Tbf ChromeOS is worse than Windows with regards to privacy and usability.
Worst of both worlds
Worst is first, or so I’m told.
It is easy to manage and doesn’t have Windows update nor does it have all the bloatware.
If I had to choose between daily driving Chrome OS with Linux apps and daily driving Windows with Linux apps I would go for Chrome OS
I had to use ChromeOS for work in the past and I really feel like the trend of “every app is secretly just chrome” should be destroyed in the fires of hell
ChromeOS has a very specific use-case: a basic machine for non-techies who only need a browser. For example, your mum who just wants to read some emails, look at some photos, or do some shopping.
Yes it’s way less usable, but that’s kind of a plus in this case because you’re getting a simple machine which is hard to break, and Google is doing the tech support rather than you.
I’ve got no desire to use it myself, but I’d rather an elderly family member get a cheap Chromebook than keep using an unpatched and insecure old version of Windows or pay through the nose for a Mac they don’t need.
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You mean electron based apps? Yea I hate those. Discord, Slack are the worst. MS teams is cancer.
l personally don’t mind apps you can load through your favorite browser. Instant cross platform compatibility. I think there are some arbitrary connection limitations that make bandwidth or latency intensive apps less than ideal though.
good lord I can shittalk ms teams for days on end
technical architecture problems aside,
one of the smaller issues that has verifiably taken years off my life is how it decides to alert you with messages
coworker in the misc channel: anyone know how to fix a lawnmower?
ms teams: HOLY SHIT. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. YOU HAVE A MESSAGE. CHECK YOUR GODDAMN INBOX ASAP MOTHERFUCKER. DING DING DING
manager: call me urgently.
ms-teams: lmao who said that
I keep getting emails from Teams saying I missed a message I’d read three hours ago
Palm Pre figured this shit out years ago.
You mean electron based apps? Yea I hate those. Discord, Slack are the worst. MS teams is cancer.
There’s some web-based technologies that work better than Electron. React Native for desktop works pretty well and uses native UI widgets, but unfortunately there’s no Linux version (just Windows and MacOS).
“This application requires Edge browser”
I will not accept a world where applications are just browser applets.
ChromeOS changed that approach years ago. That’s how Steam is available: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9145439
Exactly. These people who say crap like this ether never used ChromeOS or think it never evolved beyond 2011.
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Changes absolutely nothing about what I said.
But the world changed and applications in ChromeOS aren’t solely browser applets any longer.
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Considering I haven’t claimed all ChromeOS applications are browser applets, I’m not sure what you expect as a reply.
So you made a random off-topic comment. Got it. That’s certainly one way to deal with having been wrong in the actual context of the post.
Incorrect. ChromeOS natively runs both APKs and Linux installs. I have the full Play Store, FDroid, and Linux CLI at my fingertips.
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I’m running APKs and CLI installed apps. You made it sound like Chromebooks were still in 2011. They run packages now.
You made it sound like Chromebooks were still in 2011. They run packages now.
Kadu definitively has no clue and didn’t even care to do 30 seconds of web search.
Google reluctantly added Linux compatibility - limited to ChromeOS verified products, unless you’re willing to use third party non-official ways of triggering access to the CLI.
What’s an unofficial 3rd party way about just enabling it in the setting?
This is similar to the Can Android phones be considered Linux phones? debate. At some point you’ve walled off and pigeonholed the device or OS enough it becomes something else entirely.
Unironically the importance of being GNU/Linux instead of just Linux.
Unironically the importance of being GNU/Linux instead of just Linux.
So Alpine with its musl libc is bad? How about embedded distributions with Busybox instead of GNU userland?
Alright, you got me. I mainly care about the GPL license and the ability to modify your own devices as you like. But that doesn’t make as good of a one liner.
the ability to modify your own devices as you like
GPLv2 does not mandate that, though. That was the main reason why GPLv3 was written.
Yes, permissive licensing instead of copyleft is bad. Things like Alpine and Busybox exist mostly to allow corporations to exploit Linux without giving back to the community, build user-hostile Tivoized devices, etc.
user-hostile Tivoized devices
GPLv2 does the same. Linus Torvalds explicitly said he’s fine with that and disapproves the GPLv3 for this very reason.
I guess you use an OS with a GPLv3 kernel then? Hurd?
like when they say os x is just linux with a pretty ui. yeah they share a lot of components with bsd but that’s about it.
My brother tried to use his macbook to put spongebob on the TV and it wouldn’t let him due to drm reasons. Don’t let this shit become the new normal. It’s GNU Linux or nothing for me.
Doesn’t MacOS have more in common with BSD than Linux?
Doesn’t MacOS have more in common with BSD than Linux?
Yes but idiots think that macOS is Linux because they don’t wanna know the distinction to Unix-like.
I would say that both osx and Linux are flavors of Unix, not that macs run Linux.
MacOS is actually the only desktop OS that’s officially a Unix OS (meaning it’s officially certified). The others are mostly mainframe OSes. https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/
Linux is “Unix-like”, but it’s not actually Unix. Linux was inspired by Minix, not by Unix.
People sometimes confuse Unix with POSIX. MacOS is also fully POSIX compliant whereas Linux is mostly POSIX compliant (but don’t think it’s quite 100% especially with newer POSIX standards).
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I’m on the Linux Kernel and have a terminal that runs Linux apps on my device. That’s pretty Linux-y enough. If you want you can install another distro on a Chromebook.
You could also use Windows Subsystem for Linux.
I don’t think the Chromebook aspect of it matters; it’s just another piece of hardware.
Not to mention the kernel for most devices is the only kernel that will run on the hardware and it can’t be mainlined.
*Laughs in Graphene *
Is GrapheneOS that much more like Linux?
I feel like what you are saying is on the same level as installing Termux on a rooted Android phone. There might be some quirks of GrapheneOS I am unaware of though.
IMO orphan kernels are not Linux. If it can’t update with mainline, it is a sterile mule. So no, even as an avid user of Graphene, it is not Linux because google has stollen ownership with an orphaned kernel using proprietary and publicly undocumented hardware.
In this vain, no mobile chipset or radio modem has been FOSS or Linux in a very very long time if ever. Like the last radio that was fully documented was the Atheros stuff, and the last processor to come close to fully documented is the stuff Leah Rowe supports in Libreboot and that is only because of her hacking skills.
It’s more that it’s de-googled.
I wouldn’t describe it as Linux, per se, but it is de-googled
I don’t think it’s really relevant then. The argument is more about wanting a traditional Linux experience on mobile phones and Android operating systems (including GrapheneOS) being too far removed from that. Breaking away from Google is more of a possible positive byproduct
Yeah, I don’t think that’s ever really going to work.
As similar as the hardware is, the reality is they’re different interface. One of the things that made windows 8 awful was trying to do both.
Other people have mentioned the limitations of the hardware so I won’t bother rehashing it but I do think there is a lot of potential in a Linux distro for phones.
Right now Linux phones are incredibly niche but we have seen some improvements in software around the release of the PinePhone and the Pro model so I have hope that it will, eventually, work. SailfishOS is a paid OS and is a fairly limited but it does feel quite smooth to daily drive on supported devices. Simple frequent tasks (ex. Finding public transit routes to a coffee shop) do seem to take longer to complete on Linux phones but I am hoping that will be sorted in the next couple years.
It’s just hardened Android, but it still uses the Android kernel, Bionic C Library, etc. They have a custom memory allocator which was based on a port from OpenBSD though.
i downloaded debian from the microsoft store what more do you want?
i downloaded debian from the microsoft store what more do you want?
Fun fact: You can just as well enable a Debian container on ChromeOS: https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-library/guides/containers/containers-and-vms/#quickstart
Crouton is available as well if you’re feeling wild
What a time to be alive.
That’s Okay. I Don’t Mind At All And I Hope You Do Enjoy My Response That Is In No Way A Silly And Overspecific Attempt To TrOlL Back (jokingly).
I feel like OP has his own definition for “tbh” in this comic, because that doesn’t make any sense.
Get Linux to become hardcore
Get Linux the brown hedgehog
Get Linux today brother human
I feel like OP has his own definition for “tbh” in this comic, because that doesn’t make any sense.
Brits use “to be honest” as random filler in a sentence that has nothing to do with a statement being right or a lie.
It’s definitely for true stuff. It’s filler but it’s more emphasis than random.
i assume it means something along the lines of “to be honest, i think you should get linux”
yes - it’s an advanced form of dyslexia.
It’s supposed to be a reply to an existing conversation.
Agreed. This meme is in media res.
I feel like OP has his own definition for “tbh” in this comic,
tbh
ftfy
Oh. Well I’ve also got this Android tablet…
So mainline it!
Any tips on how to adapt mainline kernel to obscure old devices? I mean, mainline doesn’t have ALL the drivers and something will not work out of the box, p.s i want to mainline “redmi note 4x mtk”, literary NOBODY try it for many years while it’s exact twin but on snapdragon gets updated to this day, so i decided fuck it we ball, I’m gonna do this myself, so I’m searching for sources how to adapt mainline kernel to obscure hardware
It requires a lot of knowledge and patients and is not always possible due to proprietary software
That’s why the “GNU/” part is important. It’s how you differentiate good Linux from bastardized Linux.
What about Alpine Linux, postmarketOS etc.?
Stay away in general for things that matter, like prod servers, you’ll thank me later. Have fun with tinkering with them!
If you do insist on pushing them out to prod: as part of a container, using your own tightly compiled stuff, try not to link or use the package management
And if you ignore all this advice, congratulations you either become or already are a C and Linux packaging expert!
I’m pretty sure, ChromeOS also uses a GNU userland.
Preach brother
What about Alpine or Void?
I was wondering if ChromeOS did more than just use a Linux Kernal and turns out most of the behind the scenes stuff is Gentoo. Fascinating.
Nah a lot of improvements have come to the linux ecosystem because of Android/ChromeOS (since they’re just linux distributions, really). Use away.
Linux user: “I wish 2024 would finally be the year of Linux on the desktop.”
Monkey’s paw: curls
I just installed Arch with Wayland and Pipewire & my Chromebook went from barely usable and laggy w/ a Linux VM in it — to running with full fps animations and somehow 3x as many chrome tabs. Also holy shit Pipewire, I didn’t know about this, but Linux has finally and conclusively fixed audio/video routing & is now best in class
So yeah fuck ChromeOS w/ it’s shitty outdated Linux sandbox
Do your self a favor and do not use anything Google. (Hardened FF with DDG, Searx-ng or something not google)
Me, a Linux expert: “Cool. Do you, bro.”
I have a Chromebook. It’s a cheap web browser, good battery life, and I can use terminal to SSH into my stuff. It’s good enough for my use case.
Can you use it without an account? Maybe just don’t connect it to the internet
No idea. If I was worried about that I would just install a normal Linux distro on it.
If you plan to do this on day, here is link to a nice presentation at 37C3 on how to.
You’re one of the good ones.
I think that both ChromeOS and Android are Linux. They may not embody a free software mentality, but they are Linux.
Android can be free software but it takes so doing and has limitations
Android can be free software but it takes so doing and has limitations
Just as Linux-libre has limitations. Mainstream Linux is never 100% FOSS.
The Android kernel is generally pretty bad and right now we are missing a build for the newer versions of the Android SDK.
We also have free software phones or phones that are very close but they are 3G. The main problem is that the telephone has always kind of been a tool for surveillance. Cell phones are no exception and the modem in your phone is a total black box.
Android is not really Linux, as has been explained about a bazillion of times. It uses a Linux kernel, doesn’t make it a Linux distribution.
Then what would be needed to make it a Linux distro, instead of “just” a Linux-based OS?
As far as I understand the comment on Wikipedia, Android can be seen as a Linux distribution, but not as a GNU/Linux distribution which we commonly understand as ‘real’ Linux.
Android is a Linux distribution according to the Linux Foundation, Google’s open-source chief Chris DiBona, and several journalists. Others, such as Google engineer Patrick Brady, say that Android is not Linux in the traditional Unix-like Linux distribution sense; Android does not include the GNU C Library (it uses Bionic as an alternative C library) and some other components typically found in Linux distributions.
The Android kernel is a mess (I’m looking at you, hardware vendors)
I use Alpine Linux quite a bit, which is a Linux distro that doesn’t use the GNU coreutils or glibc.
Also even giving GNU such a high level in the name on a distro like Arch makes little sense imo because other components like systemd are arguably much more important than one of many libc libraries you can optionally use and a bunch of coreutils you can also optionally use.
So it should be the some other components which don’t make Android a ‘real’ Linux according to some definition.
Personally I agree, that the Linux kernel makes a system a Linux system. However, the choice of a specific C library is important as it ensures some kind of binary compatibility between distributions, i.e. download a generic ‘GNU/Linux’ binary and run it is possible.
I use Debian btw. ;-)
It uses a Linux kernel, doesn’t make it a Linux distribution.
Yes, it does. It’s not a GNU/Linux distribution, though.
