Chrome OS on a USB Drive

[humphreybc]

Hey guys,

I'm just drafting up a How To install Chrome OS onto a USB Drive using this image. (http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/) for my blog, www.interesting.co.nz

Has anyone tried out this image and verified that it works and doesn't destroy your computer? The instructions say to run this command:



sudo dd if=chromiumos.img of=/dev/X bs=4M


Where X is the name of your USB Drive.

As far as I can tell, this is a pretty harmless piece of code - it just writes the image onto the USB Drive. But could someone please verify? I don't want my blog readers wiping their hard drives thanks to me.

Appreciate it.

[earthpigg]

i may give it a shot.

posting so i can find thread later.

[humphreybc]

I'm going to try it out later when I visit the library to download it. We've got shiternet at home, so can't get it here.

My How To will have screenshots for each step etc so if you want to bookmark my blog I should have it posted either tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers

[NormanFLinux]

Try Hexxeh's Google Chrome OS Diet. Its slimmed down yet carries over Ubuntu Karmic's hardware support for Chrome. Its a good way to test it and it will fit a 2GB USB drive.

[humphreybc]

Try Hexxeh's Google Chrome OS Diet. Its slimmed down yet carries over Ubuntu Karmic's hardware support for Chrome. Its a good way to test it and it will fit a 2GB USB drive.

Uh yeah that's what I am asking about. So you've tried it and it's safe?

[toupeiro]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8380525&postcount=95

I can vouch that this process works. enjoy.

[Nerd King]

Just make it clear that they should be careful what they put in for X. If they put sda for instance it could get messy!

[cartisdm]

I'm confused....I just watched a the video made by the google team about their new OS and I thought this thing wasn't coming out for like 10 months? Did I watch a really old video?

[NormanFLinux]

It boots up but in the current build there is no support for Broadcomm wireless cards. Chrome is essentially the Google browser connected to the Internet. No true desktop to speak of.

[Hyper Tails]

i'll give this a shot

[NormanFLinux]

The final version will be the same. The Google browser plus web apps. Its not meant to be a replacement for a true desktop environment. But when you want to just be in "the cloud" its main advantage is the instant bootup time and fast connection to the Internet because the only thing that loads is the browser on startup.

[humphreybc]

Tutorial is up on my blog. It's for the latest one from Hexxeh, Chrome OS Cherry - released today. The new one adds support for the Broadcomm wireless chipset.

http://humphreybc.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/how-to-install-chrome-os-on-a-usb-flash-drive/

[NormanFLinux]

Cool. Most wireless cards today either use Atheros or Broadcomm chipsets and they are both Linux-friendly.

[LowSky]

You know if you tested in a VM you wouldnt have these problems, and your normal data would be safe

[NormanFLinux]

It now connects after waiting five minutes. Its indeed a radical departure from the traditional desktop. There is no software to install and nothing to download. All computing is done from "the cloud" making the traditional desktop redundant.

[humphreybc]

You know if you tested in a VM you wouldnt have these problems, and your normal data would be safe


I'm using a custom kernel so it's a bit of work to load up the kernel module for Vbox or the like. I don't have a use for virtual computers at the moment.

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Well I tried it out, boots and everything fine but obviously doesn't like my hardware - was as sluggish as anything, unusable.