[CoLoCo] Java on Chrome OS

[Michael Haney]

On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 1:44 PM, Neal McBurnett <neal at bcn.boulder.co.us> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 11:17:52AM -0700, Andrew Barney wrote:
>> As a side question, Isn't ChromeOS just a highly customised version of ubuntu
>> netbook edition? I remember trying out one of the first alphas of ChromeOS, and
>> that's the impression i had. Although it was in very early testing stage at
>> that point, so i have no idea how much it's progressed since then.
>
> ChromeOS is very different from Ubuntu.  It provides no ability to download any non-web applications.  In fact, no ability for users to change the root drive at all.  Also, no access to a normal shell, etc.  It has boot code in ROM and only runs software that the boot code verifies.  So very different than most any other Linux.  More tightly controlled than Android, but programmable via only HTML5 rather than Java, HTML5 and native code.
>
>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS
>

Chrome OS does a system file check every time it boots. If it finds a
corrupt file or a file that's been modified by some kind of malicious
software it will re-image the OS from a known good backup or grab a
fresh install from the Internet.

Chrome and Chrome OS both natively support Flash, HTML5 Canvas, WebGL,
CSS3, and Native Client .nexe C++ apps. You sorta kinda do install
apps, but that just involves adding an icon to your apps list. Only
Native Clients will actually install to the internal storage.

Here's a Native Client demo:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~rafkind/tmp/paintown/nacl/paintown.html
If you get the message the plugin isn't allow open a new tab to
chrome:flags and Enable Native Client, then restart Chrome.

For the most part Chrome OS is a Cloud-Only OS, meaning the apps it
runs are on the web, and the same thing goes for your documents. It
does support USB thumb drives and hard drives for playing local video
and audio files, and for saving documents locally when you aren't
connected online. Gmail and Google Docs are designed to work off-line
when you don't have an Internet connection.

Under the hood its Linux based. Chrome OS has a command shell called
crosh which is a bit limited, but in development mode a full bash
shell is accessible. Most users likely won't ever need this except for
devs and power users.

-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
https://sites.google.com/site/thezorch/

Let Hollywood Die, call your Congressman now and tell them its not
their job to save the failing business model of a industry that
refuses to adapt.

Break some Windows, bring freedom to your PC. www.ubuntu.com