ChromeOS

[mikewalsh]

@mikewalsh - I didn't express that very well. Not meaning all puppy stuff is a challenge, rather my taking on a challenge like my fossa64 series.

I KNEW what ya meant, mate. Just tickled my "funny-bone", the way you put it....

(I have a somewhat "offbeat" sense of humour, y'know? )

Mike.

[mouldy]

I have couple salvaged Chromebooks that I converted via Mr.Chromebox bios. I did boot up one of them to ChromeOS before I converted it. I found it annoying, but could see why it is attractive to some. In way its bit like booting Puppy from a cd every time with smallest of save files. It cant be changed so wont get corrupted, well until the drive itself fails. But it also severely restricts you to what Chrome browser can do. Sort of a rent by the hour internet kiosk appliance.

If anybody here has used the bigger dvd version Knoppix, its truly amazing all the software they crammed onto that thing. Why that approach to an internet kiosk appliance wouldnt be better way to go... Course I keep forgetting, Google wants you to make easy monthly payments and rent storage space and services from them. Not make small spaces on your computer more efficient and self contained.

[ozsouth]

@mouldy - with old chromebooks, I absolutely agree. Very limited. Couldn't see why anyone other than primary school kids would want one. Converting them for Puppy is about all they're good for. Then BarryK linked an article on Crostini. Available on new chromebooks since 2019, this is so different. And now ChromeOS Flex has it too, for me is a game changer. Although Flex can't have Android apps (yet), new Chromebooks can have Android apps AND Debian ones on the same pc. So few problems, it's almost boring.

[mikewalsh]

I just wish it was possible to make stuff like Bluetooth connection as simple as Google have done it with Chromebooks & OS Flex. I'm not one for Bluetooth audio/headphones/other stuff, but I recounted a way back in this thread trying to connect a Bluetooth mouse (just out of curiosity, like).

Simple as pie. Put the mouse in pairing mode. In 'Settings', select the 'Pair' option.....wait a few seconds.....done! It was SO easy it was crazy. How long till this is standard behaviour in Puppy, for example? It would be nice to see, but I can't help feeling there would be a lot of work involved. Certainly well above MY 'pay grade', I would guess....

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

I wiped ChromeOS off the SanDisk thumbdrive a few months back. For quite a while, the salvaged 64GB Kingspec PATA/IDE SSD from ye anciente Inspiron - the one I repurposed into an external SSD via a USB 3.0-to-SATA adapter and a PATA-to-SATA convertor widget from Amazon (for all of £3!), then mounted inside an old Compaq floppy-disk case - had been sitting empty, and idle.......couldn't think quite what I wanted to do with it.

I finally decided that installing ChromeOS-Flex to it would be an ideal use for it, so that's what I've done this afternoon. Runs very sweetly, and boots fast, too. Still can't save to the normal locations, but the FAT32 partition at the end of my big secondary data drive (which I set up for this) takes care of that nicely. TBH, since I spend so much of my time online, and/or watching some of my collection of movies/videos or listening to music from my Radiotunes a/c - all of which are accessible from ChromeOS-Flex - it doubles as a viable "daily driver" for me.

I'm still happy NOT doing the 'full' install.... No need for it!

EDIT:- Found I needed to re-format that FAT32 'transfer' partition to exFAT instead. Y'all can find an explainer of how I achieved this here, if interested.
Mike.

[mikewalsh]

I continue to be impressed by ChromeOS-Flex. Really..!!

One advantage of a 'cloud-centric' OS like this is that it 'remembers' your system settings from your previous installs.No need to have to set anything up, because it's all re-applied when you log-in at boot-time.

I did some jottings in Google Docs, and decided to print a copy. TBH, I never thought twice about doing this.....ran through the print dialog, hit the 'Print' button (and only THEN did I realise what I'd just done). Six months after the previous install had been scrubbed, the printer just 'worked', without my doing anything. Amazing.

I STILL don't know where Google's getting the appropriate drivers for my old Epson. I would assume some variation on the Gutenprint drivers, except that they've never worked for me in Puppy. Can't be AirPrint, either, 'cos this isn't wireless.....it's nearly 15 yrs old & USB only. And although there's a Linux (ish) type of kernel in here, this doesn't run anything like Linux does; it's 'home-brewed', very much their own design and its operation is exclusive to Big Brother.

I'm not complaining. I'm gobsmacked by ANY OS that'll let me install it, then print documents off without even thinking about it.....

Astonishing.

Mike.

[myke]

I have two Chromebooks (and an old Thinkpad that I run two versions of EasyOS: pyro with old 32-bit WINE in a Buster container and the other with the latest version of EasyOS, Scarthgap).

One Chromebook is an old Asus Flip with 64GB storage at End of Life (EOL), i.e., no more ChromeOS updates, but with Crostini installed (with multiple Linux containers) and a new Lenovo Idea Flex 5 with 128GB storage termed a Chromebook Plus (again, with multiple containers). Multiple containers are set by an OS Flag. What is the advantage of Crostini? You don't have to worry about drivers, the bane of Linux. With Crostini, Google takes care of that. After installing a GUI program, it resides in a Linux sub-shelf that is inside a shelf along with Chrome and the installed Android apps; there is no desktop.

The disadvantage is that, unless you know where to go, updating the OS and installing and updating GUI programs is a command line operation. I found a website with three sets of ready-made containers (two of which I Iiked) and, alternatively, another with a bash script that basically replaces the command line operations with a GUI to maintain the OS (a script) and another GUI program that allows a user to download new programs and update them. So I downloaded these ready-made containers and "restored" them one by one to an empty Linux environment container. Even with the EOL Chromebook, I have a secure browser that is kept up to date (in a Crostini container). With the Lenovo Chromebook, I could colour-code each container. Once that is done, a corresponding colour on the icons of the GUI programs installed in that container, so I can see what programs were installed in each container.

Another thing to note is to make life easier for myself, I share the files in certain folders on the Chromebook with Linux and also move the essential folders and files out of the Downloads folder to reside directly under MyFiles so that Google doesn't start moving them to the Google Drive. I installed OnlyOffice and LibreOffice (mainly using Calc) as Flatpaks. Flatpaks are installed via the GUI program I referred to earlier and it is straightforward. I made Flatpaks, the priority version so that the programs are fairly recent versions.

[ozsouth]

@myke - can also side-load .deb files - I have Softmaker Office in my Crostini container (Freeoffice would probably work too). With the .deb in the home folder, installed via:

su -
apt update
apt install -f ./softmaker-office-2021_1068-01_amd64.deb

[myke]

I am aware of sideloading .deb files. I have sideloaded Google Chrome on.the Flip and symphytum on both Chromebooks. Sideloading does work with multiple containers.

[ozsouth]

AI on Chromebooks - latest update has Gemini - the Chromebook AI. Also being issued is the Chromebook Plus (Gemini powered?) seems like their answer to Copilot. I unpinned it (for now at least).