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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Cyber Cynic

Waiting for Chrome

24 comments

TAGS:Chrome, desktop linux, Google, Linux
IT TOPICS:Desktop Applications, Development, Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software

I keep expecting Google to release an alpha version of their Chrome operating system, but it hasn't happened yet. I know they're working on it, but that's about all I can say. However, over in China, there's a story of early devices running alpha Chrome and some Linux fans have made their own version of Chrome.

First, there's a report from Shanzai, a news site that covers China's technology business, that "devices sporting Google's much trumpeted Chrome OS will start to appear in mid October." Specifically, Chrome will show up in devices using the Chinese-designed Loongson CPU.

The Loongson CPU is a MIPS-based CPU. Like the better-known ARM Cortex chip family, Loongson chips are used in mobile devices, netbooks, and -- at its fastest speed -- these CPUs are beginning to be experimented with in full-powered laptops and desktops. Since Google is working on Chrome with Freescale, the primary ARM vendor, and several Chinese vendors, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if some vendors have gotten their hands on pre-alpha Chrome code.

Be that as it may, some Linux users don't want to wait any longer for Chrome, so they've used SUSE Studio to roll their own version of Chrome Linux.

The base for this home-brew Chrome operating system is openSUSE 11.1, but it quickly goes its own way. It loads up with Google's Chrome Web browser logo and most of important application links go to Google Web applications. Needless to say, it uses the Linux version of the Google Chrome Web browser.

Of course, this isn't the first Linux that decided that Google Apps were the way to go. That honor goes to Good OS, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution.

So, if you can't stand waiting a minute longer for a taste of a Google desktop Linux system, I recommend giving either Chrome OS, in an appliance version for VirtualBox or VMware or Good OS' gOS 3.1 Gadgets a try. Neither of them are the real thing, but both serve as reminders that in 2009, a little Linux and a lot of Google applications can go a long way towards providing a complete desktop experience.

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Maybe...

Submitted by Anonymous on October 4, 2009 - 8:26 A.M.

I find it difficult to take this article seriously since the author makes so many mistakes which display a gross ignorance of embedded systems and hardware. For example:.

1. The author gives the impression that the ARM Cortex architecture is somehow related to the MIPS architecture. All of the ARM architectures come from ARM Ltd in the UK and and are unrelated to the MIPS architecture designed by MIPS Inc. as an outgrowth of work at Stanford University. The two respective architectures are fundamentally different. Their only commonality is that Linux has been ported to both (also true of a number of other architectures).

2. Freescale (nee Motorola) is not the "primary ARM vendor", but rather a minor player in the overall ARM market..The various ARM architectures were originally designed as IP (intellectual Property) to be incorporated into ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). It wasn't long before chip vendors began licensing the technology for their own CPU lines. Freescale is actually a fairly late addition to the ARM community. Various ARM chips (ARM 7,9,11, Xscale,and Cortex) have been sourced by TI, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, NXP (nee Philips), Marvell (ex-Intel), and many others for a number of years. In the cell phone market, the majority of ARM chips are supplied by either Marvell, Samsung, or TI.

If the gentleman makes this many glaring errors, how much of the rest of the article should I believe?

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Development Channel Available

Submitted by Dan MacDonald on October 1, 2009 - 7:32 P.M.

The development channel can be added, but has some limited functionality. Details here: http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel

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Wow

Submitted by Anonymous on October 1, 2009 - 5:23 P.M.

No one needs google vaporware.
SJVN should review this thing!

http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/

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that gets a big "Whoopee"

Submitted by Anonymous on October 1, 2009 - 11:31 P.M.

It plays stupid iPhone games. Whoopee.
It reads Kindle formatted books. Whoopee.
It turns pages like a real book. Whoopee.

Who owns the patents for the motion activated controls? Seems that Wii might take this thing out like they did Sony. I'd be willing to bet either Wii or Apple owns the rights to the controller technology.

It's just another toy that people will probably ignore.

Whoopee.

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