When you download an ISO image of Chrome OS and burn it on a DVD. The real Chrome OS, which is indeed based on Linux flavored by Ubuntu, is available as source code, along with build instructions, at the Chromium OS Developer Guide. How to Install Chrome OS from a USB Drive and Run It on Any PC Chris Hoffman @chrisbhoffman July 27, 2017, 1:13pm EDT Google only officially supports running Chrome OS on Chromebooks, but don’t let that stop you.
Chrome OS doesn’t need an introduction to those already have information about the Linux operating systems. However, don’t get confused with the Google Chrome OS and Cr OS Linux they both are independent of each other. Although Google Chrome OS is officially only available for Chromebook, it is based on an opensource project called Chromium OS. So, if one would like to taste the official Google Chrome look, feel and features then try the CloudReady OS. ( You can see our article: how to install CloudReady OS on VMware player to try Google Chrome OS).
Coming to this article, where we are going to talk about another Linux based OS known as Cr OS Linux; built around the revolutionary Chromium browser.
The developers of Cr OS Linux also called it Chrome plated OS. It is an open source operating system and lightweight too. The developers claimed that Cr OS Linux distribution is similar to Google Chrome OS and one can install it on any x86 PC, old or new, netbook or notebook to get the best web browsing experience. This OS is based on OpenSuse.
Minimum System requirements of Cr OS Linux:
- CPU: Intel Pentium, Atom, Xeon or newer; AMD Duron, Athlon, Sempron, Opteron or newer
- RAM: 512 MB
- Hard disk: 3 GB
- Graphics card: any graphics cards with 3D hardware acceleration
Here we are using the VirtualBox on Windows 10 machine to install and use the Cr OS Linux Virtual Machine. However, the step will be same for Mac, Ubuntu or any other Linux operating system with VirtualBox.
Step 1: Download Cr OS Linux
The operating system is free to use and download. It available as an ISO image and USB Disk image, both. To install on VirtualBox, first, download the Cr OS Linux ISO image. Here is the website link.
Step 2: Setup VirtualBox for Cr OS Linux VirtualMachine
Open the VirtualBox, Click on the New button and enter the different pieces of information.
- Name: Some name to your Cr OS Linux virtual machine
- Machinefolder: Leave it default, if you don’t want to change the location of VirtualMachine files.
- Type: Select Other.
- Version: Other/Unkown (64-bit)
Set the RAM, although this operating system’s minimum requirement is 512 MB, we have given 2GB for better performance. If you don’t have that much make it less.
Click on the Create button and move to the next step.
Step 3: Create a Virtual Hard Disk for Cr OS Linux
2GB of Hard disk is enough for the OS to test, nevertheless, if you are planning to install some software or for long-term usage with lots of files then it recommended to add more space. Like we have given 10GB.
Step 4: Add Download Cr OS Linux ISO file to VirtualBox.
After creating the virtual machine, its time to assign the downloaded ISO image of CR OS Linux to Virtualbox. For that select the created Virtual machine and select the Settings option from the Menu Vbox.
Under the settings, go to Storage option and click on the Empty CD icon. Then on the right side again click on another CD icon as shown in the below image. A pop-up options menu will open, select Choose Virtual Optical Disk File option and select the downloaded Cr OS Linux ISO image.
Once you have selected the ISO file, it will appear in the Storage Devices section. Press the OK button and move to the next step.
Step 5: Start the Cr OS Linux VirtualMachine.
Select the newly created virtual machine and click on the Start button.
Step 6: Cr OS Linux boot screen
As the Virtual machine boots up you will see the first boot screen of this Linux OS. Select the first boot option to run the Live session of the OS.
Step 7: Install the Cr OS Linux on VirtualBox
Just like most of the Linux operating system show the installation option on the Live screen from where one can install it on the Hard disk permanently; the Cr Os Linux offers the same thing.
Click on the Live Installer icon.
It will ask for a password to trigger the installation process. The default password is root. Type it and press continues button.
Select the Time zone which you want to set for the OS and select the Next button.
The Cr OS Linux will automatically create the Swap, root and home volume in the hard disk. In case, the user wants to a custom partition, he can use the Create partitionsetup option. However, if you not familiar with the Linux partition system then leave it, as it is and click on the Next button.
Assign a user to the OS. Enter the Full name, Username, Password and press the Next button.
Finally, the install button will appear with all your settings made above. Click on the Install button. In few minutes, the installation will be done.
Once the setup and installation completed, first remove the Cr OS Linux ISO image from virtual disk. To perform this right click on the CD icon given at right bottom side of the Virtualbox and select the remove disk from virtual disk option. A pop-up will appear, choose the ForceMount option.
Step 8: Reboot the Virtual Machine
Once the ISO image ejected, click on the Machine and select the Reset option to reboot the machine. And this time the Cr OS Linux will boot from the VirtualBox hard disk.
Other tutorials to read:
I already know what you're asking... why do we need a Chrome OS knock-off when we already have the real deal (and the real deal is dirt cheap)?
The answer to that question is two fold: 1) Because it can be done; and 2) Because you probably have plenty of older hardware sitting around that could easily power a Chrome OS-like operating system.
Recently, I had to reinstall the primary OS on my production machine. I opted to try something different than Ubuntu, so I started looking around at new distributions. In the end, the decision came down to two distributions:
I wound up going with Elementary OS Freya, but the decision was a challenging one. Why? Because Chromixium is incredibly well done and works as efficiently and easily as Chrome OS. In the end, however, Elementary OS Freya won out, because it offered a much superior audio recording experience.
Even so, Chromixium is an outstanding choice for anyone wanting Chrome OS on non-Chromebook hardware. What does it offer? Here are some of the features:
- LTS Linux PAE Kernel 3.13
- Chromium web browser (with the option of using the proprietary Google Chrome)
- Pepperflash plugin
- Openbox window manager
- Compton desktop compositor
- Plank dock
- LXPanel
- GTK+3 for a consistent look and feel
For anyone who has been around Linux long enough, the use of Openbox window manager (derived from the old-school Blackbox window manager) should be intriguing, especially in conjunction with a compositor. Openbox has been around for a while (initial release was 2002) and has always been lauded for its speed and small footprint. With Chromixium built on a Linux kernel, with a lightning fast desktop designed to mimic Chrome OS, what is there not to love?
Why you should try Chromixium
I can sum this up in a few quick bullet points:
- If you've used Chrome OS and would love to see it with just a bit more flexibility
- If you have aging hardware and want a solid OS to use
- If you're looking for an incredibly easy-to-use OS that can serve just about any purpose
- If you like the idea of Chrome OS with native apps like LibreOffice and GIMP
- If you like the idea of Chrome OS but need much more local storage
The list, seriously, goes on and on.
Why you should not try Chromixium
Again, I can sum this up in a few bullet points:
- You hate Linux
- You hate anything that resembles a Google product
- You'd prefer the Chrome OS experience with the incredibly fast-booting Chromebook hardware
- You depend on applications that aren't available for the Linux platform
Installation
As with most Linux distributions, you can 'try before you buy' by running Chromixium as a live instance. Once you've tried it, you'll probably want to install it. The installation of Chomixium is as simple as installing any Linux distribution. You simply boot from the ISO image (download here and burn it onto a DVD or USB flash drive), log into the desktop with the credentials Username: user / Password: user, and click the Install icon in the Panel.
Chrome Os Iso File Download
You'll need to enter the sudo password user in order to start the installation process. The installation wizard is very user friendly and shouldn't toss anything your way that you haven't seen before.
Setting Chrome as the default
Out of the box, Chromium is the default browser. This is fine, except for the fact that you might find certain sites don't function quite as well with Chromium. If you'd prefer to use the official Chrome as the default browser, you'll first need to install it. Here's how:
- Open up Chromium
- Go to the Chrome download page
- Download the 32 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu)
- Click Accept and Install
- Click Save to download the file to your Downloads folder
- Once it's downloaded, close the browser
- Open Files (the default file manager) from the dock
- Navigate to the Downloads folder
- Double-click on the file google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb, and it will open in the Package Installer
- Click on Install Package and enter your password when prompted
- When the installation finished, close the Package Installer
Now to set Chrome as the default, follow these steps:
- Open a terminal window by hitting [Control]+[Alt]+[T]
- Enter the command sudo cp /usr/bin/chromium-browser /usr/bin/chromium-browser-old and type your sudo password when prompted
- Enter the command sudo ln -s -f /usr/bin/google-chrome /usr/bin/chromium-browser
At this point, Chrome will be your default browser.
The caveats
Chromixium isn't perfect (what do you expect from a 1.0 release?), and one of the biggest issues I've come across is that installed applications do not appear in the menu. Although the menu is great for all your Chrome apps and searching, it does next to nothing for those apps you install via Synaptic or the command line. There is, however, a bit of a hidden menu that allows you access to more of the Linux side of things. If you right-click anywhere on the desktop, the OpenBox menu will appear. Within this menu, you can:
- Launch locally installed applications
- Launch the Control Panel
- Run commands
- Change the desktop wallpaper
- Logout/shutdown
- Gain quick access to settings (Figure A)
Figure A
The Chromixium local menu.
With the help of this menu, Chromixium becomes the best of both worlds. At first blush, you might wish to have these two menus integrated as one. However, given enough thought, you might come to the same conclusion I did... separately, they're much more powerful. After using the dual menus long enough, I realized the two were better left apart. This separation means better Google integration without getting muddied by the plethora of available Linux applications. Most likely, you'll spend the majority of your time on the Google side of things, but when you need a bit more, it's just a right-click away.
The last issue you might find is the lack of a clear and obvious front end for package management and an update manager. Chromixium offers Synaptic, GDebi, Ubuntu Software Center, dpkg, and apt for the management of packages. This is too much (Figure B).
Figure B
Too many package manager front ends.
Chromixium needs to settle on one and leave it at that, because the primary user base for Chrome OS want simplicity. Instead, they'll find Synaptic in the Applications | System, the Ubuntu Software Center in Applications | Internet, GDebi in Applications | System, Software & Drivers in Applications | Settings, Automatic Updates in Applications | Settings... you get the idea.
The developers need to rein this in to avoid confusion.
Download Google Chrome Os Iso
Conclusion
If you're looking for one of the simplest Linux distributions, one that's very well integrated with Google, you need to give Chromixium a closer look. I've yet to come across a Linux distribution that does as good of a job at mimicking Chrome OS. Being a fan of the Google platform, this might eventually wind up being a perfect confluence of design and execution. For a 1.0 release, Chromixium is seriously impressive.