[HN Gopher] Gallium OS: a fast and lightweight Linux distro for ...
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Gallium OS: a fast and lightweight Linux distro for ChromeOS
devices
Author : mikece
Score : 119 points
Date : 2022-04-14 10:54 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (galliumos.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (galliumos.org)
| KSPAtlas wrote:
| Doesn't work on AMD.
| disembiggen wrote:
| so there's not a clear "why" on this page, just a "download"
| digging for it yields the wiki which says:
|
| "Why Linux? More applications Linux can run many different types
| of applicatons. No matter what you're trying to do, an
| application exists for Linux. ChromeOS is very limited. Sure,
| NaCl (Native Client) brings the ability to run native code to
| ChromeOS, but that's a hack at best, and there's still no good
| software to take advantage of it. With Linux you can install any
| Linux compatible software, totally natively. Firefox,
| Transmission (BitTorrent), LibreOffice, Steam, VLC Media Player,
| Kodi Media Center, the GIMP, VirtualBox, and many more are
| available on Linux to do things that simply aren't possible on
| ChromeOS. "
|
| which... isn't true? chromeos can run at least most of those just
| fine, and has been able to for a while?
| https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9145439?hl=en
| thom wrote:
| Same reason people install Linux on their computers instead of
| just using WSL on Windows. It's faster, it's more natural, and
| the whole OS receives updates forever.
| smm11 wrote:
| Then why is a Gallium that's out-of-date be an issue? If you
| have an older Chrombook, from the time when Gallium was
| maintained, and if Linux indeed "updates forever," go with
| Gallium.
| joosters wrote:
| I installed Gallium several years back, on a chromebook that
| didn't support any of that (at the time, at least). Gallium was
| also the only distro I found that worked out of the box with
| full hardware support (audio, webcam, etc).
|
| Other commenters say that those drivers are now in other
| distros too, so Gallium may no longer have its original USPs...
|
| Running other OSs on my chromebook is a bit of a pain, because
| every time you boot, you get a BIOS screen warning you about
| non-google software (and offering to wipe everything!). Also,
| (and maybe unique to my chromebook model), it has a nasty
| gotcha: if you ever let the battery drain empty, then the
| firmware loses its settings and it will no longer boot at all
| :( That one was fun to diagnose and fix...
| VSpike wrote:
| The "why" here ... or at least the reason for me to flash my
| Chromebook BIOS and install Gallium ... was because my
| Chromebook went EoL by Google and I wanted to see if I can keep
| it going for a while.
|
| Gallium is an amazing piece of work, and the documentation is
| superb, but it's starting to show that it's on a very out of
| date base and there's no sign of a new version for some time.
| The efforts seem to have slowed down, which is a shame.
|
| It leaves me wondering if the main patches and drivers in the
| kernel fork could ever be merged upstream. Maybe there's some
| technical or legal reason why not, or maybe it's just the work
| required and nobody has the time.
|
| Either way, I hope it remains possible to run old Chromebooks
| for a while yet! They are often decent, cheap hardware if a
| little slow.
| shiftoutbox wrote:
| Yes , there are a lot of quirks in the chrome book platform .
| I have a 2015 hp 11e and nothing works on it but chromeos,
| win7 and gallium. No Ubuntu , FreeBSD , NetBSD or red hat .
| px43 wrote:
| Just the fact that it mentions NaCl means it must have been
| written in the 2013-2014 era.
| The_rationalist wrote:
| Why a dedicated distro, can't you use any distro on a chromebook?
| epirogov wrote:
| it should be firmware for a distro to install on chromebook.
| macbooks i thinks also have firmware, not a bios.
| epirogov wrote:
| yeah, I switched my ThinkPad 131e to GalliumOs and found how to
| login to google account with Chromium browser. Any lags after
| update, Good job!
|
| https://pirogove.blogspot.com/2021/08/gallium-is-remedy-for-...
|
| As a bonus github.dev team already fixed js error and editor
| works with Chronium browser already.
| beagle3 wrote:
| This might be a good place to ask - I have a first generation
| Samsung Chromebook (exynos arm based) which is no longer
| supported by Google.
|
| Gallium doesn't support it; is anyone else using this device?
| Which OS are you using? And did you open it to reflash the bios,
| or you just ctrl-d each boot and hope not to accidentally press
| space?
| epirogov wrote:
| try to ask author of firmwares i have used to x86 chromebook
| for me:
|
| https://github.com/MrChromebox/scripts/blob/master/cbmodels....
|
| I am also interested on this thin Samsung for me but I lended
| it to a neighbour child. Can not do an experiment.
| le-mark wrote:
| The "news" section shows the last release was in 2019. Not that
| it matters really. I never used gallium, because other distros
| just worked. Flash the bios with mr chromebox firmware and
| install whatever. I've been using Ubuntu 14 now 18 on an old acer
| for 9 years now, no issues other than its very very low powered
| by today's standards.
|
| Edit to add the one thing I did have to was install gallium
| keybindings which support the funky chrome book function keys.
| mikece wrote:
| > The "news" section shows the last release was in 2019.
|
| I noticed this too... is this project dead?
|
| > Flash the bios with mr chromebox firmware...
|
| I had not heard of this path before; is it a one-way trip to
| load linux on a Chrome OS device this way or can it be reverted
| to factory settings (when it's time to pawn the device off on
| someone else)?
| lin83 wrote:
| I think they recommend just using normal Ubuntu now that most
| of the drivers have been upstreamed.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| I've never actually done this, but the process of flashing
| the firmware prompts you to back up the original firmware and
| I'm pretty sure you can just put it back on
| yebyen wrote:
| My experience with this, and I'll stress that I'm sure it
| varies by device, is that using the Mr. Chromebox firmware
| to install GalliumOS works great, until you allow the
| device to be put to sleep or run out of battery. Then the
| firmware is restored to the original, without any user
| request.
|
| This blocks you from booting your Linux environment again
| but is otherwise non-destructive (you can just run Mr.
| Chromebox again to get the necessary firmware re-installed)
|
| (My device is a HP Chromebook 14")
| Abishek_Muthian wrote:
| Mr.Chromebox is the MVP when it comes to running alt OS on
| Chromebooks, His Coreboot/Seabios[1] is the UEFI ROM which
| enables it. He also actively answers queries in the
| r/chultrabook & r/GalliumOS subreddits.
|
| Gallium OS is needed because of some weird quirks with certain
| Chromebooks e.g. BayTrail chipsets require special drivers for
| Touchpad, microphone etc. from ChromeOS and only Gallium OS
| include them.
|
| If you can get hold of a 11" Chromebook, Then installing Linux
| on it using Coreboot is the least expensive way to get a
| portable Linux computer with keyboard as Chromebooks are often
| subsidized.
|
| Just ensure that the device is supported by Coreboot
| beforehand.
|
| [1] https://mrchromebox.tech/
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| I imagine some of the use-case scenarios have dwindled because
| recent Chromebooks have come with the innate ability to run
| Android or Linux apps.
|
| So the die-hard users that want to turn their Chromebook into a
| GNU+Linux laptop still look at Gallium. But the ones that just
| wanted to run a few Android/Linux-specific tools without
| needing to blow the entire OS away have found easier options.
| john-tells-all wrote:
| dead: no activity since mid-2017:
| https://github.com/GalliumOS/galliumos-distro/graphs/code-fr...
| irq-1 wrote:
| That repository was updated: a0abbfc on Jan 4, 2020
|
| And it's not the code. "Docs, issues, and artwork sources for
| GalliumOS"
| umvi wrote:
| Gallium OS is great, I even donated because it's provided so much
| value. Been running it for years on my old Acer Chromebook after
| Google EoL'd it.
| smm11 wrote:
| Browser, text editor, terminal. Seems to me old ChromeOS can do
| that.
| mwcampbell wrote:
| Is XFCE really any faster or lighter than the Chromium OS desktop
| environment (IIUC, basically Chromium without an intervening
| display server like Xorg or a Wayland compositor)? My guess is
| that, since one basically has to run a web browser anyway, it's
| probably not.
| pjmlp wrote:
| Yes, because ChromeOS and Crostini, both run on top of
| virtualized environments, so already there you are using more
| resources than on a regular Linux distribution.
| mikece wrote:
| I might be bringing my own biases but I don't think speed is
| the primary feature of this. Rather, not being connected to
| Google's data collection/surveillance capitalism system is the
| feature.
| mwcampbell wrote:
| For that, one would only need a Chromium OS build without
| Google API keys. But then, replacing Google account login
| with something else could take some work.
| flatiron wrote:
| I would think running stuff other than just a web browser is
| the use case. The device goes from portable web browser to
| Linux laptop with every tool a professional developer uses at
| your finger tips (and a web browser)
| azornathogron wrote:
| I've run vscode, docker and node in crostini (the debian-
| in-a-VM that you can just enable in settings in normal
| Chrome OS). Worked great for me.
|
| I'm not at all claiming Chrome OS or crostini are without
| problems or limitations, but I have been very happily
| surprised at how well it stood up to some basic web dev
| work.
| mwcampbell wrote:
| I suspect that this distinction will be irrelevant to the
| next generation, as services like GitHub Code Spaces, which
| provide a full development environment inside a web
| browser, become more normal.
| flatiron wrote:
| Can you run node in the web browser and debug through
| there?
|
| I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, I spend most of
| my life in the debugger!
| timonoko wrote:
| It was too "lightweight". Some of the core functions of Linux
| were missing and there was no method to add them back to the
| kernel.
| wronglebowski wrote:
| Anyone interested should check out Breath. An active project with
| a similar goal. I've run it on multiple Chromebooks and love the
| experience.
|
| https://cb-linux.github.io/breath/
| jacquesm wrote:
| If you're into this and want a cheap and stable system you could
| look into buying the Asus chromeboxes that Google sells for their
| 'meet' hardware, they're pretty neat, can be upgraded to 16G and
| there are some that have an i7 in them, you can typically get
| them at surplus prices because the sellers usually don't know
| what to do with them. The internal 32G SSD can be upgraded as
| well to a larger format one.
|
| Note that the write protect switch is on a different location on
| the motherboard than indicated in most docs, it is a screw with a
| bunch of solderpads on it, look for a large diameter very flat
| screwhead, that's the one. Just unscrew it and leave it out.
| quag wrote:
| Is this the i7 (10th gen) Chromebox you had in mind? Is
| currently going for $876 on Amazon. I guess surplus is the
| reasonable way to get them. Where is a good place to look?
| EBay?
|
| ASUS Chromebox4 with Intel Core i7-10510U, 16GB RAM, M.2 PCIE
| 256GB SSD Storage, Power/DisplayPort Over Type C, Dual HDMI,
| Gigabit LAN, WiFi 6, MicroSD Card Reader, VESA Mount, Chrome OS
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TGT71MG/
| jacquesm wrote:
| Chromebox 3, i7
|
| Yes, new they are very expensive, surplus $100 to $200. EBay,
| Marktplaats, large equipment recyclers.
|
| edit: this one:
|
| https://www.asus.com/Displays-Desktops/Mini-PCs/Chrome-OS-
| de...
| jacquesm wrote:
| Too late to edit, I've found an image of the motherboard, the
| big screw lower left is the one to remove to be able to reflash
| the bios:
|
| https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1KAuWaOzxK1RjSspjq6AS.pXa1/Nie...
| criddell wrote:
| Those are neat. I haven't seen them before.
|
| They remind me of Sun's Cobalt Qubes from a few years ago.
| zucked wrote:
| How do they perform? I run an older Mac Mini to do all my
| network routing, IP Camera recording, PVR, etc. I would expect
| they've got some decent graphics prowess seeing as how their
| sole job in life to capture and display video conferencing...
| jacquesm wrote:
| I'm using one to run Ubuntu Studio and it works flawlessly,
| but since the box doesn't have internal audio I added a USB
| based audio card. The display hooked up to that box is a 32"
| Dell QHD monitor.
| Melatonic wrote:
| Super interesting - are there multiple generations of these?
| jacquesm wrote:
| Yes, there are a couple of different versions, with a variety
| of CPUs.
| Melatonic wrote:
| So basically just get the ones that have a higher end i7 or
| i5 it sounds like, upgrade RAM if necessary + SSD ( I am
| guessing its mSata or NVME) and then turn that little screw
| for write protection?
|
| This has to be the best kept secret in PC's lol
| bwoodward wrote:
| I've used Gallium on an old Toshiba chromebook for years. I don't
| use the system full time, but there are no driver issues or
| anything with Gallium. Its pretty impressive and gave new life to
| an otherwise crappy laptop.
| awinter-py wrote:
| per hardware compat page
| https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility , most recent
| fully supported device is 2018 device from a company called
| positivo, supported devices from mainstream manufacturers are
| 2017 and earlier
|
| I wish there were a foundation that worked on linux support for
| more recently released devices (laptops + chromebooks), I would
| fund this
|
| fwupd / ubuntu certifications seem close, but they also seem more
| about supporting specific devices within a machine, and less
| about supporting the whole machine
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(page generated 2022-04-14 23:02 UTC)