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Chromebooks Can Run Linux In A Chrome OS Window

A

alex0002

macrumors 6502
Jun 19, 2013
495
124
New Zealand
Altemose said:
I would not attempt this on one of the lower end Chromebooks.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you want to run in the Linux environment. Since crouton is ChRomium Os Universal chrooT envirONment it's using a chroot rather than a virtual machine, so the overhead is a lot lower as Chrome OS and the Linux chroot shares the same kernel.

I've done the same thing on an HP Touchpad which runs webOS (also linux based) on an ARMv7 based tablet. There was an existing X server app and I installed a debian chroot using debootstrap.

I never tried any multimedia applications which might need a bit more CPU power to run at an acceptable speed. Of course, if you want to use something like Skype then you need a Chromebook with an Intel CPU - not ARM CPU based.
 
Altemose

Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
alex0002 said:
It depends on what you want to run in the Linux environment. Since crouton is ChRomium Os Universal chrooT envirONment it's using a chroot rather than a virtual machine, so the overhead is a lot lower as Chrome OS and the Linux chroot shares the same kernel.

I've done the same thing on an HP Touchpad which runs webOS (also linux based) on an ARMv7 based tablet. There was an existing X server app and I installed a debian chroot using debootstrap.

I never tried any multimedia applications which might need a bit more CPU power to run at an acceptable speed. Of course, if you want to use something like Skype then you need a Chromebook with an Intel CPU - not ARM CPU based.
Click to expand...

I would not recommend that people buy ARM and low end Intel Chromebooks with the intention to run Crouton to fill in the void that Chrome OS may leave for them. The more powerful models will work fine with Crouton running as a full OS for their needs inside of the browser window.
 
DaveNinja

DaveNinja

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2005
314
18
I installed ubuntu on my daughter's intel chromebook. Its handles games much better than i thought it would. Minecraft is fine (not perfect, but playable). Team Fortress 2 is playable. She uses Alice 3 for a school coding club and hasnt complained about it.
I was surprised since it was only a 200 dollar machine
 
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