install GNU/Linux distros on Chromebooks, the Eupnea project's Depthboot script[1], for example, lets users build/run a distro by extracting the rootfs from an ISO file, and apply Chromebook-specific patches, like using ChromeOS' kernel, using keyd to make patches to support the Chromebook keyboard's action keys, and much others.

(Disclaimer: I'm the current maintainer of the Eupnea project.)

[1]: https://github.com/eupnea-linux-backup/depthboot-builder

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#55

Post by senkora »

isp wrote: post #50
ajross wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - "Switch to dev mode". But I don't want to be prompted to factory reset each boot. Developer mode simply puts up a splash at boot warning you that the OS is custom, you just press enter to boot. The requirement to do a drive wipe is a one-time thing when you enable it the first time (for obvious reasons, to prevent exfiltration of data stored by a secured OS).

Thanks - has this changed in the past few years? A few years back (when I last looked in depth), it was very easy at every boot (not only first boot) to accidentally wipe everything - e.g., https://www.reddit.com/r/Crouton/comments/3be2su/reducing_ri... I also remember that it made a loud beep on every boot!

I used a Chromebook as my main laptop for a year in college, and I always had to apologize to nearby strangers for the beep.

(CS major, coding happened mostly over SSH to the school servers, but I did run RStudio locally)

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#56

Post by [deleted] »

ajross wrote: post #39
mdwalters wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

[deleted]

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#57

Post by ajross »

senkora wrote: post #55
isp wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks - has this changed in the past few years? A few years back (when I last looked in depth), it was very easy at every boot (not only first boot) to accidentally wipe everything - e.g., https://www.reddit.com/r/Crouton/comments/3be2su/reducing_ri... I also remember that it made a loud beep on every boot!

I used a Chromebook as my main laptop for a year in college, and I always had to apologize to nearby strangers for the beep. (CS major, coding happened mostly over SSH to the school servers, but I did run RStudio locally)

How often does one reboot their laptop around nearby strangers? I gotta be honest that some of these criticisms seem a little strained. I mean, it's true, they beep at boot when dev mode is enabled!

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#58

Post by senkora »

ajross wrote: post #57
senkora wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used a Chromebook as my main laptop for a year in college, and I always had to apologize to nearby strangers for the beep. (CS major, coding happened mostly over SSH to the school servers, but I did run RStudio locally)

How often does one reboot their laptop around nearby strangers? I gotta be honest that some of these criticisms seem a little strained. I mean, it's true, they beep at boot when dev mode is enabled!

It’s been awhile and I don’t remember why I had to reboot, but it did happen. I guess past me did a lot of work in cafes, office hours, and common areas.

I do remember that running a certain R program consistently caused the Chromebook to turn off, which was quite an issue for one particular office hours session!

Re: ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment

#60

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]
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