Wondering why you might want to spend $1299 or more on a laptop that runs Chrome OS, an operating system based on a web browser? How about because the Chromebook Pixel‘s not limited to just running Chrome OS?
Googler Bill Richardson explains that Google packed a copy of SeaBIOS into the Pixel, making it easier to boot an alternate operating system on this machine than on any other Chromebook released to date.
Update: You can follow our guide for installing Ubuntu, Android, or other operating systems on the Chromebook Pixel.
Richardson post also provides instructions for downloading and installing Linux Mint on the Chromebook Pixel.
Basically all you have to do is enter developer mode on the Chromebook, download the disk image, copy it to an SD card or USB flash drive, and then reboot your system and choose to boot from the removable storage.
The Chromebook Pixel is designed to run Chrome OS, so not all hardware will be supported out of the box by other operating systems. The touchpad doesn’t work in Linux Mint yet, for instance. But Google is contributing upstream patches to the Linux kernel which means that soon you may be able to run any number of Linux-based operating systems on this premium notebook.
While I’m sure Google would prefer if you used Chrome OS on the $1299 notebook, many folks might find a laptop with a 12.85 inch, 2560 x 1700 pixel display, an Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB or more of storage to be a bit more useful if it was running an all-purpose operating system like Linux Mint.
Richardson also points out that there’s a way to run Ubuntu Linux and Chrome OS side-by-side using chroot. In other words, both operating systems are installed side-by-side, and you can choose which directory to use as the root directory, thus switching between Chrome OS and Ubuntu.
via Chrome Story
Leave a Reply
20 Comments on "The Chromebook Pixel can run Ubuntu, Linux Mint, other distros"
Which is why I’m gonna preach this like a broken record; Android + Chrome OS + a full forked upstream Linux source distro forked (or not forked) + complete rebrand = WIN. Especially more so on own branded hardware.
The Chromebook meanwhile as an initiative to bring QUALITY AND AFFORDABLE cloud computing for the masses, shouldn’t relegate the term affordable down below quality and shouldn’t be designed to just profit ISPs/telcos more than its intended audience. This should be Google’s Chromebook team priority one.
I mean why spend substantial amount of R&D costs to put this model out and then tell people that they can dual boot it, when there’s easily a motherload of well specced $400-500 systems right now that can deliver straight up single boot choices instead?
Some googlers are getting their pay grades by getting high on something it seems..
If everything isn’t working and stable then it’s still not worth $1299.
> Wondering why you might want to spend $1299 or more on a laptop that runs Chrome OS, an operating system based on a web browser?
Let me answer that question for you… Nope.
The pricing of this device is a joke.
Agree. For this price Google should add at least 128 GB SSD onboard.
Needs more ram. 8gb finally got my acer chromebook to stop reloading the pages all the time.
Jeez, people, what are you watching in your browser? Can’t get more than 2 GB in Chrome/FF on my environment.
How much ram does your system have in it? If you only have 4gb then it’s going to limit the amount chrome and ff can use to around 2gb as windows eats 2gb just on its own. Shoot i have one tab eating 1GB on its own.
4 GB RAM and Linux Mint 14 (64bit, Mate) onboard. System itself takes ~450 MB. Firefox with ~20 open tabs – ~700 MB. Of course, things change for pages with embeeded flash objects and video such as YouTube. Flash can easily take extra 700 MB and more. I dunno, why, but it is clear. And it is true for Windows too.
What about Windows 8?
Now this would be interesting, a high PPI touchscreen Windows 8 based machine. This is what Windows based machines are missing….high PPI!
“most people use their laptops at over 2 feet from their eyes”
For watching movies, maybe. For real work, the center of my laptop display is between 15 and 20 inches from my eyes, so the pixel density of this Chromebook isn’t complete overkill.
It is never overkill. So called “retina display’s” are nowhere near retina. Even from a few feet away, it is still quite easy to tell when one pixel at full brightness is illuminated vs. two neighboring pixels at half brightness. When you can’t tell that, you have retina. Resolution needs to be about 10x what it is now for pixels to stop mattering.
Seriously. 1080P is still rare, which is ridiculous in a post-retina-MacBook world. 1080P is the bare minimum acceptable resolution on anything with a >10 inch screen. The days of noticing individual pixels should be over.
Interesting linux machine, but still, no matter how cloud-centric you are, 32gb (base) storage will still be a royal pain in the ass.
32 GB space itself isn’t a problem for me. My Linux workspace in work machine currently contains only 25 GB (Mint 14 + work project files (Java and C++) + documents). I think, for most users actual work files will not take more, even less. All non-related files can be stored on external disk or network server. But, of course, Google should add more storage for this price. Sort of 128 GB.
For and extra $200 I’ll buy a MacBook Pro and run these other OS’s in a VMware Player.
The Mac doesn’t have a touchscreen. On the other hand the Mac has a more normal keyboard. Neither have a proper input device for a good Linux experience.
I mean of course three buttons, as on a Thinkpad with a pointing stick and three buttons, with or without the additional two button + pad.
You should try your pixel running Ubuntu with the Unity UI. I have it on my ARM Chromebook and i prefer the experience to XFCE. I have the how to on the difference’s in install procedures on my website.
http://chromebookparadise.wordpress.com/category/how-tos/