[conspire] Linux apps on a chromebook, via Debian 9 Stretch Virtual Machine

[Tony Godshall]

> Yeah, I guess I might have made a hasty assumption that the Chromebook
> Christian spoke of had a usable general-purpose operating system.

Well, my posting wasn't really in response to his posting, or to your
response.
I haven't gone back to get context for that response.  It was more
like here's how
I got usable linux in a mass market device with great battery life
that fits in a cargo
vest pocket.

> I was vaguely aware that the OS was something called ChromeOS, that it's
> based on the Linux kernel like a real distro, and that it tries to
> corral people into hosted Web apps (i.e., Google's hosted Web apps) by
> making the default 'desktop' interface program be Google's Chrome
> proprietary Web browser.

Yup

> I'd _assumed_ that you could also ignore the Web browser for just a
> moment and switch to a console to run 'lsusb'.  But maybe not.  Maybe it
> really is _that_ lame.

ChromeOS is Linux in the way that Android is Linux, i.e. it is the
Linux kernel but
all the userspace stuff that we are used to stripped away, anything
that is not strictly
necessary to be a web browser or phone is stripped away.

The terminal can be accessed by Ctrl-Alt-T in Chrome, but it's
unpriviledged, and it's
not even sh, it's "crosh".  And, yup, it has no lsusb.

ChromeOS *does* have a Dev mode which does let you get a stripped down
text console environment,
and it *is* possible to install chrooted full linux distro (crouton),
or, I think, replace the stock chromeOS,
on some models.  Dev mode does have a stern warning at every boot
where you have to press Ctrl-D.

> (I wouldn't know.  If someone gave me a
> Chromebook, I'd reinstall it with something real without delay.

Here's an example of doing that on the a similar chromebook to mine
(Rockchip AMD64, prior generation)

https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/C201

Intel or AMD-based chromebooks may or may not be easier, but will
certainly have worse battery life

Would you like a Samsung Chromebook 500C.  It's intel-based, just
sitting here on my shelf, gathering dust.

> And Crostini is what you're talking about.  Thanks!

Yes, Crontini, CrosVM, making a Debian 9 guest named Penguin by
default, with sommelier
fka xwl to translate X11 to Wayland/Aura for display on the host OS

> https://chromeunboxed.com/news/chromebook-linux-terminal-crostini-first-look
> is a February 2018 article saying there is _just now_ a terminal app
> (Crostini) for ChromeOS that gives you a real terminal without waving a
> dead chicken at the crossroads under a full moon and flipping a switch
> to enter 'Developer Mode'.

Well, that's not an actual terminal to the primary OS: crostini/crosvm
gives you a guest VM with its
own kernel and a conventional userspace.  So I think you still need to
wave the dead chicken to
get the chromebook to dev mode before you rip its guts out and replace
the bootloader and the
primary OS.  Google is at least friendlier to that than TiVo or Apple.

Tony