WetGeek BunsenLabs Berrylium Update:
Went back to Mate fulltime. Bunsen was my kind of distro but a lot of work compared to Mate (or anything Solus). I loved the idea but didn't need a tinker/hobby distro. Just one the was mostly ready to rock. In my search for the mythical "#2" I came up short.
Openbox is intetresting but sprawling and I liked Fluxbox better. I tried Fluxbox Siduction. Which is still on Ventoy along with LXQT.
I also am fond of one you called a stinker which is Spiral Linux. It's a stinker but my kind of stinker
Other Interesting Distros, Part 5
Chrome OS Flex
NOTE - this is on an unsupported device
After some discussion in another thread I decided to try Chrome OS. Not having a Chromebook my options seem to be limited to Chrome OS Flex on my 2022 Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro.
Install
In Windows 10 I followed the instructions on their site until it came to write to USB where it balked. I tried in Solus but Linux is not supported (Windows, Mac and Chrome only). After messing with settings I decided to try downloading the file and install from local. EUREKA!!
1st Boot
Login to Google 1st. Then there is a welcome screen with explanations and tutorials so naturally I skipped that. Settings are pretty easy with categories on the left, toggles on the right. You can scroll through the whole thing without clicking a category. It has light and dark modes and more good wallpapers than any distro I have ever seen. There's a familiar bottom panel which can be moved to the L or R side.
Miscellaneous
Boot time is very fast, 10 seconds to login screen, 1 second from there to desktop.
Scaling is perfect on my 2560 x 1600 monitor, and there's a slider to adjust.
Touchpad acceleration is perfect.
Integration with all things Google is perfect. The panel calendar showed all my Google appointments without further intervention and adding my Fastmail Calendars was a breeze. Maps, Gmail, Keep all worked seamlessly.
Updates are almost invisible. I saw a notification that said an update was ready, reboot to install, so I did. 30 seconds later the device was rebooted and updated. Had I ignored the notice I think it would have waited till next power off cycle and finished automatically, though I am unsure.
Linux development environment installed and in that I installed Neofetch.
the next items are likely due to my unsupported device and I cannot really count them as cons, though they are critically impacting my user experience
Sleep is broken. When the lid is closed on this device it powers off. When it falls asleep it is unresponsive to all but holding the power button 5 seconds to hard shut down.
The Chrome store is weird. The first few apps I looked at to install had no install button and were marked no longer available. Maybe because this is an unsupported device? Some apps can be installed from the Chrome browser at certain websites if the circled symbol appears
This also works in Solus. No more half hour 3rd party Spotify installs for me.
Play store for Android apps is not available on this device. This is definitely because it is unsupported as sometime around 2018 all new Chromebooks got the Play store.
Conclusion
For someone that already uses the Google ecosystem (M$, and Apple too as their data could be easily imported) and is not a power user it is easy to see the appeal of a Chromebook. Everything works together seamlessly. Very little horsepower is required to run fast and smoothly and most household tasks can be achieved, though some adjusting to different software will need to happen. This is perfect for my elderly mom.
For someone that wants some distance from the prying eyes of big tech, look elsewhere.
Notes for DE devs
The desktop environment in Chrome OS is good. Clean, elegant and fast. Fractional scaling, touchpad, gestures and responsiveness are all second to none. It is not very customizable, to be sure, but it has the fundamentals right.
I'm gonna format and install Win 11 now as the sleep disfunction is a deal breaker
Thanks for the review. It is helpful and illuminating.
murbert Play store for Android apps is not available on this device. This is definitely because it is unsupported as sometime around 2018 all new Chromebooks got the Play store.
Google does not make the Play Store available in Chrome OS Flex.
murbert The Chrome store is weird. The first few apps I looked at to install had no install button and were marked no longer available. Maybe because this is an unsupported device?
Is it possible that these were Android apps?
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murbert In Windows 10 I followed the instructions on their site until it came to write to USB where it balked. I tried in Solus but Linux is not supported (Windows, Mac and Chrome only). After messing with settings I decided to try downloading the file and install from local. EUREKA!!
What do you mean by "After messing with settings I decided to try downloading the file and install from local."?
Another question: I changed my mind and am thinking about installing Chrome OS Flex on my Inspiron 11-3180, which is currently running Kubuntu 22.04. I can prepare the USB in Windows 11 on another computer (I hope, given that this seemed to balk for you), and then boot from the Chrome OS Flex USB, just like I would installing a Linux distro. Is this how it works?
Yet another question: Chrome OS (and it looks like Chrome OS Flex) is known for booting like a rabbit with its tail on fire. What is your impression of how quick the system is once booted? Better than Solus, same as Solus, whatever?
If I go ahead and am successful, I plan to run Chrome OS Flex for a month or two to evaluate it as a possible Windows 10 replacement for friends using the Chrome browser and already locked into the Google ecosystem. From your quick look, am I nuts to think about doing that?
tomscharbach Is it possible that these were Android apps?
They were in the Chrome store, not the Google play store. I think they were not Android.
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tomscharbach What do you mean by "After messing with settings I decided to try downloading the file and install from local."?
There is a settings icon in the USB maker. When it failed at at writing to disk I clicked it and the option presented to install from local source. At this point I looked for and found a Chrome OS download. I think the preferred method is for the installer to download the bin file.
edited for clarity
tomscharbach I can prepare the USB in Windows 11 on another computer (I hope, given that this seemed to balk for you), and then boot from the Chrome OS Flex USB, just like I would installing a Linux distro. Is this how it works?
Yes, pretty much. It is not difficult or complicated for an one experienced with Linux installs.
tomscharbach Yet another question: Chrome OS (and it looks like Chrome OS Flex) is known for booting like a rabbit with its tail on fire. What is your impression of how quick the system is once booted? Better than Solus, same as Solus, whatever?
It is as fast as anything I have ever used.
tomscharbach If I go ahead and am successful, I plan to run Chrome OS Flex for a month or two to evaluate it as a possible Windows 10 replacement for friends using the Chrome browser and already locked into the Google ecosystem. From your quick look, am I nuts to think about doing that?
Maybe not. I'd need to use a supported device to say for sure. That sleep disfunction is a deal breaker and not having the Play store severly limits app options
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murbert ... not having the Play store severly limits app options ...
That's for sure. The Chrome Web Store is a whole lot of nothing.
I'll spend a few more hours today looking at Chrome Flex OS more closely, but I think that I'll give Chrome OS Flex a pass. I'm really only interested in spending time with distros that I think could serve as Windows 10 replacements for ordinary home desktop users.
I think that -- right now, anyway -- Chrome OS Flex seems focused on businesses and schools that want to use the Google ecosystem (Google Docs, Google Workspace, and so on) for productivity and collaboration, but need to convert existing Windows (or macOS) inventory to Chrome OS Flex as the business/school switches over to Chromebooks, putting all the users on a more-or-less level playing field while keeping inventory costs under control.
In that context, Chrome OS Flex seems to be a good choice, but I don't see Chrome OS Flex as a viable alternative for home Windows 10 users. Without the Play Store, Chrome OS Flex is too thin.
tomscharbach That's for sure. The Chrome Web Store is a whole lot of nothing.
I'm pretty sure that's where I get the LastPass extension that I install in new instances of the Vivaldi browser. Perhaps it's mostly for Chrome extensions? Maybe exclusively?
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WetGeek The OS seems kind of like a browser.
Chrome OS Flex, like Chrome OS, is designed as a "thin client", using online applications and online data storage, both accessed through the Chrome browser. For schools and many businesses, that's a sweet setup.
Installations of Chrome OS and Chrome OS Flex are very simple, consisting of a Linux OS to run the computer and the Chrome browser to do everything else. No overhead or background processes related to anything other than the system and the Chrome browser -- that's why Chrome OS and Chrome OS Flex are fast and run well on low-spec (e.g. Celeron processors, 4 GB RAM, 32 GB eMMC disk) devices.
The Chromebook basic combination -- a basic office suite (Google Docs or Microsoft 365 Web), a solid and reasonably sophisticated browser for e-mail, calendar web access, streaming, online meetings and so on, basic photo viewing/editing, coupled with 5-15 GB online storage -- is enough for many home users, schools and businesses. I ran several political campaigns using Google Chrome, Google Docs, Google Calendar and a few other Google online apps. If I didn't use Steam or installed GOG games like SimCity 3000, a Chromebook would be enough for my personal use today.
Chromebooks 2018 or later can run Android apps and some of the newest Chromebooks can run Linux apps. Convenient but comes at a cost. If you start adding apps to a Chromebook then you need to have more resources (processor, RAM, storage), more processes are running, and so on. If you start doing that, it doesn't take long before you need a mainstream device (i3/15 processor, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage). Sooner or later it makes sense to use a traditional laptop running a traditional Windows, macOS or Linux operating system rather than a Chromebook.
Chrome OS Flex, like the original Chrome OS, is basically a browser, doing what modern browsers routinely do. Nothing wrong with that ...
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murbert For someone that already uses the Google ecosystem (M$, and Apple too as their data could be easily imported) and is not a power user it is easy to see the appeal of a Chromebook. Everything works together seamlessly. Very little horsepower is required to run fast and smoothly and most household tasks can be achieved, though some adjusting to different software will need to happen. This is perfect for my elderly mom.
I am going to install Chrome OS Flex on my Inspiron 11-3180 (not on the supported list, but close enough to a few Inspiron models that are on the list to have a reasonable chance of success), and then, if it works, use it for a month or two. I'll probably use Microsoft Mail/Calendar, Microsoft 365 Web and OneDrive rather than the Google equivalents since I'm tied into the Microsoft ecosystem already and I'm not wild about Google, but I don't think that will present a problem and it should be enough to give me a sense of how well Chrome OS Flex will work for my friends already tied into the Google ecosystem.
murbert This is perfect for my elderly mom.
I'll let her know.
tomscharbach on my Inspiron 11-3180 (not on the supported list,
Murbert's great review was very open about the caveats he encountered because (we're guessing) he was not on the supported list, like the chrome store weirdness etc. I expect you will encounter the same drawbacks. At this point it's always a 'see what you can live with' situation. Look forwared to your report as well.
[I have no interest in it at all for me, but I am close to somebody who might benefit mightily so keeping an eye on this one].
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brent Murbert's great review was very open about the caveats he encountered because (we're guessing) he was not on the supported list, like the chrome store weirdness etc. I expect you will encounter the same drawbacks.
I'll find out, I guess.
The 11-3180 (circa 2018) is both vanilla and low-spec (AMD A-9420, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB eMMC) so it should give me a better sense of how Flex might work for my friends on their older (and probably not certified) equipment than my certified Latitude 3120 (circa 2022) with an Intel Pentium 6, 8 GB RAM and 128 GB M.2 SSD.
I'll report what I find out.