Chromium OS vs ubuntu

[Daniel Foreman]

We all heard for a long time about this amazing new operating system
Chromium OS aka Google Chrome OS which was released last year. It
offered many advantages including automatically updating itself, no
need for backups, a truly cloud base operating system that means
you'll never lose another byte of information again to hardware
failure. Google Chrome OS has been released, but not in the way many
people expected.

In the past when an open source operating system such as ubuntu (or
any of the other hundreds of linux variations), solaris, or FreeBSD
came about they had one thing in common. Good driver support, and an
installer system anyone can use.

Google Chrome and Chromium OS have broken this mold, I just hope it
isn't for good. They released an operating system with extremely
limited hardware support, and no easy to use installation system. At
present the only real with for people to get chromium OS onto their
machine (and I mean non-technical general public users) is by using a
version produced by a kid named Hexxeh who has done a remarkable job
of making Chrome OS builds that you can actually install without
compiling the operating system from scratch. But while he has done an
amazing job, not only making the software accessible but adding driver
support, the operating system remains far from user friendly in terms
of installing it.

The reason for all this is pretty clear to me, the chrome book is
making google money, while offering what the general public wants. An
easy way to install chromium or Chrome OS. What's easier than simply
buying a netbook with it preinstalled. But for thr £300+ price tag
what are you actually getting?

The Chrome book has very limited storage space, this is great because
it all happens in the cloud anyway. But shouldn't the inclusion of a
small SD drive have decreased the price instead of increasing it?
Furthermore the weak intel atom processor and HD graphics solution are
not strong enough to play HD videos without jarring and stuttering.
These specifications can be found in full windows based netbooks at a
much cheaper price. So why is google chrome OS making cheaper hardware
more expense?

Again the answer is simple prices are rarely set at what the hardware
is worth but instead what they can get away with. People will pay that
much for this new and exciting product, so you end up paying more for
less. In order to keep this happening Google don't seem to be
encouraging the installation of Google Chrome OS or Chromium OS on
cheaper netbooks.

So for these reasons, I would strongly recommend ubuntu over Chrome
OS, sure it might not boot as quickly, but you can still use all the
same cloud services google chrome books access, while saving money and
supporting an operating system dedicated to being accessible to
absolutely anyone. Something google are not keen to push.

[Nathaniel Sigrist]

I'm sure others will dissect this post more thoroughly then I am willing to take the time to do but a simpler breakdown is as follows:

 - Chromium OS is not a replacement for Ubuntu.  We're talking apples and oranges here.

 - $300 (excuse my USA keyboard layout for not having pounds) for a netbook is a steal if you consider what it costs for a cell phone or other small computer

 - Likewise, Chromium is a highly optimized OS designed to start fast and be secure therefore it doesn't need to support any other hardware other than that which the OS is built for.  This is why you are having a hard time installing it on an typical PC.

 - Chances are, Hexxeh is handing out unsecured variations of Chromium OS (unlocked).  I wont say that this is necessarily a bad thing since I believe Linux is already very secure... Can you still watch Netflix on his builds - or maybe you don't use/have Netflix?

 - There is plenty of hardware support in Linux so it is not hard to figure out how to do it - but again that is not the point of Chromium OS.  Think of it as an Apple device where the OS only needs to support a known set of hardware and do it well.

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Nate Sigrist

[shogun]

ok, i'll bite.

can you find me a laptop with ubuntu preinstalled with the same hw
specs and price? same, not similar.

-=g=-

[GTRsdk]

Well since Chromium OS (or when preinstalled on Chromebooks, Chrome
OS) isn't exactly designed for other hardware than what Google's
Chromebook manufacturers make, it doesn't need to have an easy
installer.
When it is preloaded onto a Chromebook, you don't install it. Instead,
it just loads and you're ready to go.

You could install Ubuntu onto a Chromebook.

About $300 is a good deal for that type of a netbook because it has a
bigger screen and it one of the fastest netbooks out there. Ubuntu may
be better for you, but if someone only wants a computer to be on
facebook or twitter in less than 30 seconds, then Chrome OS (or
Chromium OS) would be a better choice.

Google has set the standards so people don't buy Chromebooks that are
as slow as their old Windows computer. Or even sower.

System76 (a manufacturer of computers with Ubuntu preinstalled)
discontinued their netbooks because of not being up to their
standards.

the SSD is a 16 GB one and it is very fast. To get 16 GB SSDs, I think
they cost around $50. And maybe up to $100 depending on which one you
would get.

I think there is a good chance that higher quality videos could play
than those that could play on Windows netbooks (there is a bigger
screen and the Chromebook is faster). Netbooks in general have very
underpowered graphics cards, so most of the time they are at 1024x600,
which is not enough to run some applications.

On Jan 5, 8:03 am, Daniel Foreman <dcforema...@googlemail.com> wrote:

[Tyler Moore]

I'll play some devil's advocate here despite my having a Chromebook and enjoying it immensely.

Battery life advantages of ChromeOS vs other OSes will be mitigated as lower consumption processors come to market.  Boot-up speed advantages will be minimized by wider spread use of SSDs and a specific focus, particularly by Microsoft, to reduce boot times in operating systems going forward because XP and, perhaps to a lesser extent VIsta, got such flak for minutes of waiting for a cold boot to complete.  Hardware support will be something that will be an ongoing concern for some as new devices come out and there'll be some demand for support, but then the questions will be things like well is this really necessary, well is it unnecessary but there's enough popular demand for it to be encorporated, is there a web-based alternative/etc.  Today's peripherals will be tomorrow's vestigial lines of code taking up space.

The concerns brought up here for why a Chromebook vs Ubuntu or, more broadly in the consumer market, a Windows or Mac based computer go beyond what the inarguably important developer community and people who buy based on the open-source label, in my opinion.  The 'average Joe' or whatever would like to be referred to as a new user of Chrome OS is used to utilizing the computer *mostly* through a browser these days, yes, but there are a great many things which people associate with locally run programs.  Linux distros may not always be as easy to install something as 7 or OS X, but it conforms to the idea something is downloaded, installed to the computer, and then is used in another window container.  They'll learn about the web-based alternatives and equivalents in due time, but that's part of the learning curve for Chromebooks.  And generally, the pricier the item the less of a learning curve people expect to have to deal with in order to enjoy their usage of the device.  While they are certainly not the most expensive laptops out there, it would seem to me there is much more to be gained in the form of marketshare, and more importantly mindshare, by making these things as affordable as possible so even if people might initially get frustrated with their unfamiliarity with its operation, they're more likely to hang onto it and come back around and try it again later rather than return it for money to buy a competitor's product.

If I've missed the mark on any of these things or mischaracterized anything please let me know, I don't like to be ignorant of facts.

[Suicidetuna]

unsubscribe

[Mike Frysinger]

On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 13:39, Suicidetuna wrote:
> unsubscribe

that's not how it works. please read the footer of every e-mail:

> Chromium OS discuss mailing list: chromium-...@chromium.org
> View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe:
> http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-os-discuss?hl=en

-mike

[Steve Pirk]

The only "common" task I have not been able to do on my Chromebook is manipulate mp3 data much. I could edit in the cloud, but sometimes it is much easier to deal with album length content locally. Other than that, I can usually find a cloud based solution for just about anything I do these days.

I have 3 different Chromebooks, including a Cr-48 in dev mode. Dev mode gives you a full bash shell with most of your basic Linux server code pre-installed. There are many desirable programs missing, but even on stock Chromebooks, you can ssh from the cros> shell if you need to get to a server.

If you need remote desktop access to Windows of Linux machines, there are 2 different companies that offer html5 versions of RDP type clients.

-- steve

--

[David Bailey]

goto system76.com, they have great ubuntu laptops for about the same price as a chromebook (cheapest one with no accessories)

[Moose]

I first must say I love my chromebook and chromebox as well as Ubuntu. But have you ever booted Ubuntu on a chromebook or chromebox, my chrombox boots Ubuntu in under 10 seconds. Google's amazing boot speeds go beyond the kernel layer into things like the 16GB SSD and the amazingly fast BIOS, but this means less legacy support and a completely different install. I am sure hexxeh's builds that run on your regular PC with a regular BIOS take a lot longer to boot than a chromebook with similar specs (or even less specs). And if you go on hardware specs alone the Chrome OS devices are comparably priced to your noOS or freeOS devices on the market.

[Don Garrett]

  Chromium OS is open source. If anyone wants to work on improving the install process or driver support for non Google hardware, I and others will be happy to help review and get the code into the project.

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Don

[Thunder Moon]

my first real like my own computer that i got a few years ago might I add was only $200 in US dollars and after the warrenty and other stuff I got was $400 but it was also crap although it had 250GB disk hard drive and Atom processor and the reason I baught the extra $200 in stuff was because it was windows and i needed virus protection (that didnt work) MOffice and the warrenty if it came with Chrome OS I'd prolly save around $150

[Steve Pirk]

People can avoid the costs of thing like Office if they use Google Docs. The suite of products is now called Drive, but you have a complete Office environment including docs, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings right in your gmail. Try clicking the Drive link along the top toolbar of a gmail window.

Once you get used to the idea of storing documents and other downloads in the Google cloud, you are 90% of the way to Chrome OS. Chrome OS is basically a lightweight core Linux system with the Chrome browser as the user interface or desktop.

If your laptop is still running Windows, then I would look at starting with a lightweight Ubuntu install to see how well the old laptop runs under Linux. Try to do everything you normally do on a pc, only do it in the Chrome browser using the desktop type apps you get with your gmail account. You get email docs, photos, music, videos and now cloud storage all in a browser.

-- steve

[Thunder Moon]

wow I did not know what that was and actually I don't even have that computer anymore I converted it to Ubuntu a few months ago and gave it to my little brother but its still a little slow because it's on 12.04 one of the main reasons why i want to get Chromium OS so i can put it on there my current computer is a pretty nice sized notebook handed down from my mom and it has Linux Mint on it but this Drive thing will help alot with school thanks!

[Vimal Kumar]

TV : AOC Monitor TV 200 US $
PC_Tablet_Phone : Chromebook with 7Keypad : 250 US $