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Boot Chrome OS from a USB drive
You don't have to wait until sometime in 2010 to try Google's web-centric operating system on your netbook. Since its unveiling to the world a few days ago people have been eager to know how well it performs -- even at this early stage -- and with the source code available online details on how to set up and run a virtual machine version were quick to emerge.
Today a new build is doing the rounds on torrent sites, one that will let you run Chrome OS from a USB drive instead of on a virtualized environment. The folks over at Engadget were able to put it to the test on a Dell Vostro A90 netbook and were pleased with its performance as well as the improved boot time. From power up to the login screen, Chrome OS took around 22 seconds to load and was immediately ready to start browsing.
One major setback right now is that its device drivers are in the very early stages of development. That means some parts of your computer may not respond when using Chrome OS, and in fact Engadget's demonstration didn't include Wi-Fi functionality. Nevertheless if you are feeling adventurous, you can try it out on your netbook by grabbing the bootable image based on the Chromium OS build of Twitter user Hexxeh.
Setup instructions are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Also, be sure to check out Google's list of devices that are known to work with the latest development version of the upcoming OS.
Today a new build is doing the rounds on torrent sites, one that will let you run Chrome OS from a USB drive instead of on a virtualized environment. The folks over at Engadget were able to put it to the test on a Dell Vostro A90 netbook and were pleased with its performance as well as the improved boot time. From power up to the login screen, Chrome OS took around 22 seconds to load and was immediately ready to start browsing.
One major setback right now is that its device drivers are in the very early stages of development. That means some parts of your computer may not respond when using Chrome OS, and in fact Engadget's demonstration didn't include Wi-Fi functionality. Nevertheless if you are feeling adventurous, you can try it out on your netbook by grabbing the bootable image based on the Chromium OS build of Twitter user Hexxeh.
Setup instructions are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Also, be sure to check out Google's list of devices that are known to work with the latest development version of the upcoming OS.
User Comments (53)
Post a comment| fwilliams on November 25, 2009 11:57 AM | I hope someone comes out with a 3D FPS. Hopefully a variation of Robin Hood. |
| Adhmuz on November 25, 2009 12:06 PM | I really hope that Chrome OS does well, one day maybe it will be suitable to replace windows on more than just netbooks. That 22 second load time is probably dependent on the USB drive being used too. |
| yangly18 on November 25, 2009 12:09 PM | well just load that on a USB 3 and you're all set |
| Kibaruk on November 25, 2009 12:29 PM | Mmm good for on the go e-mail with dual-booting, will check and give some feedback. |
| Puiu on November 25, 2009 12:40 PM | since it is based on linux i doesn't come as a surprise that they were able to put it on a thumb drive. Lately i've been playing around with bootable thumb drives. A few days ago i made one with windows xp setup on it. very useful when you need to install windows on a netbook (or you simply just don't have a working CD-ROM). |
| codefeenix on November 25, 2009 12:52 PM | I am not going to enter my gmail uname/pword into something not prepared by someone i trust. |
| Guest on November 25, 2009 12:51 PM | Its asking me for my gmail user name and password at the main login screen when i try to boot. |
| fref on November 25, 2009 12:56 PM | What sort of an OS is this exactly? Is it only for web related stuff or could someone install a photo edition program, word processor, etc.? |
| klepto12 on November 25, 2009 1:03 PM | I personally love google android but idk about this os it seems like it would be nice for a netbook which with limited space and no cd drive would help a lot still i have to question the reasons why google wants to bring this os out. dont get me wrong if they get this thing going and it can compete with windows then im all for it. |
| Serag on November 25, 2009 1:10 PM | I share the same concerns of other comments...Though it seems like an awesome idea |
| paynetrain007 on November 25, 2009 1:13 PM | Sounds cool. Might wait for a bit though. |
| Technochicken on November 25, 2009 1:25 PM | I wish the download was not a torrent, as I've had bad experiences with them in the past. I've used Chrome OS on a virtual machine, but the performance was very poor, so I would really like to try it out natively on my netbook. |
| gobbybobby on November 25, 2009 1:37 PM | Technochicken, I am glad they released it as a torrent, it
means that if loads of people trys downloading at same time,
the servers won't crash/ people get uber slow download
speeds. Now Seed away peeps! |
| ColdPreacher on November 25, 2009 1:46 PM | Nice to see another OS being able to boot up from USB. I like the fact that you can carry a Os around that you are use to and run it on any PC that supports USB boot up. |
| AtomicPlayboy on November 25, 2009 2:03 PM | Chrome OS is definitely NOT for me, but I can see myself getting all of my relatives (to whom I provide endless tech support) using it on their laptops as soon as possible. |
| BlindObject on November 25, 2009 2:17 PM | Hm...now to find them USB drives. |
| redtigerdragon on November 25, 2009 2:24 PM | I don't think testing it now is such a great idea. From the sounds of it, when it does release it will only release on certain hardware, and be very cloud-limited... |
| Nirkon on November 25, 2009 2:27 PM | That's exactly what I said today! my post was like "it would be perfect if I could run it off a usb stick"! lol I'm definitely trying this out on the eeepc, it makes surfing much faster than XP i would imagine |
| levar on November 25, 2009 2:31 PM | Really? This is awesome news  wow, I told myself, the
GoogleOS is going places.
|
| fada on November 25, 2009 2:39 PM | i cant really see this taking off at all, its only use that i can see is on mobile platforms like iphones, but they already have android for that so...? |
| klepto12 on November 25, 2009 2:46 PM | Im sure google has there reasons but i think if your just going to surf the net and do simple tasks this would be great for portable devices and the like. |
| drasho on November 25, 2009 3:27 PM | im not sure if this os will take alot of the share but it a nice start for peolple that just feel like surfing the web =) |
| harby on November 25, 2009 4:01 PM | Well, I'm not exactly impressed. I'd hardly call it an operating system at this point. But who knoes how it will evolve, lets wait and see. |
| IvanAwfulitch on November 25, 2009 4:14 PM | I don't really know what to think about Chrome. There are lots of separate Operating Systems that have had minor success, but those have mostly been freeware such as Ubuntu Linux and whatnot. I don't really see how Chrome would bring very much that's "new" to the table when Windows 7 is already grabbing hold so darn well. |
| Rapidhic on November 25, 2009 4:14 PM | I was really been looking forward this ver. of ChromeOs. Its supposed to be an os only for basic internet needs and messaging. Lite 'n Simple :P |
