After my attempt at compiling ChromeOS ended in failure I installed a Hexxeh vanilla release on a 2yr old Intel Atom based PC. And I have to admit, I liked it, a lot more than I thought I would. Here are some of my thoughts:
- It irks me quite lot that I need to use a Google account to log into the OS. If they remove that restriction it'll go a long way to alleviating the Google-creepiness.
- In the Hexxeh release I used Flash was not enabled by default, I had to click a warning message to use Flash on every page, I assume this is fixed by now
- There is no user-exposed filesystem and no way to install apps (without hacking in a console). There is no software, desktop, icons, home folders... nothing. You totally get this feeling of using an Operating System-Free computer.
- The version of Chrome browser that gets installed maybe wasn't the latest but it certainly does feel fast enough to use, especially on a slow system. Chrome browser on ChromeOS is significantly faster than IE on Windows on the same system.
- HackerNews displays with a serif font presumably because PG doesn't have a 'sans-serif' alternative font in the HN codebase.
- I have a very strong urge to minimize the browser and see the desktop.
- The browser does not have a full-screen mode. If you want to watch a youtube video, there is no way to maximize the video, the tabs and URL bar are always visible. I found this to be extremely annoying and hopefully gets added.
- The browser needs to have a tab split-screen mode. I need to be able to look at 2 or more windows simultaneously, and the modal restriction gets on my nerves.
- To my surprise both audio and my webcam worked, although I had some boot up issues when the webcam was plugged into the USB port, but I could plug it in once it was booted up
There are some major usability problems here, but if they get addressed it could become quite cool. I would totally enjoy having this built into my next television or monitor.
> It irks me quite lot that I need to use a Google account to log into the OS.
I don't think they're going to change that one—in any thin-client OS, you need a globally-unique identifier of some sort to save things (preferences, bookmarks, etc.) to the cloud. And it's not like you need to use your Google account; you can just go make a Gmail account called "dstein.chromeos" or somesuch and use that.
Not on my system, I just updated to the latest Hexxeh release and F11 doesn't go fullscreen and there is no menu option either. But I was mistaken, flash can go fullscreen.
Flow is a fork(?) of ChromeOS created by Hexxeh which runs on most PCs. Vanilla only supports the hardware Google officially supports.
Unfortunately Hexxeh abandoned Flow after it turned out to be too tedious and unrewardnig(lots of users demanding(!) support for their hw).
On the ChromeOS notebook (and presumably devices that will launch), everything works. Flash requires a click because I want it that way, and full screen works fine (but the screen still dims on a timer, boo). It's actually perfect for web browsing... but that's it. I still need a real computer for music, Amazon VOD, video conferencing with family, and of course work.
Had I not been given one for free I wouldn't get one. It might work for certain people in my family, but so would an iPad, with which it can't really compete.
I was incredibly excited for Chrome OS and got one of the free CR-48s from Google. I like the OS, but thought it was too slow to actually use. I web browse a little harder than most people, and the CR-48 regularly bogged down not only on flash, but on complex javascript like Google Docs. It was just too slow for me to be comfortable on it -- and at the time, my other computer was a laptop running Windows with a Pentium M 1.5 GHz.
My impression is that the CR-48 is a reference for the absolutely lowest minimum spec. I can't imagine Google seriously believe that anyone will sell a machine with Chrome OS on a machine that struggles on huge consumer sites like YouTube.
- It irks me quite lot that I need to use a Google account to log into the OS. If they remove that restriction it'll go a long way to alleviating the Google-creepiness.
- In the Hexxeh release I used Flash was not enabled by default, I had to click a warning message to use Flash on every page, I assume this is fixed by now
- There is no user-exposed filesystem and no way to install apps (without hacking in a console). There is no software, desktop, icons, home folders... nothing. You totally get this feeling of using an Operating System-Free computer.
- The version of Chrome browser that gets installed maybe wasn't the latest but it certainly does feel fast enough to use, especially on a slow system. Chrome browser on ChromeOS is significantly faster than IE on Windows on the same system.
- HackerNews displays with a serif font presumably because PG doesn't have a 'sans-serif' alternative font in the HN codebase.
- I have a very strong urge to minimize the browser and see the desktop.
- The browser does not have a full-screen mode. If you want to watch a youtube video, there is no way to maximize the video, the tabs and URL bar are always visible. I found this to be extremely annoying and hopefully gets added.
- The browser needs to have a tab split-screen mode. I need to be able to look at 2 or more windows simultaneously, and the modal restriction gets on my nerves.
- To my surprise both audio and my webcam worked, although I had some boot up issues when the webcam was plugged into the USB port, but I could plug it in once it was booted up
There are some major usability problems here, but if they get addressed it could become quite cool. I would totally enjoy having this built into my next television or monitor.