Chrome OS experience - Part I

Got my USB 4GB flash thumb drive yesterday (Monday) and finally got to writing a Chrome OS image to the drive. I’ve got a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 that I purchased this year (refurb for $215) - about March or so - in order to play with it. One of my goals was to test out Chrome OS while it was in development, and well, turns out that my Dell Inspiron Mini 10 was one of the earliest test mules for Chrome OS, so I knew it would work.

Normally you would have to grab the files from the Chromium project and build an image that you would then write to a removable drive. Instead of the hassle of building your own image, thankfully, you can find a build from Hexxeh, a developer that has done the heavy lifting for everyone. In fact, there are explicit instructions on his website detailing the steps to follow. Again, very easy to do for most anyone.

First thing to note, is that you will need to be able to connect to the internet directly, without network passwords or intermediate browser screens, the first time you log in. In order to access a Chrome OS device, you will need to log into the device using your gmail account and password. There is no intermediate step to set up a network, mind you, so without an open access to the internet, you simply won’t be able to log into your google account, and you’ll be kicked out before even stepping into the system. Once you’re in, you can set up your wireless network access, and presumably it should work from that point on. This probably means that trying to access a Chrome OS device at a Starbucks where you have free internet access, is a no-go for now.  On the other hand, it might work if you have a mobile USB-based modem (3G/4G) attached to your netbook; since I don't have one, I can't test it.

Second thing to note, is that a lot of USB-attached things (other than external storage devices) probably won’t work very well, if at all. My wireless RF mouse was stop and start the entire time. The USB Bluetooth dongle was useless.  Again, I don't know if a 3G/4G USB modem would work or not, as I don't use one.

Third and very important for netbook users, is that the trackpad functions are not working right. However, this may be a case of the software that I’m running on it - an Asus-based script to allow the changing of angle on the trackpad, so that one can read sideways and use the scroll sideways, as an e-reader.

Of course, because it’s not loading anywhere nearly as much stuff as a typical OS, the boot-up and shut down times are very quick. To turn off, you merely press the on/off button - no need to “hibernate” or “sleep” like you would typically want to do with a Windows machine.

- next blog entry will continue my experience with Chrome OS -