Linux programs come to Chromebooks

[alexa9]

This is good news. I like the Chromebook/box a lot but it doesn't have a dedicated music player and is a little limited. The hardware on them is pretty nice for the $200-300 range from Acer both laptops and desktops.

https://www.androidauthority.com/chrome ... ps-863253/

[michael louwe]

https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-com ... romebooks/

Come July 2018 onwards, will it be a good idea to run Linux Mint on a newly-bought budget Chromebook, as above.? = rather than buying a new budget OEM Win 10 laptop/netbook/2-in-1 tablet and then installing Linux Mint on it, since some of them do not permit Linux to be installed easily, eg Acer Aspire ES1-533, Chuwi Hi10, etc.

[xenopeek]

Did I misunderstand the article, or does it only talk about running Linux distros in a virtual machine on top of ChromeOS? I don't see why I'd want that. For a budget Chromebook, hampered with low RAM and almost no storage, I don't see how this would give a good experience either.

Googling on your Acer Aspire ES1-533 and Chuwi Hi10 examples provides easy enough to follow instructions for installing Linux on them. For the Chuwi tablet things like touchscreen and soundcard may not work (perfectly) but nothing is stopping you from installing Linux on it.

There are companies that sell laptops without an operating system or with Linux installed. You might not find something in the 200-300 USD range of low end Chromebooks but certainly in the 400-500 USD mid range.

[Pierre]

According to Google, you will soon be able to run Linux inside a virtual machine (VM) that was designed from scratch for Chromebooks. That means it will start in seconds, and it integrates completely with Chromebook feature.

and

So, unlike Croton or Gallium, you will be able to start Linux apps with a click of a Chrome OS icon. Linux and Chrome OS windows can be moved around, and you can open files from Linux apps.

[smurphos]

It's a containerised Debian Stretch that is being introduced - as Pierre says on Chromebooks with sufficient processing power it should provide a pretty seamless integration between Chrome OS / Linux Apps / Android Apps - you'll probably be able to chuck Windows apps in the mix as-well via WINE or Crossover. It's basically the feature that makes the more expensive Chromebooks worth the money and a suitable machine for development.

I like the idea although if projects like Anbox mature so that any Linux box can run Android Apps easily then that would be my ideal. I doubt my own cheapy chromebook (basically the lounge/travel laptop) will run it well if it ever gets the feature.

[xenopeek]

Thanks for that smurhpos.

So it's a way for ChromeOS users to use Linux programs as if they were native programs, with access to their files on Google Drive and local storage, by employing a builtin custom Linux virtual machine to actually run the Linux programs in. Allegedly users will be able to use apt-get to install additional programs.

But if it would need a more expensive Chromebook, why not just get a laptop and run software of your own choosing? Anyway, you can tell I have no use for ChromeOS or Android programs (Or Windows programs.)

[kenetics]

I have a budget Samsung 3 Chromebook and it would be nice to be able to run LibreOffice on it. I use a lot of spreadsheets, some with personal information, and prefer to keep them stored locally.

One advantage of a Chromebook, even the cheap ones, is the ability to run games and apps from the Google Play store. Unfortunately, the LibreOffice app has poor reviews and doesn't appear to be very usable at this point.

[michael louwe]

I have a budget Samsung 3 Chromebook and it would be nice to be able to run LibreOffice on it. I use a lot of spreadsheets, some with personal information, and prefer to keep them stored locally.

One advantage of a Chromebook, even the cheap ones, is the ability to run games and apps from the Google Play store. Unfortunately, the LibreOffice app has poor reviews and doesn't appear to be very usable at this point.

.
Google Play Store. Not Google Work Store for serious apps/programs.

AFAIK, Android, iOS and Windows UWP apps cannot accommodate full suite programs/apps, eg business software, 3D games, etc.

Is the OP a good idea.?

[Moem]

For me as a Google avoider, that's a rather big NOPE. If I were to ever get a Chromebook, it would be running Linux before you could say 'erase disk and install Linux Mint'.

[smurphos]

Google Play Store. Not Google Work Store for serious apps/programs.

AFAIK, Android, iOS and Windows UWP apps cannot accommodate full suite programs/apps, eg business software, 3D games, etc.

Is the OP a good idea.?

Nah, there are plenty of decent productivity apps (and tons of 3D games if thatºs your thing) available for Android. Itºs just LibreOffice viewer that is not very good. There is a gap for a decent FOSS Android Office suite - there are several good non-FOSS Office Suites - including MS Office Online - still this project will allow ChromeOS users to run full Linux Libreoffice as if it was a native ChromeOS app so that problem is solved if you are on ChromeOS.

[MintBean]

Personally I would always want to run Linux as the host rather than Linux on top of an Android Frankenkernel with questionable security credentials.

[michael louwe]

As per ... http://www.fascinatingcaptain.com/blog/ ... ome-drive/ , it's not easy installing LM 18.x as a single-boot on Intel-x86-based Chromebooks.

[Hoser Rob]

I read something similar (forgot where) and it's good news. But I suspect you'd need more drive space than most Chromebooks have for this. Still, very encouraging.

[Hoser Rob]

Still liking the idea but you may want to see this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/09 ... chrome_os/

[kenetics]

Still liking the idea but you may want to see this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/09 ... chrome_os/

Well, that's discouraging. Who would pay that much for a Chromebook?

[alexa9]

Personally I would always want to run Linux as the host rather than Linux on top of an Android Frankenkernel with questionable security credentials.

Chromebooks are a huge market (budget laptops, schools) and so hopefully this will expose more people to Linux. Your average Joe has no clue what Linux is so I think it's a good thing.

[KBD47]

Better off buying a used Thinkpad for the same price. Specs will be at least as good, and upgradeable, it can run full Linux without jumping through hoops, and will darn near last forever. I've owned 3 Chromebooks, two were garbage as far as quality, one literally fell apart 6mos after I bought it. Buy one and you get soldered on ram and ssd, and generally low specs. Overall my experience with Chromebooks was a disappointment, and Google has become a very sketchy company regarding privacy.

[smurphos]

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker ... ux-support

18 more Apollo Lake based Chromebooks confirmed that will have support...including a few more reasonably priced options.

I've owned one Chromebook - a cheap £120 Acer R11 - it's a bit sluggish in use but it does it's job - sat in from of the TV laptop/tablet/Chromecast Remote, Android gaming tablet for the other half who just loves Candy Crush on a big screen....go figure....and just an excellent all round travel laptop/tablet with the addition of a 256GB SD card - although it's a bit sluggish in use it still boots in about 3 seconds. I doubt it will ever see Linux support but they are definitely machines with an audience.

[bbaker6212]

I don't see the point of this. If you want Linux apps then install a Linux distro. It works on Apollo-Lake devices if you use either 1) the rEFInd boot manager or 2) you use Linuxium's ISO respin script for Ubuntu based distro's like Mint, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.

[alexa9]

I don't see the point of this. If you want Linux apps then install a Linux distro. It works on Apollo-Lake devices if you use either 1) the rEFInd boot manager or 2) you use Linuxium's ISO respin script for Ubuntu based distro's like Mint, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.

A lot of schools use Chromebooks. I think they would be better off installing Linux on cheap Dell Laptops and Desktops but this will be a decent workaround. Also will give more exposure to Linux which is a good thing for young people to get out of the binary Mac/Windows mindset.