ChromeOS Flex is now available as a CD image. So you can create an installation media from Linux

ChromeOS Flex from Linux

Regarding this operating system, I have to admit two things: that I am watching its evolution, albeit timidly, and that I am not interested unless they come up with a simple way to activate compatibility with Android applications. And it is that when Google he presented Chrome OS FlexWhat it offered, the version of its desktop operating system for non-Chromebook computers, was a somewhat limited option, which could be and do much more.

So I have never dared to try it. And I also did not know that it could not be installed from Linux, that it was necessary to do it through an installer that was only available for Windows, macOS and ChromeOS. Now it can be done from any operating system you can launch tools like Etcher, and among them are all the Linux-based ones I know of. In addition, it can also be done using the dd command, which is the way to save this type of image from the terminal.

ChromeOS Flex available from a link they send in the mail

The official way of get the picture, which is with a BIN extension, is to go to this site, fill in the fields and receive it by mail. But since the Linux community is very friendly, a direct and official link has soon been shared, one that I have reached reading the medium OMG! Linux! (carried by the same person who runs the famous OMG! Ubuntu!).

If you need the steps to follow to create installation media from linux, are these:

  1. We have to go to this link and download the latest BIN image. Its availability is not guaranteed if this article is read after a few months. What almost certainly will always work is to put the data and receive a link by email.
  2. You have to open the file and extract its content, since it comes compressed in a ZIP.
  3. We connect a minimum 8GB USB to the computer. At the time of writing this article, the image weighs about 6GB.
  4. At this point we have to burn the image to the USB. There are many ways to do it, but I recommend using Etcher, (Raspberry Pi) Imager or the "dd" method. The first two are tools with a graphical interface and their use is to follow the instructions that appear on the screen. The "dd" method is to open a terminal and type the following, changing "NAME-OF-IMAGE.img" to the downloaded image and the X to your drive number, probably 0:
sudo dd bs=64k if=IMAGE-NAME.img of=/dev/mmcblkX status=progress
  1. With the image already created, all that remains is to start from the USB and follow the instructions that the wizard shows us.

Worth?

I am not going to lie to anyone and say yes or no without having tried it, but I am going to say why I have not tried it: ChromeOS itself is an operating system, based on Linux, yes, that works with a browser and the applications that can be installed on this by pulling from the Google Chrome store. Therefore, it is very limited, and as a Linux user, I would rather recommend lightweight distributions like Lubuntu or ones with window managers like i3-wm.

Now, ChromeOS Flex can be run in a live session (Live Session), so, when testing it, in the worst case we can lose some time. If you end up liking it, you can install it.

My opinion would change if Android applications could be installed In a simple way. With Google Play apps, an old computer could be turned into a kind of tablet with access to Netflix, Kodi and many games. It wouldn't hurt to be able to run Linux applications like ChromeOS for Chromebooks, which would open up the range of possibilities even more.

It is likely that in the future, Google will realize that it is losing market share, or could have more, if it removes the restrictions. Until then, at least we can now create installation/test media from Linux as well.


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  1.   Jim Whitehurst said

    In this case, I would choose to install an android with x86 architecture and not turn the PC into a paper weight with this aberration called "ChromeOS".
    Excellent article, thanks for the review.