For those of you already using the Google Chrome web browser, there's a simple way to take an early look at the Google Chrome operating system – and here it is:
Open your Chrome browser. Stare at it. Imagine that's all there is. You can’t get outside it. You’re trapped. Your OS is the browser. That is Google Chrome OS..
Chromium OS is Google’s open source project dedicated to building a netbook specific operating system. Netbooks are just lightweight notebooks – both in the physical and performance sense – and so rely on web applications and cloud services for the purpose of processing and storage. Chromium OS takes this one step further by restricting the operating system to just one application: the browser.
[Chromium OS: Login Screen]
Products Collide
Before getting started, it’s important to understand what product this tutorial is actually about. Google have been quite deliberate in their naming conventions for open source projects and Google branded products. Chromium and Chromium OS are the open source web browser and operating systems projects, respectively. Google Chrome and Google Chrome OS are the actual branded product implementations of these projects.
This tutorial demonstrates how to install a virtual machine running a build preview of Chromium OS [Google Chrome OS is not due for general public release until late 2010].
User Interface: Same But Different
Whilst the user interface of the browser and the OS are all but identical for now, the documentation accompanying Chromium OS states the UI is experimental and subject to change.
Two obvious visual differences are located in the top left and top right corners: a home [‘Chrome’] button and a series of menus relating to battery, networking and other windowing tasks, e.g. new tab, new window, etc. The Chrome button shows a list of web application icons which are actually just bookmarks – the Chrome button itself is also bookmark [to http://goto.ext.google.com/crux-home, whatever that is] which is a little surprising considering how often it would be clicked by the user.
[Chrome button]
[Settings]
[Chromium OS: Applications/Home]
Another visual difference is the way Chromium OS allows applications to target Panels rather than Windows or Tabs. Panels allow a user to multitask without leaving the view of their current application. Google use the example of a music player and chat in panels; a user can control the playback of their music and chat with a friend while watching a video or reading a document. The image below shows the Contacts/Google Talk application running in a Panel.
[Chromium OS: Windows, Tabs & Panels]
Functionality of the Current Build
There are several features that are not available in the Chromium OS developer preview that were demonstrated as part of Google’s presentation in late November. The concept of pinning applications [making them readily available on the menu bar next to the Chrome button] and wireless networking do not work on the current system build. The only screen resolution supported is 800x600 and the audio drivers are not yet functioning.
[Chromium OS: from Google’s early release presentation]
Installing Chromium OS image on a Virtual Machine
Here are the steps to install the Chromium image on a virtual machine, using the system build from the folks at gdgt.com [requires a download of 370MB].
Download Virtual Machine
- Download Sun’s Virtual Box from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads. Various versions are available for Windows, OSX, Linux, etc. [70MB].
Download System Image
- Download a Chromium system image from gdgt.com: http://gdgt.com/google/chrome-os/download/. You’ll need to create an account before downloading it but don’t worry, it’s free. [300MB compressed, 700MB decompressed].
Install VirtualBox
- Install and open VirtualBox. Click New when the wizard launches.
Naming and & OS Type
- Name the OS, e.g. Chrome
- Select the Operating System as Linux
- Select Version as Linux 2.6
Memory
- Select the amount of base memory to be allocated to the virtual machine [upping this to 1500MB will help if you have capacity].
Virtual Hard Disk
- Click Use Existing Hard Disk and Browse. This launches the Virtual Media Manager
- Click Add and locate the unzipped .vmdk file then click Select
- Click Finish
Change the Network Adapter
- Click Settings, Network and change the ‘Attached to’ network adapter from NAT to Bridged Adapter [do this otherwise you won’t be able to get online – which largely defeats the purpose of a netbook OS!].
Boot it up
- Click Start and enter username and password as: chronos [n not m!]
Troubleshooting
If you continue to get page load errors, it is likely you're trying to use a wi-fi connection or haven't set the network adapter to Bridged – so make sure an Ethernet cable is plugged in to the computer and the network settings are changed. Also remember that once you click into the Virtual Machine, it will take hold of the mouse and won’t let you navigate outside the frame [just like you can’t navigate outside the window of a regular computer]. To relinquish control back to your main OS window, press Right Ctrl.
Speed to Boot
One of the great features of Google Chrome [the browser] is its speed to launch. Similarly, the Chromium OS documentation boasts a mere seconds from power on to browsing – official release videos show a native version booting in just 4 seconds. Boot performance on the virtual machine, however, is not quite as fast. The time to desktop is more like 25 seconds.
USB Bootable
For those of you keen to try out a USB bootable version on a live netbook, system image files and brief instructions can be found at http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/. You’ll need to unzip a .tar file with Winzip or 7-zip if you’re using Windows.
Written for PC Update Magazine, February Edition.
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