Chromium OS

Chromium OS is a free and open-source operating system designed for running web applications and browsing the World Wide Web. It is the development version of Chrome OS, a Linux distribution made by Google.

Chromium OS
Chromium OS (85.0.4163.0 ) displaying the New Tab Page
DeveloperGoogle
Written inC, C++, Rust, HTML, JavaScript
OS familyLinux
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
Repository
Update methodRolling release
Platformsx86, x64, ARM, ARM64[1]
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux kernel)[2]
UserlandOzone (Display manager), X11, GNU
Default user interfaceChromium (web browser), Aura Shell (Ash)
LicenseVarious open source licenses (mainly BSD-style licenses and GPL)[3]
Official websitewww.chromium.org/chromium-os

Like Chrome OS, Chromium OS is based on the Linux kernel, but its principal user interface is the Chromium web browser rather than the Google Chrome browser. Chromium OS also includes the Portage package manager, which was originally developed for Gentoo Linux.[4] Because Chromium OS and Chrome OS use a web browser engine for the user interface, they are oriented toward web applications rather than desktop applications or mobile apps.[5]

Google first published the Chromium OS source code in late 2009.[6]

Architecture

Chromium's architecture is three-tiered, consisting of "three major components":

  • The Chromium-based browser and the window manager
  • System-level software and user-land services: the Linux kernel, drivers, connection manager, and so on
  • Firmware[7]

Availability

Chromium OS was first made available in compiled form by hobbyists. More organized efforts have emerged over time, including a few manufacturers that have shipped devices with the operating system pre-installed.

Builds and forks

By May 2010, compiled versions of the work-in-progress source code had been downloaded from the Internet more than a million times. The most popular version, entitled "Chromium OS Flow", was created by Liam McLoughlin, a then 17-year-old college student in Liverpool, England, posting under the name "Hexxeh". McLoughlin's build boots from a USB memory stick and included features that Google engineers had not yet implemented, such as support for the Java programming language.[8] While Google did not expect that hobbyists would use and evaluate Chromium OS ahead of its official release, Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management (now the CEO) said that "what people like Hexxeh are doing is amazing to see." Pichai said the early releases were an unintended consequence of open source development. "If you decide to do open-source projects, you have to be open all the way."[8]

Hexxeh's work continued into the following year. He announced "Chromium OS Lime" in December 2010,[9] and in January 2011, released "Luigi", an application designed to "jailbreak"/"root" the Google Cr-48 "Mario" prototype hardware and install a generic BIOS.[10] The developer made the builds available in virtual machine format on March 13, 2011.[11] With no official build of Chromium OS forthcoming from Google, Hexxeh's "vanilla" nightly builds of Chromium OS were the principal resource for people wanting to try Chromium OS. Hexxeh stopped uploading his builds on April 20, 2013.

More recent versions of Chromium OS are available from Arnoldthebat, who maintains daily and weekly builds[12] along with usage guidelines and help.[13][14] In July 2012, Chromium Build Kit was released. It automatically compiles a developer build and installs Chromium OS on a USB drive.[15]

  • ChromiumOS Cherry
    Now known as "Flow"
    (4 December 2009)
  • ChromiumOS Zero
    Now known as "Vanilla "
    (9 December 2009)
  • ChromiumOS Flow
    (15 February 2010)

In 2015, New York City-based Neverware produced a Chromium OS fork called CloudReady aimed at the educational market, with the intention of extending the life of older PCs and laptops.[16][17] A subsequent version can dual-boot Neverware and the Windows operating system (until v64).[18]

In 2016, Nexedi released NayuOS, a fork of Chromium OS precompiled for several Chromebook computers. The operating system provides Chrome OS-like capabilities without storing data on Google servers. It optionally removes the Google login and provides additional developer tools.[19]

Also in 2016, a London/Beijing-based startup produced a line of Chromium OS fork named Flint OS, targeting a wider range of platforms, including 64-bit PCs, Raspberry Pi, Tinker Board, Firefly development boards, and VMware virtual machines.[20] The OS was later renamed Fyde OS.[21]

In 2017, Wayne Inc., a Korean startup, developed the Chromium OS fork for an ordinary PC named Chromic OS and launched their Beta service.[22]

In 2019, Chromic OS was renamed Wayne OS and launched together with its newer version and more compatible features, with the purpose of providing cheaper, safer, simpler & more lightweight OS especially for older PCs and broken HDD/SSD PCs.[23]

Hardware

Some devices have shipped with Chromium OS preinstalled. In May 2011, Dell also released a new build for the Dell Inspiron Mini 10v netbook, following up on an earlier build released almost 18 months earlier. The build did not support audio, but was bootable from a USB drive. Other devices include the Kogan Agora Chromium Laptop by the Australian company Kogan[24] and the Xi3 Modular Computer, introduced by the company of the same name.[25][26] In late 2015, a team headed by Dylan Callahan released a beta Chromium OS port to the Raspberry Pi 2 single-board computer.[27] In 2016, Flint Innovations released a Chromium OS port for the latest Raspberry Pi 3/B model named Flint OS for RPi. Subsequently, this project has been fully open-sourced at GitHub, with all the files and detailed instructions to re-create the build.[28]

Trademark dispute

In June 2011, ISYS Technologies, based in Salt Lake City, sued Google in a Utah district court, claiming rights to the name "Chromium" and, by default, Chromebook and Chromebox. The suit sought to stop Google and its hardware and marketing partners from selling Chromebooks.[29] The suit was later dismissed and, as part of an undisclosed settlement between Google and ISYS, ISYS abandoned its trademark efforts.

See also

References
  1. Womack, Brian (July 8, 2009). "Google to Challenge Microsoft With Operating System". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
  2. "Kernel Design: Background, Upgrades". Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 1, 2018. Retrieved April 30, 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "The secret origins of Google's Chrome OS". ZDNet. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  5. "Kernel Design". The Chromium Projects.
  6. Bligh, Martin (December 11, 2009). "What's the Difference Between Chromium OS and Google Chrome OS?". Chromium Blog. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  7. "Software Architecture - The Chromium Projects". www.chromium.org. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  8. Stone, Brad (May 7, 2010). "Test Flights Into the Google Cloud". New York Times.
  9. Hexxeh. "Now with a citrus twist". Hexxeh's Blog. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  10. Hexxeh. "Your princess is in another castle…". Hexxeh's Blog. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  11. Hexxeh. "In my VirtualBox?". Hexxeh's Blog. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  12. "Chromium OS Builds". Chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  13. http://arnoldthebat.co.uk/
  14. "ArnoldTheBats World of Whimsy". ArnoldTheBats.
  15. Chromium Build Kit (July 30, 2012). "Chromium Build Kit-- Source Forge". Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  16. Popper, Ben (February 16, 2016). "How schools around the country are turning dead Microsoft PCs into speedy Chromebooks". The Verge. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  17. Bishop, Nicholas (November 13, 2015). "ChromiumOS: The Whirlwind Tour". Neverware. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  18. Cunningham, Andrew (February 17, 2016). "Chrome OS distro for regular PCs can now dual-boot with Windows". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  19. "NayuOS". www.nayuos.com. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  20. "Download Flint OS images". Flint OS. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  21. "FydeOS is a Chrome OS fork aimed at China, and it brings Android app support". XDA Developers. October 6, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  22. "ChromicOS". www.chromic-os.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  23. "WayneOS". www.wayne-inc.com. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  24. Kogan Australia. "Laptops - Kogan.com". Kogan Australia.
  25. Joanna Stern. "Xi3 Modular Computer is one cool-looking desktop in a cube". Engadget. AOL.
  26. Dana Wollman. "Xi3 modular PC reborn as Chrome OS desktop, promises independence from local storage". Engadget. AOL.
  27. Nestor, Marius (December 9, 2015). "Chromium OS for Raspberry Pi 2 Gets Faster Boot Times, Download Now". Softpedia. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  28. overlay-rpi: Chromium OS portage overlay for Raspberry Pi, Flint Innovations, September 21, 2017, retrieved September 22, 2017
  29. "Chrome Turf War: Did Google abandon the Chromium Trademark?". June 13, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
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