Tag Archives: VM
The Difference Between Chrome OS and Chrome OS Flow
Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 
0 Comments
I get asked fairly often questions pertaining to Chrome OS. Actually this may surprise you, but I enjoy talking about it. I know for many this whole Chrome OS thing is a bit confusing. So let me take this post to make clear what is going on. One of the big issues I hear about is the difference between Chrome OS and Chrome OS Flow. For those who have not been paying attention here is the real lowdown.
Google is planning on releasing an official Chrome operating system towards the end of 2010. This will be a portable computerof some sort, like a tablet or netbook that is branded as a Google product that comes loaded with Chrome OS. For the time being, all we have is what is known as Google’s open source Chromium OS project. You can visit the official site here, it has documentation and videos discussing ideas and possible specs for both the hardware and software.
Chrome OS Flow was developed by a UK student named Hexxeh. He took the open source Chromium OS code found on the Chromium project resources site and created his own packaged “build” to work with most netbook hardware that you can put on a USB stick or load as a VM image. Flow is a good representation of what the commerical Chrome OS will be like, and that is why there is some talk about it. If you’re interested in trying it out, I suggest you head over to his site.
There are others who have created their own builds, most notably a 64-bit version and one that has been created by the Dell Linux team. But so far Flow appears to be the best representation of what to expect later on this year.
Any other questions? Comment or contact me.
Chrome OS Zero VM Image Available
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 8 Comments
One of the problems that I experienced with Chrome OS Zero is that I was unable to get the image that Hexxeh released to work in either VMWare or VirtualBox. I spent an entire morning over the weekend banging my head to no avail, although it’s possible I couldn’t get it to work because of said head-banging. Fortunately, Hexxeh now has a VM image up on his site, so for those of you wanting to run Chrome OS Zero using VMWare, here is your chance!
Note: According to Hexxeh’s Twitter account, this doesn’t appear to work with Sun’s VirtualBox. I assumed he tried it after converting it into a vdi file since his site is hosting a vmdk file. Oh Well.
Using Chrome OS with Parallels on Mac
Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
To all the Mac fans out there: have hope. This is a high-quality post from Cultofmac on using Parallels to VM Chrome OS. Parallels seems to be the virtualization software that is more focused on the Mac market than any other OS that’s out there. Many users have had concerns that they cannot run Chrome OS because they use Apple products, but this post shows that is not always the case! I don’t know if it is possible to run Chrome OS directly off of a USB drive in Mac, so please post on the forum so we know.
Anyways, you can find the tutorial right here.
Enjoy!
Using qemu-img to Convert Chrome OS Zero for VM
Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
A reader has just submitted to me:
“Basically, you need to create a generic 32-bit Linux virtual machine in VMware. Just make sure the hard disc is set to use IDE and not SCSI. Then you need to use qemu-img to convert the Chrome OS disk image into a vmdk with the following syntax:
- CODE: SELECT ALL
qemu-img convert -f raw chromeos.img -O vmdk chromeos.vmdk
After, that, just replace the virtual hard disk VMware created with the Chrome OS vmdk, and you should be good to go.”
64-Bit Chrome OS Build Released
Posted on 10. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
I just discovered that there is a project that has gotten a build of Chrome OS in 64-bit off the ground. Called ChromiumOS64, it was developed because the largely 32-bit Intel Atom for netbook processors are the intention by Google for running Chrome OS. The author of ChromiumOS64, Teo En Ming, has also added Xen virtualization to ChromiumOS64 so you are capable of running a VM of whatever OS you want to on top of Chrome OS. Pretty cool idea.
There are instructions on how to use this build on Teo’s website, and they look pretty straightforward. There are even instructions on how to put the build on a USB drive. Too bad I don’t have 64 bit hardware, I would like to run Windows in a VM and use Chrome as well.
But it looks like ChromiumOS64 has been popular. The site was updated yesterday stating that the bandwidth limit has been reached from the hosting provider. Good thing there is a link to another copy. Warning: this file is over a gigabyte.
Do you think that Chrome OS should only be for netbooks? Or does running it with another more technically proficient OS sound tantalizing?
Comment and tell us what you think. Or you can join the conversation at the forum.
How to Install Chrome OS on Your PC as a Virtual Machine
Posted on 05. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Note: for download instructions, please see the “Download Chrome OS” link at the top. This is so you can get the latest and greatest version.
Start up Virtual Box, then hit Cancel on registration (if you want). You should see a screen like this where you should hit the “New” gear icon at the top left:
Hit Next:
Create name for the VM, then select the OS Type as Linux, and the version as Ubuntu:
This is where you will decide how much memory the VM will use. This will be dependent on your machine, but be forwarned that using to much will make your system unstable!
Choose the option to use an existing disk, then use the folder button to browse in the Virtual Media Manager for the image:
In the Virtual Media Manager, choose Add:
Find where you downloaded/extracted your image and choose select at the bottom:
You’ll be back at this screen, where you can see the image is loaded, hit next:
Hit Finish:
Hit the green Start arrow, and you are on your way!
Here is the initial screen. You can login using your gmail credentials:
And you’re in! Really, it’s a lot like Chrome Browser. You can hit F8 to look at the different commands, and to shut it down, you are going to just have to close the VM, because there doesn’t seem to be a way to do that yet.
Where to Download Chrome OS
Posted on 04. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
At this point, there are already several different flavors of Chrome available. It all depends on what kind of system you plan on installing Chrome OS on, and we can give you a run down on what you need to know.
If you want to run Chrome on a virtual machine (VM) such as Sun’s VirtualBox or VMware, you can get a compiled version of Chrome OS here.
As reported earlier, there is a version that has been released by Dell that has been successfully tested on their Mini 10v. The build is loaded via a USB device, and you will need one that has a spare 8 GB. You can get it here.
There is a smaller more comprehensive version of Chrome OS that has been developed as well. According to the developer, it offers a wide array of support in terms of hardware. This is by far the most comprehensive site that is out there, and also offers excellent instructions on how to install Chrome. The version is called Chrome OS Cherry, and the build supports wifi and can be loaded on a 1GB memory stick.
