Leveraging the Power of Chrome OS: Crouton and Linux

As I discussed previously, Chrome OS has a lot of potential beyond its web-centric interface. If you're willing to tinker, you can switch any Chromebox or Chromebook into developer-mode and enable "deeper" access to the Linux underpinnings of the OS. From here, one can install crouton, which is a shell script that places a Linux chroot at your disposal. In short, a chroot is a segregated environment wherein one can run a guest OS inside the main OS. This lets us run a full-fledged Linux distro like Ubuntu right on top of Chrome OS.

To learn how to install crouton, take a look at this excellent guide: http://www.howtogeek.com/162120/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-on-your-chromebook-with-crouton/
For more information on crouton and all of its features take a look at David Schneider's (crouton's developer) GitHub page: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton

For Chromeboxes, I would suggest installing the crouton script with the following targets:
sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -t xiwi,extension,xfce -r trusty

This will install a chroot running Ubuntu Linux with the XFCE interface (which is very lightweight on system resources, although not as pretty looking as Unity). It also sets it up to run Ubuntu in a window in the Chrome OS interface, much like using a remote-desktop application. (that's the xiwi target). The extension target allows for cool things like universal copy-paste, etc.

If everything goes well, you get something that looks like this:

Ubuntu Linux running in a window inside Chrome OS

This "Linux in a Window" makes for a nice dual-monitor setup.


So now that we have Linux installed, our next step is to get the right apps to make it worth our while.

The first set of apps I recommend installing is WPS's office suite. Chrome OS' biggest lacking feature is a robust native editor for MS Office files. While Google's purchase of Quick-Office and subsequent absorption of its native MS editing capabilities into the Drive suite of apps is a good start, its quite lacking for complex and necessary features such as 'track changes.' The WPS suite fills this gap. http://www.wps.com/linux/

WPS Word Editor

For those of you who make use of the Citrix suite of apps to access applications at work, you'll be pleased to know that the Citrix ICA client can be installed in crouton. It works rather well with the Firefox browser.  You should note, however, that it can be a bit of a pain to get up and running.
For instructions, see here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CitrixICAClientHowTo or here: http://kenfallon.com/installing-citrix-reciver-on-ubuntu-14-04-lts-trusty-tahr/

Other useful apps include:

• Photo/Image Editing: GIMP
• PDF Viewing: EVince
• PDF Editing: (unfortunately, there aren't any good Linux apps for this)
• Video Editing: Pitvi

Of note, Wacom tablets will work in the chroot, now that Chrome OS has basic Wacom tablet support. I think pressure sensitivity is still off the table, however.

Hopefully, this is of some help in enhancing your Chromebox. The next in this series will discuss how to get Virtualbox up and running in crouton so you can run a full instance of Windows inside your chroot! (A bit inception-like, but hey, it works!)

ASUS Chromebox Review, Initial Impressions

Hmm, it's actually been close to a year since I've posted anything. But that doesn't mean my fondness for Chrome OS has ended! The past few months have seen an upgrade to the HP Chromebook 11, and now most recently, an ASUS Chromebox.

The Facts

The ASUS Chromebox is a fantastic little device. Specs are sharp and priced competitively when compared to other small-form PCs such as the Intel NUC, etc. You are looking at an Intel Celeron 2955U processor (Haswell), along with 2GB ram and a 16GB SSD. It has the usual bevy of ports- HDMI, DisplayPort, 4 USB 3.0 ports and an SD slot. WiFi and BT are also built in. It seems to be fairly easy to upgrade the internals too. (see: http://liliputing.com/2014/03/upgrade-asus-chromebox-memory-storage.html). And it is really small. Saves a ton of space on the desk.

First Impressions

I've been using the Chromebox for about a week now. I'm running a dual display setup (HDMI to one monitor and DP to DVI to the other). Sound is hardwired to a pair of Jembe Speakers, and I've attached an HD Logitech webcam and some usb port extenders. My wireless Logitech keyboard/mouse work great with it. Setup was a breeze, as is usual with Chrome devices. I enabled developer mode immediately (there is a hard switch, as compared to the keypress encoded ones on your typical chromebook), and set it up running on the beta channel (more on that later).

Chrome OS runs smoothly. Start-up time is speedy, it takes me longer to type my password in. As I write, this, I have 8 tabs open across the two screens and have Google Play music running in the background. I have noticed the occasional stutter, but this seems to occur with a lot of tabs and some of the heavier websites (the Verge,  occasionally Google +). I think that this may be  reflection of only 2GB of RAM...the Haswell processor on here should have enough juice to pull all of it off. Extended desktop works nicely and is auto-detected (no fiddling around as in earlier versions of the OS).  Standard functions such as the file manager, Google Drive, and Chrome remote desktop work smoothly as well. I've seen no issues with Pushbullet, MightyText and other extensions.

Crouton

In my mind, Chrome OS still needs a bit of backup, especially if you're a power-user like myself. There are just some things that the OS can't do yet, and so this is where Crouton comes into play. In short, Crouton is a script/tool that installs Ubuntu Linux in a 'chroot' (think of it like a virtual OS, but not), which allows you to run it alongside Chrome OS. With this, apps such as OpenOffice, GIMP, and Citrix become part of the Chrome OS experience.

Normally I run Chrome on dev channel, but I kept running into issues installing Crouton on the dev . Turns out there is a known bug, so for now, crouton only works on stable or beta. (https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton/issues/711#issuecomment-38237951). Crouton defaults to the 'Precise' flavor of Ubuntu, but I selectively installed Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring). Note that Precise does not recognize dual monitor extended displays! I don't know why this is (something to do with the X-server), but Raring works exceptionally well with dual monitor displays.

Additionally, there seems to be no noticeable change in how Chrome OS runs with Crouton running in the background, and Ubuntu flies on this device.

Summary

I highly recommend this Chromebox (if you can find it-- sold out at most places!). If you are a Chrome junkie like myself or just want a lightweight desktop experience that is web focused, this is the device for you. At $179-$200, it is a steal.

Future plans

I definitely am going to upgrade the RAM. (Have 2-2GB PC312800S DIMMs coming from amazon in a few days, so once i pop them in, I'll provide an update.) Also, I've got another one of these guys coming from Newegg-- the plan is to turn it into a linux box that will run in the background and act as a print/dropbox/gdrive server and back up files. Hopefully i'll figure out how to get a full Ubuntu install on it--- may be able to set up a chrome remote desktop into a Virtual Box install of windows-- useful for those few moments where you might need it!