Hopefully efforts like this continue with Fuchsia and other Google products.
Want to change your launcher / dialer / etc? WALL!
Want to run a different web browser (an ACTUAL web browser complete with JS / CSS engine). WALL!
Want emulators or adult-themed apps? WALL!
Want to develop for iOS or macOS on Windows or Linux? WALL!
The list goes on and on...
Someone considering running chrooted Linux on a Chromebook is going to be more interested in a Mac than an iPad, so IMO that's the more useful comparison.
I did run Crouton on a ChromeOS device and came to regret it. ChromeOS devices don't run a mainline kernel, they run something that Google provides which eventually stops receiving updates.
The audio app I wanted to run required a newer kernel, and there was no way to get it short of forward-porting a bunch of device support and building it myself.
IMO for Linux development, users are better served by a real Linux laptop than by a ChromeOS chimera.
But I sort of agree with you too. I'm running Linux desktops rather than Chrome machines for that reason.
Plus going to be far more secure and optimized for the hardware.
2. It's no longer true now you've got Android app support. Whether you think this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your feelings about point 1.
3. "developer mode not withstanding" - well it is withstanding. You'd hear a lot less moaning about iOS if that had a similar mode.
Uh? Most Chromebooks these days run Android apps, so you can install pretty much anything that can run on a regular Android smartphone -- including Firefox Quantum [1].
I haven't tried Firefox yet, but did install a bunch of things on my parents' notebooks - Skype, Android games, etc. Some have problems with the larger aspect ratio, but most run just fine.
[1] https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-run-firefox-quan...
Can you explain as this does not appear to make any sense?
Btw, also Google gives source code in addition.
Or are confusing strong security with a wall? They are different.
You have a GNU/Linux kernel which you can do whatever you want.
For more info visit Reddit and the Crostini subreddit.
You can use Steam or really whatever.
Even GUI works as forwarded to ChromeOS. So start xclock and opens.
What is graphics performance like for the guest ? Does this use gpu virtualization (somewhat supported for intel gpus in recent kernels) ?
But realize this losses cross platform support inheriently so you would have to use ARM gnu/Linux binaries.
Just visit the subreddit.
There is putting your Chromebook in developer mode which removes safety checks and a way to use GNU/Linux on a CB. You then can install Crouton.
But then there is putting a CB on the developer channel or the Canary channel which is completely different.
I am currently using both as I can then see what is happening with the host OS while using the new VM capabilities with my PixelBook.
Heck, I could even run it virtualized, if Apple didn't forbid it :(.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of these kinds of projects out there, mostly obscure, probably by necessity because in fact it is a lot of work to maintain such a system. But, due to the abhorrent nature of the OS vendors, sleeping at the wheel, there is no choice other than to build another, OS-like, system on top.
And where that is always happening, and still will for quite a while I hope, is in the games engine department. Sooner or later, games engines become operating systems, become hosts for spreadsheets and collaboration and other such nonsense...
All this is to say, I have my xcode builds running in a VMWare container, they're safely backed up and replaceable, etc., and all they do anyway is build the target hosts: android, ios, linux, windows, macos, etc. for the .. separated through an abstraction layer .. application.
The use of Lua, I think, is a good example. Lua on all the mobile platforms, would deflate the whole thing...
If Docker were an open system it would already be running natively (not that ridiculous docker-in-a-vm thing) on Solaris, FreeBSD (which have offered similar functionality for decades), and probably MacOS by now. Instead their maintainers are actively hostile to portability patches as a matter of policy.
systemd is also open.
Open (as in "open source") != modular (or "inherently portable" for that matter).
Open alternatives already exist, I use them. But people build other systems that integrate only with docker, and since docker deliberately refuses to follow any fixed standard, other systems can't be compatible with the docker ecosystem. Am I supposed to fork every codebase in the world?
I could have sworn there has been even a few instances of Systemd cock blocking Docker even though Docker had a clear precedence.
I have historically had many problems with Docker and how the project is governed. I'm also no fan of systemd. But there's no point in literally spreading lies.
Worst trouble I had with it was compiling the necessary modules into the kernel when I installed it. The rest was relatively painless (as painless as administering a Gentoo system can be, anyway).
Your post needs a huge dose of clarification.
But you could even use Docker before all this new stuff by putting in developer, install Crouton but you had to use rkt to launch the Docker containers but worked fine.
With ChromeOS 67 no longer necessary.
Some people prefer open platforms that they can customize and tinker with. Some people prefer closed platforms where the defaults are good enough and you never have to open the hood. Neither of those preferences are more wrong than the other one. It's just a preference.
Apple sells a very specific user experience, one they control soup to nuts. It's not for everyone, it's for a specific audience. Luckily we live in a world where there are tons of choices, and by far the more popular choice is "not Apple" according to every statistic I've ever read. They can afford to be picky, they can afford to turn off some customers, because there are a ton of choices that are the opposite of the Apple experience.
If you want a BMW, you want a BMW. If you want a car, you can have any car you want. Including an Audi.
Also most of the drivers are closed sourced.