After reading about some new features relating to running linux applications coming to Chrome OS I thought it was time to revisit the possibility of running Chromium OS in a virtual environment.

Screenshots #

Chromium OS 67.0.3390.0

acer_c710_chromebook

Neverware Cloudready 63.3.41

qemu_cloudready

Chromium OS seems to run really well on QEMU & there are none of the boot problems encountered on VirtualBox.

Chrome OS vs Chromium OS #

acer_c710_chromebook

Chrome OS

Playstore for Android Apps
Verified Boot
Security Updates

Chromium OS

No Playstore for Android Apps
No Verified Boot
Default shell account has no password & can sudo

The Future Of Chromebooks & Chrome OS #

The future of Chrome OS looks really interesting.
Google are working on getting linux desktop apps running using kvm & other technologies.

crosvm is currently available to google pixelbook users via the beta channel.

There are also some interesting high-end chromebooks coming out like the Samsung Chromebook Plus which has an ARM based CPU, touchscreen & a high resolution screen (basically an arm version of the pixelbook).

Conclusion #

Getting Chromium OS running was a bit more involved than virtualbox but it runs really quick.
Once running, it provides a platform for testing things in linux without the need for chromebook hardware.

For long term use I would say buying a chromebook with Chrome OS would be much better than relying on Chromium OS as you gain so much in terms of support, features & security. (Also basic chromebooks are really cheap)

ref: Neverware Cloudready / Chromium OS