Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

I just read a news article saying that Google has just published some source code of Chrome OS. On the bottom it says: (translated from Dutch)

x86 en ARM
Chrome OS should run on x86 as well as ARM chips, although google has developed it for x86. This is because practically all netbooks and laptops have x86 processors.

Anyone knows if this Chrome OS will run on N900 ? It should, right ?

Tell me what you guys think...

link here

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

F**k Chrome. Long live to maemo.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

thank you for your quick response

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Sorry. I’m really entusiasmed with the comments from the first owners.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

I'd imagine someone could hack it. My guess is it would be a nightmare even if you could get it running. And you'd likely lose much of the functionality of your N900 due to missing drivers, etc. If you could get it to run, that is.

The question is: why in the world would you want to install Chrome OS on a Nokia N900? IMO, that would be taking a huge step backwards.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

I am not sure it looks pretty intresting to me. If there are no problems with hardware/software of course

Q: What device can u use as a phone, as a mini portable linux desktop and fits in your pocket.
A: ? (my dream?)

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

There's nothing stopping someone from putting the work in to get it running. It's only a question of if anyone will put in that effort.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Why.......?

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

To offer a different viewpoint:
Isn't that the essence of OSS development? Wanting to tinker and do things as you want?

I've been trying to condense so many ideas into a concise comment, but basically I think that if the N900 is a "mobile computer", it should be simple to dual-boot it, or to add a different OS.

Most PC parts are commodity hardware that interface over defined standards SATA, PATA, PCI, USB, etc. Is the N900 set up this way? (Seriously I'm asking not trying to start a flame war)

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Your the man. :cool:

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Without looking too much at it, there's a worry that ChromeOS depends on GL and uses GL extensively (see clutter usage). This may not work that well on GLES devices.

That said, a N900 is fully multiboot-able and drivers are probably not such a bad issue if you play by certain rules..

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Why dont you simply creat a Chorme OS THEME???

Why are asking people such questions, ... Its like, " Can I transfer my XBOX firmware to the PlayStation 3? "

**** NO!

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Chrome OS on the N900 shouldn't be an issue if a lot of work was put into it, but honestly why would you want to? The N900's 32gbs would become unusable since Chrome doesn't use the main storage and you can't do USB-OTG with this so you;d have no storage other then on Google's servers. For the expense, it seems a waste.

That said however, with the N810 being a little obsolete at this point, and only having 2GBs of storage anyways, it seems like a fun platform to run Chrome on. The microSD card every stores their **** on anyways should still be accessible assuming the correct drivers are written for it. You also don't have to worry about cellie drivers, or accelerometer drivers, etc.

So anyone want to try getting it running on the N810? :P

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

The problem with running Chrome on anything other than netbooks designed for Chrome is the lack of drivers. Google has specifically said they don't intend to develop drivers for anything beyond the Chrome netbooks they are working with manufacturers on. Although, as has been pointed out, the source code is open and you can certainly develop your own drivers.

It might be a fun project. As a project, I might agree with Apoc and try it on the N810. Chrome's browser based paradigm would seem to be a bit problematic for a phone but in many ways it would seem to fit better on a tablet than the existing Diablo paradigm.

BTW, I find it amusing that the Maemo fanboys seem to be taking the attitude that "we believe in open source but only our open source."

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Tis why I'm not a Maemo fan boy.. I'm an open source fan boy ;)

I'd quite enjoy the iphone if it were open source (though I still wouldn't use it due to a lack of a physical keyboard.) ;)

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Umm. The N900.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

It would probably be easier (and a lot smarter) to just make a psuedo-ChromeOS, something that boots a Nokia / Nokia-esque kernel and initrd and then just starts X and a web browser (maybe Chromium will start to build for ARM soon, or maybe Tear/some Firefox varient/pick your browser of the day), as opposed to trying to shoehorn all the Google cruft in.

ChromeOS's main unique "features," such as encrypted loopback user data storage and trusted boot are not very feasible on a tablet anyway (and I'd argue not very useful in general, but someone thought ChromeOS was smart...) . Trusted boot isn't even in the ChromeOS developer tree yet, since it'll require custom hardware and firmware - basically a lot of what ChromiumOS is right now is Ubuntu 9.10 with GNOME taken out, replaced by a little Clutter-based WM and login screen and an encrypted home directory.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Also, will ChromeOS be touchscreen friendly? Maybe so, b/c I hope that touchscreen/convertible netbooks will become increasingly common, but I doubt that will be their first target.

Also, will Google Gears (or equivalent functionality) be open-sourced? I'd love to have *that* on Maemo (as has been discussed often before on this forum). The Chrome (or Chromium?) browser -- maybe.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Also, I noticed that you said "some" not "all", which raises some questions...

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Gears is open source.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Please excuse me while I pick my jaw off the floor.

'K, got it.

So, WHY don't we have Gears for Maemo again? All the previous discussions I'm read centered around a binary version someone (I think from Google) posted on a Google forum & what worked & what didn't.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Google Gears is being discontinued, being something of a "proof of concept" (or so they say).

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Gears is replaceable with HTML5 (thus why it's being discontinued) and since the N900 browser supports HTML5 local storage I don't see what the point is at all.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

*sigh*

Don't you mean...

You're the WOman or at least You're the HUman

Seriously! What century are we in here!? :P

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Hmmm, are you sure? From what I remember (and I'll admit to being confused often) it will use " nonvolatile flash memory" in addition to cloud storage. If the 32GB in the n900 is not nonvolatile flash, then I don't know what it is. Source for that was the Wired article on Chrome OS.

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

You're the hottie! ;)

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Thanks -- that's exciting news (news to me at least)!

Re: Chrome OS on N900 ?
 

Why?
I'll tell you why, because we (perhaps-possibly-maybe) can, that's why!
Being able to tell someone "Yeah, I've got chromeOS on my n900"
"Neat! Can I see it?"
"Nah, it le sucks.." is power my friend. Nerd power.
Sorry for the interruption, just had to make it clear.