Chrome OS Flex: Installing Linux Apps & 4 Month Review of Google’s New PC OS
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- How to install and run Linux Apps in Chrome OS Flex, plus my thoughts on using Google’s new PC operating system every day for four months. Video includes setting up a Linux virtual machine, installation of LibreOffice, GIMP, Inkscape, Aisleriot Solitaire and VeraCrypt, and sharing folders.
Note that whilst this video focuses on Chrome OS Flex -- the version of Chrome OS released to install on most x86-64 PCs and laptops -- that what is shown in this video should work on most Chromebooks.
My first Chrome OS Flex video, which details installation, is here:
• Chrome OS Flex: Google...
My “Linux Terminal Introduction” video is here:
• Linux Terminal Introdu...
And you can download the Veracrypt encryption software here:
www.veracrypt.fr/en/Home.html
And my video guide to VeraCrypt is here:
• VeraCrypt Encrypted US...
For additional ExplainingComputers videos and other content, you can become a channel member here:
/ @explainingcomputers
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at / explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / @explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:08 Virtual Machine
06:38 More Apps
09:40 Deb Downloads
11:13 File Access (VM share)
14:10 4 Months Later (review)
#ChromeOSFlex #ChromeOS #Linux #ExplainingComputers - Наука та технологія
I have to say, after watching many other tech channels recently, this was a refreshing change. No bias, no opinions, no larking about, and no fluff. Just a well-presented and concise overview showing the useful features that most users will appreciate. I've been a long time viewer of this channel but this particular video, on this particular day, for some reason, just made me appreciate it all the more.
Thanks for this. I very much enjoyed making this video, so maybe that came through. :)
Never have i seen a video of Chris where he has a bias except for value vs specs maybe
@@ExplainingComputers And I like operating systems and virtual machines, so maybe that's why it hit home for me more in particular.
Was nice change indeed, he normally bangs on about how bad windows but then shows us more and more each time why windows is still king. Good to see other OS's making chnages that makes them more usable tho.
Mr. Barnatt is simply the best.
Why can't all content providers be like this guy. Straightforward, easy to follow, plain English and highly informative. Great teacher, keep it up.
"It works! We are running Linux! Isn't it amazing?"
HEAVEN !!!!
I just had to say that your videos are always appreciated and so easy to understand. You take a lot of time in setting up your videos and they are never rushed. I learn things every time I watch a video of yours.. thank you!! 😊
Love Chris' videos. So informative. I think now I'd watch them for their comedic value alone. His tongue - in-cheek dry sense of humor cracks me up.
There is no way I can express how amazed and pleased I am of your videos. Most of the time when I find a UA-cam video that looks like it might have the info I want, it has either poor video, poor audio, blasting background music, or the person rambles on for 10 minutes before getting to the subject. Yours have superior quality audio, video, and content. My only complaint is that you have years worth of past videos I want to watch and it’s going to take forever to get caught up. Thanks so much!
Greetings, and welcome aboard! :) Note that a lot of my content is categorized in the channel's playlist tab.
Very interesting video, Chris. Thank you for passing this knowledge on. Chrome OS Flex appears to be a much more viable option when one considers its Linux VM flexibility.
Thank you for showing us options to 'standard' OS that we probably wouldn't have ever run across!
Greetings Leslie.
This actually made me think that it might be possible to switch to an off the shelf chrome os device install the linux subsystem and do what i usually do but within chrome os - easily the best explanation Ive yet seen and solved some of the frustrations and questions that had me abandon this route before .
This channnel has become my GOTO college. And now with this video, I just converted my Asus UX31A which has been running Linux Mint into a ChromeBook! And I can still get everything that I had in Mint via the VM.
Thank you very much for another excellent video.
Thanks for watching, and great to hear of your successful installation.
Another excellent piece!
Your abilities to showcase operating systems is top notch!
And this OS looks great too!
Very good video, professor 😊! Will try this OS soon… and love the linux integration inside, brilliant!
Great job and love the bit of humour you put into these videos.
Great video my friend!! I've been running this exact setup on an older laptop and I've had similiar good luck with it!! It really does work great!! Another great video Mr. Barnatt!!!
Greeting John. It does seem that this is some kind of secret . . .
A marvellous video as always, unbiased, professional and informative… best UA-camr around nuff said!!!
Keep them coming Christopher!!
Thank you! Will do!
@@ExplainingComputers too kind for replying!!!!
Dr. Barnatt, as always, you have pleased us with a thoughtful and up-to-date video! Of course, I wanted to learn as much as possible about using a Linux application in the Chrome OS environment. I recently installed Chrome OS Flex on one of my laptops, but this operating system did not recognize the Wi-Fi adapter. Still, developers need to do a lot of work to ensure the proper level of device support. Good luck in your activities and thank you for your work!
WiFi support in Linux in general remains an issue.
Awesome video. Simple. Clear. Easy to understand and taught me more than I thought I wanted to know ❤. Thanks
Thank you! I've been waiting for this video.
:)
Thanks heaps Christopher - In the past I have tried using Chrome OS via Android Studio on my Linux, but it was such a nightmare to use and so resource hungry. Now I'm gonna set Flex up on that old laptop then use Linux thru the VM. Absolutely awesome!! I had successfully fought off my years-long Solitaire addiction ... but I'm feeling a little twitchy right now.
Excellent video as usual, so many things to try with older hardware!
This video is pure GOLD! Now I will installa Chorme OS Flex on some of my old PCs
Good luck! :)
Hey Chris, good to see that Chrome OS Flex is better now and worked for you.
Back when I tried it in early September I had problems such as the GUI using software rendering and the Linux environment not working and not installing at all.
That first problem can probably be blamed to my Nvidia GT710 gpu which uses proprietary druvers on Linux and not part of the Linux kernel unlike Intel and AMD devices. It became evident to me that Chrome OS Flex was using software rendering when I noticed that 144p UA-cam videos were stuttering and while my GT710 was running pretty cool, my processor (Xeon E3 1240v3) was running very hot and at one point in testing reached thermal shutdown (partly can be blamed on my tiny heatsink at the time).
Chrome OS Flex would have been perfect for that PC since I use it more for media consumption on a TV, but the problems I had back them had me going back to Linux Mint, which I do like and my pick for a Linux Distro. I might test Chrome OS Flex once again at some point in the future and I do hope it works better since I have an AMD gpu now.
great, detailed, no-BS channel !!
Thanks so much for your (extra) fine tutoring skills! I enjoyed watching this, and it gave me more clarity on how to navigate around the Linux terminal on CB. 💜
A great presentation, Chris. I will soon have a fresh installation of Chrome OS Flex and I hope it will also give me months of easy and flexible use. Thanks again EC!
Good luck with it! :)
Brilliant as usual Chris. Definitely going to try Chrome Flex on 5 year old HP laptop that refuse to handle windows 10 now. Tried running Zorin fairly successfully but Windows VM is painfully slow. Was very impressed how fast apps appeared to run in Linux VM on flex. Thanks again - EC - best on UA-cam! 👍
Good luck -- I have become a big fan of ChromeOS Flex.
Always such informative videos Chris 🤠👍
Thanks 👍
Great demo of Chrome OS Flex capabilities. Thanks!
Greetings! Here we are back again and your timing sir, is once again impeccable! I just this week acquired an older MacbookPro by saving it from the ewaste bin and was thinking of installing ChromeOS since it will not accept newer versions of MacOS. A bonus, I get to re-watch your video from 4 months ago to remind me how to go about getting the OS. Well done again sir!!!
Greetings! Good luck with your MacbookPro! :)
I do hope your MacbookPro doesn't have an Nvidia gpu or if it does it might just not be used at all (asuming it doesn't cause problems for you) and instead utilize the Intel integrated graphics.
Of course it's going to cause problems... crApple wouldn't have it any other way
Here I am back again replying from the You Tube app on my newly installed Chrome OS Flex on a Macbook Pro where I over wrote MacOSX Lion. Say what you want about Apple but their displays are awesome.
@@sbc_tinkerer Excellent! Well done reducing ewaste. 👍
Always my favorit Channel every sunday night. Thank you Mr. Barnatt 🙏🏻
Thanks -- and greetings! :)
Why? Because the user experience is better. For me, this replaced Ubuntu on my TV PC, and things no longer crash. Boot up is quicker. Shutdown is massively quicker etc. I still run Linux Mint on the desktop (I am in it right now). But for rapid, stable content access and basic computing, Chrome OS Flex works better.
@@ExplainingComputers i think i must have a pc to experience the Chrome os, than single board Computer to experience the performa ce better.
Now that's it; Loads of good stuff and grant links. Great video
And like always, thank you for another great video.
Interesting as always
Thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us 🙂
thank you Chris for another simply explained video :-)
🙏🏻 Thank you so much Chris! This video is exciting!
Thank you! This video kept me from buying a Chrome Book and i installed ChromeOS Flex on my Surface Pro 3 from 2014 (8GB RAM) and it is running really smooth now!
Excellent! Great to hear of your success. I can imagine that Chrome OS Flex runs very well on a Surface 3 Pro.
Easy digestible content, thank you 👍
Nice a video about Chrome OS I love Chromebook a nice machine for cloud gaming etc hope you had a nice week and btw have a nice week
Thanks so much Chris, love the video!
Great review for the Chrome OS flex.
I have Chrome OS Flex / Linux running on a 2012 Mac Mini. Snappy! & Thank you for showing us the Linux settings stuff, because I was able to increase the size of my virtual drive, I now can have all my Google Drive stuff sync'd to it.
When I want useful unbiased opinions on Computer technology. This is the UA-cam channel to get it!
This is just what I've been waiting for. I want to install this OS to refresh an old laptop.
Thank you Chris! 😊👍
Thanks Chris, this was very well explained and will be very useful to know.
I'm pretty sure that I'll be installing Chrome OS Flex on anything that can't handle Windows 11. So, I ~greatly~ appreciate the pointers here. This is great content!
Thanks. :)
A 15 minute video that only seemed to last 5 minutes.
I've been using a Chromebook for years now and I'm never going back to windows.
They're also making gaming Chromebooks now and you can also use Steam, or just retro gaming with the android apps.
Excellent video.
Adding solitaire was most important! Thanks for your videos, and I really appreciate them every time!
After seeing your previous video on installing Flex gave it a try and am actually pretty impressed. I actually run it from a USB memory stick and it performs well. Nice for a change and maybe as a portable device but as I love fiddling I am happy with another recommendation of yours from around a year ago MX-Linux.
Greetings Geoff. :)
Very impressive Chris, thanks!
Greetings Chris. :)
I spied my UA-cam page! Thanks for the sneaky peak Chris!
Hi Kevin! :) There you were . . . I always keep up with your videos!
Thanks for another informative video. I very much enjoy your sense of humor.
:)
This is a truly great video, and I must say, Chrome OS is indeed now a competitive choice for those running windows or mac, or even a linux distro. I've been using chrome os on chromebooks since 2018, and I love how nowadays, they have the ability to run linux applications. I have managed to install and run audacity in chrome os, and it has no issues whatsoever. I don't use the flex version of chrome os, but it's pretty much the same thing as what you get on a chromebook, it's just one you can install on any pc with a usb flash stick. All in all, it's a great video for tech enthusiasts like myself. :)
Thanks for this. You clearly see the future! :)
Flex can't run Android apps, the full ChromeOS can!
brilliant thank you so easy to follow
Thanks, Chris, very informative it looks like something that may interest me.
Thanks for the upload and a comment for the algorithm.
:)
Once again the master pimp drops heavy knowledge. The Barnatt be flexin dem ho's 24/7 like the true OG he is. All the G's be moving to the ChromeOS now, especially after what went down in the hood last summer. Peace out...
yeah man bigup master G Barnatt
"I think no computer should be without Solitaire", Christopher Barnatt 2022. Very funny Chris :) Thanks for this wonderful review
Another interesting video. I might have to give this a try.
Very exiting. Thank you.
That was great. I have never take a look at Chrome OS and pleasantly surprised that it is possible to run Linux apps on it. Doubly pleased that its roots are Debian as I'm too used to years of "apt" versus other package managers. As always, thanks!
It really is the easiest package manager to use.
It is -NOW- possible to install Linux apps. It wasn't earlier on. And because of that, I wasn't interested in Chrome OS before, it was just a dumb OS to me (basically the bare minimum for a browser to run on top of it and very little else).
it can run a Debian container but I think Chrome OS roots is Gentoo.
Useful video. Thank you very much.
An excellent video as always. Spurred me to have a go with a couple of old laptops, an ASUS Celeron and an HP i3, which are about 5 years old. The installation of Chrome OS flex went well on both machines. However, the i3 had the Linux addition greyed out so presumably not suitable for this VM. The ASUS allowed the installation to start but failed partway through (I tried it several times). What I found frustrating is that there is very little information on why this happens. The reason for failure is given as 'the Linux feature is still in development and may fail'. The Chrome OS Flex is very fast, but I'm reverting to Linux Mint!
One of the best videos on the web about Chrome os flex.
Thanks.
@@ExplainingComputers you are welcome and you deserved.
I bought a second hand mini PC 3 weeks ago and last week I added a WD SSD m.2 2280. That was my first SSD but it won't be my last. I spent close to a week distro hopping and finally settled on Mint Cinnamon. I wish I had known about Chrome OS Flex. Hindsight is indeed 20/20! Keep up the excellent work, and thank you.
Mint is an excellent distro -- I am typing in it right now! :)
@@ExplainingComputers what surprised me was the fact that my Brother laser printer was connected automatically and in wireless mode!
Update: A gremlin has crept into this mini pc. The system will only boot into the BIOS setup utility and no amount of configuration changes are making any difference. This will be resolved, but it ran fine yesterday, and today it had a snit fit. There are days when I hate computers.
Lovely Jubbly! If you like it, then I'll have to try it out. Looking forward to your next video!
Greetings Perry.
@@ExplainingComputers ...and Greetings back at you! It is always wonderful to be greeted by you. Wishing you a great day!
Very good! Congratulations
Loving your video, simple, precise and informative. I'd love to ditch my widows machine in favour of my chrome set up but just can't find a way to play native DVD movies from a USB drive.
Ahoy, I've always passed on Chrome OS as a playtoy OS. I have to admit that having this Linux Capability (using Debian, my distro of choice) will make me look closer at it. I have multiple mini pcs with Atom & Celeron CPUs and this might be a usable option. In fact I'm typing this on a Liva-Z with a Celeron 3150 GPU running Debian 11...
Keep up the great work. I never miss a new video. Cheers, daveyb
while it sure looks good, always keep in mind that this VM will be much slower than your typical debian installation. just so you know, before you may get disappointed.
Best Chanel ever, for comps. Could you please do a vlog on the pros and cons, off windows 11. 🙏🇦🇺👍
Great video. I love cheap Chromebooks with Linux. My $130 Chromebook laptop is my default “desktop” machine to access my various headless Raspberry Pi and other servers in my home data center. MacBook is nice but overkill. And Debian is the bonus!
Hello, fellow Christopher! Back agian.
Thank you for showing us the interesting features of ChromeOS Flex! I've used it a bit. I like it! I have also used FydeOS that is the same thing as what ChromeOS (regular) was, as far as i know, but is jsut open source.
I am referring to all of these other OS's for the Raspberry Pi4 4gb or larger, of course !!! 😊
(those are the kinds what i have)
Greetings fellow Christopher! :)
Nice info ,thanks :)
Outstanding video!
thank you christopher for making it possible for non english natives people to understand you by using a slower voice.
My pleasure.
Just installed.....amazing..!
I think i need to give this another go. Last time i tried it on some old machines i couldnt get past the splash screen on the installer. Cheers for another great video.
Since my last video, Chrome OS Flex has come out of beta. Good luck! :)
Some old hardware just never will be supported because of UEFI boot that ChromeOS needs to function, I have an older HP Pavilion mini tower that's limited to 4GB DDR3 RAM, and 1/2 height cards, and runs the latest Solus Linux just fine from legacy grub boot, but ChromeOS Flex not a chance.
Thanks for video !
Muchas gracias, I really like this option, i will try it
Great !!
My Chome OS Flex is on a first generation MS Surface. I installed the Calibre application. I installed it with the command line given on the calibre site because I need the most recent version 6 . (apt install calibre brings version 5 )
First, I needed to install libopengl0 ( sudo apt install libopengl0)
Then I copy paste the script
I noticed the script asked for the password which we don't have at the installation step of the linux system.
I simply did everything in supervisor mode (# su ).
Thanks for all your works
Thanks for sharing your knowledge I got rid of window now only linux using Mint Thanks for your help all the best to you and yours. From John in Texas
Greetings John.
This was a good video, unfortunatel in my experience this OS not ready for prime time at all.
Kernel panic was locking up a Mac mini X86 and a Lenovo 2in1 laptop.
Sure hope this will be resolved in the coming months.
Keep up the good work Chris..
Very nice video 👍👍👍. It would be great if you could sometime make videos about Next-Cloud on x86 and on ARM. I think no one could explain it better.
Hi, ChromeOS Flex has support built in for DisplayLink type of docking stations. So you connect a dock via an USB cable to the laptop, then you can connect an external monitor, keyboard and mouse to the dock. The desktop will automatically extend to the extra monitor!
I have a USB3 port expander that splits out video. I’ll have to see if this works on mine - thanks
Thank you so much for sharing.
Well, finally Chrome OS is more than just the bare minimum to run a browser on top of it. I'd like to see a performance comparison of a couple of programs on the Linux virtual machine in Chrome OS Flex vs Linux native install on the same hardware, for instance with your standard filter test in GIMP and Kdenlive project render times.
That would be great wine also
Thank you, Professor! 🇺🇸 😎👍☕
"everyday... For four months..." That pause was unreal, thought I was watching a serious crime investigatory report.
Hey, I love your videos on Gnu/Linux.
Thank you sir
Very helpful video
Great video. Thanks!
a friend of mine gave me a lenovo win 11 thinkpad but windows was too flow. so i followed youre directions and the laptop is fast and secure with cromeos flex thank you soo much.
Great to hear. :)
thanks very, very much. i've a asus flip book who chrome os says was unsurported but it still runns decent enough to give some life on it. but i'll try this video for testing other apps! thanks a lot!
i tried out chrome os flex and it's nice and useful and it needs to grow more
This is great, I had installed chrome OS on an old laptop just to play with, but had pretty quickly got bored with just webapps being available .Not even an email client other than gmail (and unlike android g-mail, it has no support for non-gmail addresses).. I'd heard about the linux support inside chromeos, but didn't really think it would actually work this smoothly with the rest of the OS.
Definitely got some more things to check out now.
Thanks, CB!
Another good video, much appreciated, for the older machines that don't support VM's, you could try FydeOS instead as it will give you full Chrome OS features like Android apps, I have a couple of really old touch screen PC's that run fantastic with ChromeOS Flex, but wont run full ChromeOS or even linux properly due to low spec, but they will also run FydeOS extremely well.
Does it still have the Google spyware etc.. Or can you use it without any Google tracking??
@@zakofrx Unsure, but you can use the core OS with local account only, but when you install open GAPS for Android support and you want to use the Google Play Store, well you know the answer there, but I was surprised how well the Android apps worked.
Excellent video!
Well Done! I expected no less.
:)
i have a relatively new but slower pc handed down from a relative, so this os works very well for me, thanks for the tips
Great to hear.
Hey Chris, i very appreciation you for sharing this amazing infotaining education! Can you show also Android system/app within ChromeOS? Have nice health, dude.
Very helpful 👍
It would make for a possible great Kodi platform, perhaps in a similar LibreElec is, that is it does one single thing... perhaps could run alongside official Disney+ apps etc via the Google Play Store if it's available.... so in effect creating your own more powerful Firestick?
Maybe not for everyone, but still an interesting OS,. Thanks Chris as always for a very interesting review and your insight...!
Take care and we'll see you next week :-)