The Linux Foundation is now recommending that users with new and shiny Chromebooks should really install Linux along their Chrome OS distros.
The Linux Foundation had a very interesting promotion this month and users who registered for their courses also received free Chromebooks. That is a great marketing move, but Chrome OS is not exactly the best development environment out there. It’s an operating system made to cater to people who just want to use their notebooks for regular stuff, like writing documents, watch movies, or surf the Internet.
The good thing about Chromebooks is that users can also install a Linux OS on it, with a very handy tool named Crouton. This helps The Linux Foundation students get a much better understanding of how a Linux system works or how they can set up a Linux server, for example.
Chromebooks are using Linux, but not quite
ChromeOS is a Linux distribution, but it’s heavily modified to provide just a very specific set of features. On the other hand, Chromebooks are now outselling regular laptop and notebooks, so more people are actually using Linux than ever before. Enhancing your experience by adding a “proper” Linux OS is the next logical step.
“Chrome OS is Linux underneath, but out of the box the average Chromebook is pretty locked down. It’s designed to provide a simple, guided environment, not the open-ended operating system a sysadmin or developer might expect. Thanks to an open source project named Crouton, installing a complete Linux environment on a Chromebook is quite simple. When you’re done with the process, Chrome OS is still there, but you can also run Linux and learn all about how to run a Linux server or build a portable developer workstation,” says The Linux Foundation.
Also, The Linux Foundation has a very handy tutorial in place that teaches users what to do with Crouton and that explains in great detail what users will have at their disposal, even if they are not students.
Via Softpedia