Neverware is now part of Google

Could installing xubuntu be an alternative? What benefits do neverware have over installing a light weight Ubuntu repo?

Personal anecdote, but I had a hard time getting this to work with HP computers a few years ago. imo The issue is more on HP's end than with Neverware though

Does it install from the USB flash drive onto the system disk(s)? Or is it intended to boot and run from the USB device without altering the system?

I see that they stopped supporting 32-bits architecture though

Mostly they are just among very few to support generic Chromium OS builds

The problem I see is that Neverware was filling in a gap where Google has failed to provide extended support. That wasn't something Google couldn't do before... it just didn't want to.

So this acquisition likely means a return to old Chromebooks being ewaste because Google bought out the company that was providing a longer lifecycle.

When Google's team decides a computer is too old to support, do you think their other team is going to be allowed to step in and support it?

Google is likely interested in CloudReady for it's newer uses on Windows PCs, I've seen an employer ship a brand new HP laptop with CloudReady on it instead of the OEM Windows license included. But long term support is likely going to suffer.

Reminds me of 15 years ago, when I used Slax in a similar way. Glad to see the project still exists: https://www.slax.org/

Neverware's original business/idea was in enabling massive reuse of older, slower computers in the education space by making them thin client devices if I remember correctly (back when it was 5 guys working out of General Assembly). Anyway congrats Jonathan and crew. It's been a long journey

I would say the "sauce" as in their willingness to support more hardware. Much of the "driver" support comes from Linux, and Linux already runs on the devices that Cloudready supports.

It the re-use of old hardware that might be thrown away it's just potential, it's happening at scale right now.

My mother used a Thinkpad T450 with Cloudready for years. To her it was a Chromebook with a larger screen than her old 11" one.

There's an interesting Ubuntu spin off called Ubuntu Web Remix. That boots to a simplified desktop that revolves around the browser and PWAs. Their browser of choice is Firefox. This Ubuntu variant is designed to be a Chrome OS replacement. I haven't tried it, but it looks quite interesting.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-web-remix/19394

I wouldn't be surprised to see someone attempt a Chrome OS clone at a startup or corporate level. Seems like all the building blocks are there. Someone just needs to assemble it. Simple desktop that revolves around Firefox. With an immutable base system and seamless, invisible-to-the-end-user containers.

I agree, it is a beautiful laptop! I need to remove the write-protect screw from the motherboard to fix the update problems. I haven't gotten around to it yet. When I do that I will also replace the battery, as mine now has a 2 hour battery life and requires 10 hours to charge.

Were you able to get the touch screen working under Linux? How did you install a normal BIOS?

If I were splitting hairs about it I wouldn't personally call the bulk of them "distros," if only because the overall Android ecosystem is that much more homogeneous compared to one like GNU. The extent to which features or visual tweaks are added will vary, but your underlying system will generally be the same regardless of whether you're running LineageOS, Paranoid Android, Carbon or most others. (Some exceptions include Bliss, which maintains a desktop-focused x86 build; /e/, which is specifically built around MicroG; and GrapheneOS, a hardened build specifically for Pixels.)

With that said though -- yes, if you're into modding or general preservation there are a variety of community spins of Android, and potentially even a small scattering of other Linux-based systems depending on your device.

Now that Android requires the use of a GSI -- or generic system image -- in testing, device compatibility is also significantly better than it used to be. That said, you're still limited to those that support bootloader unlocking. (Notably, while they don't implement this internationally, if you're US-based Samsung is out.) Additionally, GSIs will still have edge cases around drivers (since they don't have to actually work on production devices), Google apps generally have to be loaded separately, and even then the act of opening your bootloader to begin with trips SafetyNet -- which breaks everything from banking apps (for the sensitive-data protections this was originally intended to cover) to Netflix (for DRM) to various games (for anti-cheat) to... Snapchat for some reason?

Where this starts to really get exciting is that, over the next year or two, that requirement for generic image compatibility will be extending to the kernel, on devices that are actually shipping to users. Treble's launch triggered a sort of second wave within the custom ROM scene, as it meant they no longer strictly needed to be ported to devices on an individual basis -- a limitation which up until now has still existed for the kernel.

Some particularly interesting details around this are that a custom kernel is required to run Halium (a GNU compatibility layer for Android devices that allows images like Ubuntu Touch to be loaded as GSIs), and that Android 11 can actually boot on a minimally-patched mainline assuming that all necessary drivers exist.

It's weirdly weasel-worded, too, like... your company was acquired by Google. There is exactly 0% chance of there being no changes. Why even bother pretending otherwise? Does anyone actually believe that things aren't going to change?

EDIT: Like, it doesn't even have to be a bad thing! Sell it! Go hog with "we're integrating processes to make the product better for users" and "this will let us ship updates faster" and "you'll get more features now that we're an official Google product" (Android support, hopefully). There's no reason to go with this absurd premise that there will be no change (which nobody's going to believe anyways) when you could be saying "yes there will be changes and that's a good thing for you".

One other option that I like is ElementaryOS - simple enough UI and lightweight. It's not Chromebook lightweight but I've put it on some 10+ year old clunkers with no issues. Plus it keeps you and your family members out of the Google surveillance dragnet.

That's more the fault of hacker news and the submitters of the url (it's a page inside of a knowledgebase ...) and also the upvoters of the article.

Imagine, all those upvotes needed to make this a front page article, NONE of those upvoters know what the company is or the context behind it, just that Google did something, so they upvote.

Then you see all these discussion posts about not knowing what it was, and why it's on the front page, etc.

It's basically HN's version of the blind leading the deaf.

While true to some degree, Google's prior record with services, like Songza -> Google Music Play-> YouTube Music, support the knee jerk reaction. It'll start as an official Chrome OS offering before it eventually is shut down and assimilated into Chrome OS entirely.

Right. Perhaps Google wants to renegotiate their contract with the OEMs and buying out Neverware weakens the bargaining position of the OEMs?