Try Google Chrome OS Early (Updated)

Google has introduced a new open source Linux-based operating system for web-only applications called Chrome OS. The Google Chrome OS Wikipedia entry has more information that I won’t duplicate here.

chromium
The Chromium OS Logo

@Hexxeh has generously compiled an early release of Chrome OS for everyone to use so potential users don’t have to build it manually. A torrent and instructions are available on his website for a version aimed at being run off a USB thumb drive. Be sure to check out instructions on his site on how to correctly copy the file to a USB drive after downloading the file. As a side note the default username and password is facepunch.

If you’d rather not go the USB thumb drive route then another option exists to try Chrome OS in virtualization software like VMware Workstation (commercial software) or Virtualbox (free software). You can find instructions for that option over at Lifehacker.

Please direct any support questions to @Hexxeh on Twitter. Leave any non-support related comments and feedback below. Do you see this as the future of the computers as we know it or not?

Update (11.25.2009 – 7:55pm Pacific Time): Engadget also posted a story about Hexxeh’s build. I’ve included a local web-based mirror of the Chrome OS build for those who don’t want to deal with bittorrent.

Original ChormiumOS HTTP Download Mirror: Here (Filename: chromiumos.tar.gz) – Now obsolete.

Update (12.1.2009 – 11:33am Pacific Time): Hexxeh has released a ‘diet’ version of his Chromium OS build that fits onto a 1 gigabyte USB drive and improves WiFi support. He has updates his site to reflect the new release as well as his torrent release feed on TPB. A hardware compatibility list is available from Google.

ChormiumOS Diet HTTP Download Mirror: Here (Filename: ChromeOS-Diet.tar.gz MD5: 91dc1c371db663bc0d7a2a95f1bcd90c)

Update (12.4.2009 – 8:56pm Pacific Time): Hexxeh has released ChromeOS Cherry with this message:

ChromeOS Cherry released with new Broadcom/Ralink support and many bugfixes! Broadcom WiFi works, but you need to wait about 5 minutes after booting to connect to a network.

ChormiumOS Cherry HTTP Download Mirror: Here (Filename: ChromeOS-Cherry.tar.gz MD5: 71ae0c8267f6ad9e6508a64c5eb25d53)

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November 25, 2009 | Filed Under Tech/Gadgets 

Comments

One Response to “Try Google Chrome OS Early (Updated)”

  1. Mike on December 28th, 2009 7:21 pm

    Chrome OS is just another rebranded Linux GUI, it would be much better if Google came up with an OS that would directly compete with Windows.

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