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Ask Slashdot: Most Chromebook-Like Unofficial ChromeOS Experience? 99

Posted by Soulskill from the get-your-company-to-pay-for-it-wink-wink dept.
An anonymous reader writes: I am interested in Chromebooks, for the reasons that Google successfully pushes them: my carry-around laptops serve mostly as terminals, rather than CPU-heavy workhorses, and for the most part the whole reason I'm on my computer is to do something that requires a network connection anyhow. My email is Gmail, and without particularly endorsing any one element, I've moved a lot of things to online services like DropBox. (Some offline capabilities are nice, but since actual Chromebooks have been slowly gaining offline stuff, and theoretically will gain a lot more of that, soon, I no longer worry much about a machine being "useless" if the upstream connection happens to be broken or absent. It would just be useless in the same way my conventional desktop machine would be.) I have some decent but not high-end laptops (Core i3, 2GB-4GB of RAM) that I'd enjoy repurposing as Chromebooks without pedigree: they'd fall somewhat short of the high-end Pixel, but at no out-of-pocket expense for me unless I spring for some cheap SSDs, which I might.

So: how would you go about making a Chromebook-like laptop? Yes, I could just install any Linux distro, and then restrain myself from installing most apps other than a browser and a few utilities, but that's not quite the same; ChromeOS is nicely polished, and very pared down; it also seems to do well with low-memory systems (lots of the current models have just 2GB, which brings many Linux distros to a disk-swapping crawl), and starts up nicely quick.

It looks like the most "authentic" thing would be to dive into building Chromium OS (which looks like a fun hobby), but I'd like to find something more like Cr OS — only Cr OS hasn't been updated in quite a while. Perhaps some other browser-centric pared-down Linux would work as well. How would you build a system? And should I go ahead and order some low-end 16GB SSDs, which I now see from online vendors for less than $25?
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Ask Slashdot: Most Chromebook-Like Unofficial ChromeOS Experience? More

Ask Slashdot: Most Chromebook-Like Unofficial ChromeOS Experience?

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  • Check out Chromixium (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05, 2015 @04:05PM (#49623927)

    http://chromixium.org/

  • Somehow you failed to tell us whether you are planning to use this:
    1) like a mobile device, with access only to cloud services
    2) like a thin client, where you VPN into your "real desktop" sitting safe at home or work
    (If "both", pick #2).

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      My main grip with ChromeOS is that it tries to needlessly tie you to cloud services when perfectly functional local or LAN equivalents exist. Network computing is a great idea. It's also an OLD idea. Resources should be as close to the device as possible. The first ring of your cloud should be your own home network.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        That makes it harder for the NSA and GHCQ to read your data, you inconsiderate terrorist.

      • I agree but the target audience for ChromeOS is not one that would be running their own servers.

    • "I use a laptop, but I rarely do local compute on it, only cloud-based stuff; so I'm willing to spend $400+ on a device that arbitrarily limits me to ONLY doing cloud stuff, and can never do any useful local compute if I need it".

      Car analogy: I only use a maximum of 63 horsepower in my daily commute, so I'm going to go out and buy a brand new car with a 63 horsepower engine.

  • "Just" 2GB? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Seriously? Linux distros need more than 2GBs of RAM to run? No too long ago I was running Linux just fine with 512MB of RAM.

  • Chromebook-like laptop? Install Firefox (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    So you want a Chromebook-like laptop? Just install Firefox. In a few more release cycles I'm sure it'll be utterly indistinguishable from a Chromebook.

  • Chromixium [chromixium.org] is a project to recreate the functionality, look and feel of Google’s Chrome OS on a conventional desktop, GNU/Linux base system. It is based on [liliputing.com] Ubuntu.

  • I wouldn't bother. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Tuesday May 05, 2015 @04:20PM (#49624043)

    Seriously, I wouldn't bother. It makes no sense.

    The Chromebooks available are dirt cheap, good-looking, light-weight, run for 8 hours and longer and have their OS tailored to light-weight power-saving CPUs and built around the computers it runs on - sorta like Apple. Chromebooks basically are the poor mans mac-book air. And if ChromeOS fits your bill and you have no problem with your OS basically being a remote extension of the todays online service known as Google you should go right ahead and one of those available. That current one from HP looks pretty neat, for instance.

    As for the dabbling, I'd go exactly the other way around: Get a ready-made buy-unpack-works Chromebook and install Crouton [github.com] on it for Linux freedom pleasure. Don't be silly and try to build your own. It will be shitty, lots of work, short on battery life, weigh a ton, look like crap and be expensive in comparsion.

    Mind you, I did just get two refurbished ThinkPads for Linux progging and fiddling, but those are definitely not meant for lugging around. They each weigh well over 2kg and run 4 hours on a full-charge at most and are power-hogs in compasion. Good for proggin C/C++, running LAMP at full throttle (ones got 18GB, a Quad-Core Intel iSomething in it with a 256GB SSD) or playing Fallout 3 on Wine with the GFX all maxed out.
    I do *not* use them for everyday utility computing though. One actually serves as ... a server (duh) at work.

    My everyday computing, mail and leisure surfing I do on a 10" Yoga 2 Android tablet [images-amazon.com]. Even lighter than a Chromebook and runs 18 hours under full load. ... Have you thought about something like that? That might actually be an alternative. Although ChromeOS does seem to be a better fit for your useage.

    • Two whole kilos? You big wet ponce.

      Try a D900TM7700.

  • Simple .. you start with "B".

    Otherwise what you have is "A" sort of like "B", but with compromises.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pr0t0 ( 216378 )

      That's the maker spirit! We learn best with product-in-a-box solutions!

      You're not wrong, exactly, but this person appears to be looking for a fun project and to learn a little something in the process. Plus, they're looking to re-purpose existing hardware instead of landfilling it which should be commended.

  • It seems to me the attraction of a chromebook is a solid state, light, durable machine for around $200,with wifi, and immediate start up, and all day battery life. The weight is around a MacBook Air, but at 1/5 the price. So I do not see how repurposing a laptop will result in any advantage other then integration with the Google stack. Using a chrome browser and logging in would accomplish much of this. Ubuntu seems to have variations that have recommended usage at or below 2GB.

  • Arch with a lightweight DE could do this (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Arch linux with openbox/Cinnamon/XFCE would do this just fine. Set a browser to start in full screen mode and you're done. If you want a little more I've been doing something similar with Arch and LXQT(this is experimental but mostly stable) and it's super snappy. Once you're set up you're ready to go and it works with whatever settings you're giving it. I'm running this with a Dell Inspiron 1525 and it's really quick comparatively and lets me run some lower specced games that wouldn't run under Windows. Do

  • Until a little over a year ago I used Debian on a Thinkpad X41 with 2GB RAM and a 1.6GHz Pentium M single core processor as my regular notebook. I has a 256GB MSATA drive on a IDE adapter which allows it to boot pretty quickly.

  • with low-memory systems (lots of the current models have just 2GB, which brings many Linux distros to a disk-swapping crawl)

    If you consider ("just"!?) 2GB as "low-memory" (!) then i think you are already in the wrong path for your "repurposing" quest, but anyway: the "disk-swapping crawl" is easily solved by disabling swap - swap is not needed so much for your use case (as you describe it, and as i understand it), and disabling swap (a dying craft i am afraid...) has a long tradition in the "repurposing" art!

    You can do it either using the "swapoff/swapon" commands (more permanently in something like the "/etc/fstab"), or even b

    • disabling swap (a dying craft i am afraid...)

      If only Linux installers would get with the times and default to no swap partition when at least 4GB of RAM is present.

      Then we could put that nasty "swap" business behind us entirely.

      • disabling swap (a dying craft i am afraid...)

        If only Linux installers would get with the times and default to no swap partition when at least 4GB of RAM is present.

        Then we could put that nasty "swap" business behind us entirely.

        I choose to not have any swap in my (8GB) desktop, but i understand that it is needed in some cases, and better be safe than sorry, so, we (you and me, who know what swap is and how/when to use it) should not blame the "Linux installers" who need to care about all those UNIX "illiterates" (that are the majority of current users i believe) - i am not so sure about this "default to no swap partition when at least 4GB of RAM is present" (because i don't trust all those UNIX "illiterates"), but some advice/expl

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AvitarX ( 172628 )

        Can a system hibernate without swap?

        I'd like to see a desktop mode for swap, that only uses it for hibernate, and when crashing is the other option.

    • It's much better to adjust the swappiness level way down: https://rudd-o.com/linux-and-f... [rudd-o.com]

      As you said, swap isn't needed so much, but there are still good reasons to have some around. Besides the usual graceful degradation argument, it can be particularly handy for portables as a suspend partition. However, Linux has lots of servery defaults, and the swappiness is one where a much lower value gives better response times for "desktop" uses.

      • Yes, you are right, adjusting the swappiness level is a much better way (with the swapoff/swapon command also - and "/etc/fstab" for persistence) - i choose to not have any swap partition (on my desktop machine), but that is only because i know what swap is and how to get it back if i need to. And you are also right about the "servery defaults". Well, we just need some more UNIX education for the LINUX masses!

      • As you said, swap isn't needed so much, but there are still good reasons to have some around.

        There's only one: you have very little RAM. Then you may well need to use some swap to get a modern browser running well enough to hit newegg or eBay and buy some RAM.

        Besides the usual graceful degradation argument

        No. Swap causes graceless degradation. It's not so bad if you have SSD or hybrid disk, because it can handle seeking all over hell when it happens. But it's better to just let the OOM killer murder the out-of-control application. Save early, save often.

        it can be particularly handy for portables as a suspend partition.

        There's nothing wrong with a suspend file. You could make the argument that it's possible to

        • There's only one: you have very little RAM. Then you may well need to use some swap to get a modern browser running well enough to hit newegg or eBay and buy some RAM.

          No, not using swap means less memory for applications, buffers and caching of persistent storage. This means degraded performance.

          No. Swap causes graceless degradation. It's not so bad if you have SSD or hybrid disk, because it can handle seeking all over hell when it happens. But it's better to just let the OOM killer murder the out-of-control application. Save early, save often.

          Let some algorithm determine what is "important".. Sounds like a (misguided) plan.

          Swap was awesome back when RAM was expensive.

          The equation has not changed.

          Now swap is just stupid, unless you know you have a specific use case where it won't unacceptably degrade performance.

          On this machine the presence of swap file currently means 6 GB of useless garbage is not loaded into main memory. 6 GB which can now be put to work to improve system performance.

          • On this machine the presence of swap file currently means 6 GB of useless garbage is not loaded into main memory.

            Oracle? SAP? Slashcode?

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by Rich0 ( 548339 )

            There's only one: you have very little RAM. Then you may well need to use some swap to get a modern browser running well enough to hit newegg or eBay and buy some RAM.

            No, not using swap means less memory for applications, buffers and caching of persistent storage. This means degraded performance.

            I understand the theoretical reasons for this, and tend to agree with them.

            However, in practice I've found that swap on linux tends to be pretty lousy all around. A big problem is that lots of applications do caching and such and like to expand this to the space available, often assuming they're the only thing running. I'm utterly amazed at just how much RAM chromium manages to use. I don't want it swapping out half the system to my slow swap partition when it can just re-fetch a page over my 50Mbps conn

        • Swap was awesome back when RAM was expensive. RAM is now really cheap

          Provided your device's RAM slots aren't already filled with the largest stick that your device can take. And provided your device even has RAM slots at all; a lot of smaller mobile PCs nowadays have soldered-on RAM.

  • You can get an HP 14" with 4gb RAM and 16GB ssd for around $200. Like others have said, cobbling together a homebrew chromebook is probably going to result in something with worse battery life and a raft of other issues.
    Considering what they cost it's not worth screwing around with it.

    I picked up an HP 14" Chromebook refurb for ~ $200 and it's great; it replaced a Samsung 11" and switching to the new box was as simple as logging in.

    get a new u2f yubikey and make your google login 2 factor

    • https://xkcd.com/1504/ [xkcd.com]

      Now go post it here: http://science.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]

      • Argh! That's where I'd MEANT to post it. :-(

        • Argh! That's where I'd MEANT to post it. :-(

          I had just made a comment in the opportunity rover story when i read yours here - it was obvious for where you intended it to be, and because i liked it (it was THE obligatory xkcd!) i tried to notify you (not before struggling with my personal little evil demon that pressed me to just steal it and post it myself...) - anyway, this post was made by someone else after all (since it was THE obligatory xkcd!).

          • Thanks for trying anyway. :-) My bad, not getting back to /. until two days later.

            (Funny thing: five minutes ago I saw someone else do the exact same thing that I did: posting a comment in one story that was intended for another. So I still feel dumb, but less *uniquely* dumb.)

            • We are welcomed my friend - but you are more *UNIQUELY* dumb... than the normal dumb(s); who don't understand dumbness, as less *UNIQUELY* dumb(s) do!

  • Lubuntu? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    If you just want to make the older lappies useable, I'd try Lubuntu. I have it running on an old Celeron M 420 (CPU mark - 345!) and it's totally workable. You have all the Ubuntu packages available, but the basic install is reasonably trim.

  • ...are not Open Source and You will not be able to get them. If you want Chrome OS for its finish and features buy a ChromeBook.
    If you want to reuse an older laptop get a newer SSD for it and install a LXDE based distro.

  • No hardware or software requirements?

    Perhaps this is more your speed:
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wyse-W... [ebay.com]

  • The Secure Shell extension for Chrome gets you a usable terminal and SSH client. If you need to edit files locally, vim is available too, along with several text editors. There are a couple of git clients floating around if you want to edit stuff with source control.

    This isn't such a good option for me. I use LaTeX on my chromebook and want to compile stuff. I want to use sed and awk and wc. I currently use Crouton, though I'm probably going to install Chromixium instead.

  • Stop enabling swap (Score:3)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday May 05, 2015 @07:46PM (#49625319) Homepage Journal

    it also seems to do well with low-memory systems (lots of the current models have just 2GB, which brings many Linux distros to a disk-swapping crawl), and starts up nicely quick.

    I am in the midst of building a CarPC right now, as parts trickle in from far-flung regions of the globe, which is to say mostly HK. I'm saving my money for the display so it's a budget build based on a Boxer DA078L motherboard. I downgraded the processor to IIRC a X2 3800+ from a 3900+ because the specific processor model I ordered had almost 30W lower TDP, bringing the total system TDP down well under 100W which meant I could use a PicoPSU 120. I haven't tested my el cheapo 300W (headroom! which I will leave unused) boost-buck regulator yet, that's next. It has 2GB of RAM and I installed Kodibuntu, then installed navit. It comes with chromium and I am running the system on an 8GB CF card, currently in a USB adapter and soon in a SATA adapter. Maybe someday I'll buy it a real SSD but again, this is just a pocket change build based on something I had already. A $8 low-profile AM2/3 cooler is coming.

    Why care? I can run Kodi and navit at the same time with no problems, using compiz as my window manager. and it can easily run chromium under LXDE. And I have no swap whatsoever. It would be dog-slow on my CF card (It's a "133X" Transcend, whatever that means) and I don't want to beat up my flash device anyway.

    2GB is a lot of RAM. It seems like it isn't because of all the crap we run these days. But 2GB will actually go hilariously far if you use a limited desktop environment, or in fact none at all. If you just put the smallest Linux you can come up with (puppy?) into a partition with chromium, make init keep X running and make X keep chromium running, you'll have what you're looking for. I presume the only reason to want this is to have it as a multiboot option, since as others have said, if you wanted an actual chromebook you would have bought one. To come back around to my long introductory paragraph, I installed Kodibuntu when I wanted automotive navigation. That seems dumb, but it makes sense in the view of trying not to buy stuff. I also wanted more CPU power and didn't care about GPU power, so it made sense to me not to buy a Pi 2 and use a turnkey solution [blogspot.com]. (That's where I got the pointer to the skin I'm using.)

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