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 Channel Futures

Open Source


Google Chromebooks Now Run Linux Slightly More Easily

  • Written by Christopher Tozzi
  • January 27, 2015

Chromebooks, the lightweight, web-focused laptops from Google (GOOG) that ship with the mostly open source ChromeOS, have ironically not tended to play overly nicely with other Linux distributions. But now that's changed, thanks to updates from Google that make it easier to boot and install any open source Linux operating system on the devices.

Chromebooks, the lightweight, web-focused laptops from Google (GOOG) that ship with the mostly open source ChromeOS, have ironically not tended to play overly nicely with other Linux distributions. But now that’s changed, thanks to updates from Google that make it easier to boot and install any open source Linux operating system on the devices.

As dedicated Linux fans will know, installing different Linux distributions on Chromebooks has long been possible. There’s also long been strong motivation to do so, since many of today’s leading Linux distributions, including Fedora and Ubuntu, offer a lot more features than ChromeOS, which really only works well if you do all of your work inside a Web browser. The traditional method for running an operating system other than ChromeOS on Chromebooks, however, involved a bit of work, most of it in the command line.

Now, as a result of changes Google has made to the developer mode on Chromebooks, USB booting is possible. That means the devices can boot directly to “live USBs” running any kind of Linux, which is a big step up from having to run terminal commands.

Unfortunately, lived experience suggests that, so far, actually booting to live USB environments is a hit-and-miss affair. It’s also true that, from a technical standpoint, Google hasn’t actually changed anything; it has simply made it possible to enable USB boots from within a graphical interface, rather than requiring a command-line configuration.

Still, at least a few Chromebook users seem to be happy about the update. More importantly, the move might represent a step by Google toward more openness and configurability with Chromebooks—which, despite being the only mainstream laptops on the market that were designed specifically to run a Linux-based OS whose code is mostly source, place a great deal of restrictions on what users can do.

To be sure, Chromebooks will likely never provide the kind of hardware necessary to hack to your heart’s content. But they’re now ever so slightly less locked-down than, say, devices from Apple (AAPL). And that’s certainly not a bad thing.

Tags: Cloud Service Providers Digital Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Open Source

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