Following our post about Chrome OS yesterday, it looks like those wily folks at Google have removed the “chromeos” folder from the Chromium build folder. Too bad. But luckily, before they did, TechCrunch reader and Linux user, Jonathan Frederickson, was able to grab the code and managed to install it. He has posted some results in our comments section and even more on his blog.
It would seem that the result is the browser aspect of Chrome OS running inside of Linux. As you can see in the screenshots below, it looks very similar to Chrome, the browser, on Windows (still the only officially released version of Chrome), but there are some key differences.
First of all, it looks like there is a new logo of some kind. If you look in the upper left hand corner, you’ll see a a colorful circle with a white center. This is obviously different from the Chrome browser logo, which looks like the children’s game, Simon.
According to Frederickson, clicking on this logo opens a Google Short Links window. Unfortunately, you need a Google.com domain (which he obviously didn’t have) to go any further. It seems reasonable to assume that this page houses a simple link page to all the major Google Apps. But what’s odd is the wording that reads, “Google is not affiliated with the contents of Google Short Links or its owners.” No clue what that means, but maybe that’s just placeholder text.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the window, the far right side, you’ll notice a clock, a network status indicator (the “X”), and a battery level indicator. Of these, only the clock appears to be working at the moment. But all of those things are in line with what has been found in the code for Chrome OS so far.
There is also a drop down menu button. Here, you’ll find the options that will be familiar to users of the browser version of Chrome. But you’ll also notice the new “Chrome OS” tab. Here, you’ll find Network options, as well as Touchpad settings. Okay, this is the point where I’ll admit it was silly to think the “touchpad” may have been some sort of device, rather than simply a notebook trackpad. I noted that was probably the case yesterday, but I also let my imagination get a little carried away.
Too bad we scared Google’s “chromeos” folder off, this is getting interesting!
Click on the images for larger versions (obviously, pay no attention to the Linux OS (Ubuntu) in the background of the pics)
Update: Another reader, Adam Shannon, took the image below. He also had this info to share:
Also, some basic facts.
– Frequent Crashes
– HTML5 works
– only supports .ogg (No H.264 love)Browser Info:
Internal Code Name: Mozilla
Browser’s Name: Netscape
Browser Version: 5.0 (X11; U; CrOS i686 9.4.0; en-US)
AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/4.0.222.5 Safari/532.2
User Agent String: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; CrOS i686 9.4.0; en-US)
AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/4.0.222.5 Safari/532.2
Browser Language: en-US
Computer Platform: Linux i686
Update 2: But wait, there’s more. Frederickson was able to get a slightly newer build (with the “compact nav bar”) before it was taken down. More pics below.
sweet!
horray for TC. once again I am amazed how they are able to dig out the latest scope in the tech industry.
Can anyone bit-torrent chrome OS for the rest of us?
second that
MG? Fail. We’ve been getting similar screenshots at Download Squad for weeks, this *isn’t* Chrome OS, and it isn’t news.
This is just Chromium, built with some tweaked IF_DEF switches in the makefile. In fact, given the version string, it isn’t even the most recent check-in.
I’ll say to you the same thing I’ve said to every tipster I’ve debunked at Download Squad: Call me when you have a kernel, or anything you can start with a bootloader. Until then, it’s just another WebKit shell.
i disagree grant. while it’s certainly far from the finished product, all of this does point to where google is taking this: short links area, network indicator, battery life, time, etc. we’re watching the evolution of it, which there is clearly plenty of interest about, and google clearly doesn’t want everyone seeing just yet.
To mention, Short Links is a service offered to Google Apps users.
I think they’re just using Short Links to test out a certain feature, or to make it easy to access stuff within their infrastructure (nothing big).
You don’t know what you’re talking about bud.
Wow, isn’t this supposed to be a tech website? Who doesn’t recognize that those screen shots are nothing more than Ubuntu running the Chrome browser? Wow, terrible…
hey n00b.. cant u see dat its a virtual box running chrome OS?
Grant: While it is a bit late for me to be saying this… the ones you were getting may have been modified versions of Chromium, but… this is Chrome. Direct from Google. Google-branded. As far as I know, this is the first we’ve seen of even that.
can anyone tell me who the hell am i gonna use photoshop with linux? no way i’ll trade it for GIMP.
Chrome OS doesn’t run Linux apps (only the stuff that can run in Chrome. HTML, CSS, Javascript and soon C/C++).
And regarding the Linux comment, you could always install Wine, Photoshop has lovely performance with it.
Not so lovely. I have seen it’s only Photoshop 7.0 that is lovely. The later versions crash several times.
I guess Google’s certainly gonna do something about porting Windows apps to GCOS.
The later Photoshop versions are bloated anyways.
From the premise, GCOS doesn’t need to run Windows apps. It will be a web os for netbooks.
Stop setting your expectations out of bounds. You will only disappoint yourself
M$’s Gazelle may let you run some windows apps.
Crossover Office is probably your best bet. It is a commercial version of Wine that works well with Photoshop, MS Office, and others. They also provide some support if you have issues.
not so sweet
Okay guys. Hold your horses just yet. Like us we are happy for this release but this could be another fake propaganda like what we have a couple of months ago.
As for now, google is still not releasing any updates for the release. If it’s next week, they will release a pre-announcement, ayt?
http://bit.ly/c...e-release-again
kudus to all who waited
Never seen so many people get so excited about downloading Spyware.
Hang on, i have some great links you can download and install while you wait for this thing.
Well… it sure does look like Chrome.
i think there’s something to that
Maybe I’m not seeing something…but isnt it just a browser?
Could you elaborate?
yes Melvin .. it is chrome ..
.. but I have a question .. will it ever have a google tool bar ?.. The scrshts were more of browser then OS .. well for now .. settle down for this much only …
Best,
Daina
Looks pretty much the same as Chrome. I wonder whats taking to some long since, the OS is just a browser.
more interested in the hardware it will be on.
May I point out to you that this is only the UI of the OS they are making, there will be a instant-on distribution of linux as well (which then will only run this up probably).
yes i read it carefully and its amazing product from Google like Google Other Products
As you said, this is getting interesting. However this is nothing but the Chrome browser with some added teasers to it.
The earlier post about Chrome OS where you let your imagination run wild was more interesting!
agree completely! this looks drab! where is the Google dream gone?
remember this is a VERY early build obviously of one part of the OS – one that GOOG clearly doesn’t want us to see yet, BTW (hence the takedown of the folder)
unless it is a fakeout. a feint. misinformation.
It’s not, this was over in the blogoscoped.com forums yesterday with a few trustworthy people reporting it.
I don’t think this is very early. Google has said Chrome OS source code will be released within the next couple of months.
That hardware may ship second half of next year does not mean Google starts releasing the source code much earlier for developers.
that is right… This is not very early. What Google made us believe in July was that Chrome OS will be ther by the mid of 2010.. you just have some 8 months left..! And remember you are building an OS, i don’t 8 months is a big enough time.
oh !!!!!!
this is amazing…..
If Google’s Chrome OS is just a browser then that thing should be lean and fast. Which means I should be able to install it on my old Pentium 166Mhz.
that’d be nice. but i wouldn’t count on it with some of the heavier apps google has nowadays.
wake me up when this would be released (and when they remove the beta tag) … till then I would buy and use Win 7 and more likely Win 8 and Win 9…..
stupid people comenting on logo…. come on guys… OS is more then a logo for GOD’s sake…
you seriously think windows 8 is going to be out before Chrome OS?
agree.
You seriously think Google will ever remove the beta tag?
+1 (beta)
Does no one remember how quick googlewas to remove the beta tag from chrome?
re Short Links, does putting google.com in /etc/hosts help at all?
Best comment ever and most relevant
Thats not a Google OS, it’s Ubuntu running a Chrome browser application.
Why is it taking google so long to release the OS if their plan is to strip down Ubuntu and install a Google browser.
There must be more to it than the pictures in this story show.
The source code that was on the Chromium SVN wasn’t for the actual operating system, it was for the version of Chrome for GoogleOS.
Also, the user who took the screenshots compiled the code on Ubuntu.. No one mistook GoogleOS for Ubuntu – atleast I hope not.
What are the repercussions of having that button link to google’s web apps? Is that considered having the OS bundled with the applications or is it ok since it’s just a link to the web app and you don’t install anything? Interesting questions.
It looks pretty good. I wonder how it would be speed wise.
I have to admit that after the initial buzz surrounding this I had actually forgotten that Google were releasing an operating system!
what did google say about this post? are they pissed?
MG: Did you do a google search for “Google Short Links” yet?
Here:
http://www.goog...879591152674960
and here:
http://www.goog...p;answer=114245
Short Links is an app for any Google Apps users. That’s why it says “Google is not affiliated with the contents of Google Short Links or its owners.” It’s not filler text, it’s just the text that is shown for any app that’s in their app marketplace.
oh nice. good find.
MG:
Also, this isn’t just the browser. This IS the OS.
The Short Links will eventually evolve into the equivalent of the Window’s Start Menu.
Applications windows for each ChromeOS application will be attachable in tabs. Imagine MS Word as a tab in the browser. Remember how the omnibox is no longer above all the tabs? It’s now a part of the tabs. So in MS Word (as an example), the omnibox simply won’t appear. (Unless the application allows you to feed it commands.)
That’s why, as is stated in the blog post you referenced, opening a “New Window” in ChromeOS opens a tab.
yep good stuff.
The last screenshot is very interesting with the navigation moved up to the tabs. Hopefully it’s modular because right now it looks cluttered.
boring.. windows 7 is all you need.
Maybe for you. But some of us want more out of our computers
-Jessica-
hum… you mean like the inability to use Photoshop and other major Adobe tools?
Adobe is one of the companies supporting Chrome OS.
Dont need photoshop, I can do all my programming and graphics needs without it. I mean I want more freedom out of my computer, the freedom to own my Operating system, not just a license that can be revoked at any time. I want to be able to get things done without virus’s hanging on the back of my mind. I want to allow my friends and family whom are not so good with computers to be able to use their computers without fear of them infecting it. I want to be able to do more with my computer with as few resources as possible.
Besides I’m not a fan of adobe much, but I am very happy with all the open source programs I have available, some of which I cannot use on Windows. And before you bring it up, I play my share of games easily on Linux, even WoW out of the box. And I love having an environment I can shape how I want any time I want without having to hack the system and break any sort of contract.
-Jessica-
If you missed to download the Chrome for Chrome OS build, but want to try it out on your linux box, you can get it from here:
http://hangya.s...r28818_i386.deb
This version includes the compact nav bar.
http://twitpic.com/ldshd
Have fun!
Notice the KSnapShot icon in:
http://www.tech...ome20091013.png
Compare with the icon here:
http://en.wikip...pshot_4.2.2.png
I can’t see the point of installing KDE stuff on a browser only os. I can see the point of developing over a full featured Linux, but then this is not Chrome OS.
Yes. On the picture you can see Chrome browser for Chrome OS running on Ubuntu Linux (definitely NOT Chrome OS). This possibility points out that Chrome OS will be based on Ubuntu/Debian.
Ah, whoops. That icon is there because it’s a screenshot from Ubuntu running in a VM.
(With the host machine running Kubuntu.)
May I dare to speculate that the ‘Short links’ service will be chromeOS’s “Web App Store”, a web directory of popular sites ?
Woo Woo, bring on the Chrome!!
Oh dear, bundling a browser with the OS means we wont be able to get it in Europe, as the rules have to be the same for everyone, right?
Oh, wait…
Seriously though, will the OS just be a browser with “links” to apps, so you access offine Gears stuff with a kind-of localhost URL, or will Chrome just be an application and everything can be done locally? Hmm.
The OS will be the browser.
All Chrome OS apps will be apps that can be run in Google Chrome on Windows/Mac/Linux.
Google even mentioned that any HTML5 compliant browser like Firefox or Safari should be able to run Chrome OS apps.
got a glimpse of how chrome OS is going to be!!!
Ah, MG, you may want to edit that second update. I went back and looked at the previous build, and the Compact nav bar is indeed functional. Slight oversight on my part.
oh cool. thanks Jonathan.
Chrome OS is going to be a beautiful thing.
Hmm … that looks more like the Picasa logo than the Chome logo. Hard to tell at this tiny resolution, though.
Does someone have the code hosted somewhere? I missed my chance to download it yesterday and was wondering if someone is hosting a copy.
It is all open source so there is no copyright issue.
I found ‘webtops’ pretty cool a while back when they first appeared – the desktop paradigm built within the browser.
I guess GoogleOS is the reverse: entirely replacing the desktop with the browser. I think it’s an interesting approach and it’ll be interesting to see how it fares against MS and Apple.
I set up a torrent for build 28838 of ChromeOS works on x86 and 64 bit (please seed!).
http://torrage....21413BC.torrent
Why all the excitement over something that looks like it was put together in a garage? I prefer Windows 7 or Mac OSX or any variety of Linux distro such as Ubuntu.
This is no big deal..Google fanbois are a mystery.
This is from Google only for Google and will only benefit Google and nobody else.
This is an early build. The UI will change drastically before the final release.
From what we understand, the idea is that it’s a browser running on top of Linux. The whole thing’s very lightweight… you know, like the CrunchPad. That’s an advantage Windows, Mac OS X, and full distributions of Linux do not have.
It may not appeal to everyone, but it sure does appeal to me.
I don’t get the anti-hype.
lol, all apps for Chrome OS will be able to run in regular Google Chrome on Windows/Mac/Linux.
Even browsers like Safari and Firefox will be compatible.
Chrome OS just looks like a way for Google to get new web standards through quickly.
ok guys … its a PC OS so please stop calling it Ubuntu. Also its obviously more than a browser and it takes time to build a good solid PC OS. the last thing u want is something akin to vista. that would ruin ChromeOS forever. u guys should just hold back your snide comments until its officially released. by the way, there is a build available right now at http://rapidsha...r28902_i386.deb
What you see in the above screenshots is the Chrome web browser running in Ubuntu Linux.
i did it, just intall it on Wine
Google is behind Photoshop’s new Linux compatibility. Is it a sign?…
http://apcmag.c...mpatibility.htm
if I was Google, I would buy Adobe. it would be the best way to become a serious competitor to microsoft. they could keep flash, photoshop and premiere exclusively on chrome OS and it would be the end of Windows.
That would be anti-competitive and very, very evil.
The best strategy for Google is to work on dominating the low end market (netbooks) and chip away by convincing users that an OS is easily commoditized.
Yeah, that would be fantastic. Then they could distribute proprietary software with their “OS” and send C&D letters to anyone who tried to make it better.
Just like the do with Android. Screw google.
Yeah, they would also lose 90% of their investment on day two. Not to mention anti competitive regulatory restrictions
no thanks, google.
I’m staying far away from chrome os. don’t need one of the world’s biggest, most secretive, and most ambitious companies monitoring my every move. it’s bad enough that people are using android on their phones, and now there’s this privacy-killing “OS”.
does nobody care about who has their userdata anymore? maybe people’s perspectives will change after it’s too late and the hoard of info google has on them will start being mined more extensively.
google’s apps are not really free. people who use them are paying for them… with the loss of their privacy.
+1. I’ve been really concerned about how much they know about us: gmail, search, maps, calendar, docs and now chromium, android and chrome. Soon wave. Do you guys think it’s enough? No thanks. BTW: I’m scared.
Yes because they sell all your secrets to the Soviets.
omg it’s linux, looks like ubuntu
Oh looks like we have another OS that comes with a built-in proprietary web browser. I hope Google realizes it’s going to have to have the ability to install other products, like we have bashed Microsoft for.
Looking good.
Nice to see it features a Fedora/Ubuntu-like panel at the top.
It’s called Gnome,
One important thing I noticed. The .deb files in the source directory were ~10-12MB a piece (they had 32bit and 64bit versions). There was also a chrome-linux.zip file, which was ~138MB. The zip file happened to be the one I downloaded. When I extracted this zip file, I noticed the main executable (chrome) is 530.9MB. Am I the only one that thinks 530MB for just a chrome browser is a little… ridiculous?
When I execute this file inside Ubuntu (9.04), I get Google Chrome, almost identical to the version in the original screenshots in this post.
Seems to me there is more to this release than has been publicly realized. I’m not an expert on these sorts of things, so I’m not sure if there is way to examine the executable to find more hidden features that are not apparent on the browser front-end. If anyone knows how to examine executables in this fashion with a disassembler or something similar, let me know!
Folks, this ISN’T Chrome OS! What you see in this article is just the Chrome web browser.
It seems to me from this report that ChromeOS will be similar to running GNU/Linux with a really basic windowmanager (TWM or whatever), just enough to get the browser going. I guess you could do the same on Windows by changing the shell to the Chrome.exe ….
It makes sense that this will be targeted at netbooks which (today) are not considered particularly powerful. I’m sure that will change over time …
I can do this,just need ubuntu, WineHQ, and the chrome Installer, this is nothing new
it looks to me like Ubuntu, while still good, is not a fully functional windows replacement. Everything I’ve seen from Google has been good, and when I say good I mean destroys windows entirely. I cant even fathom what a Google os would look like, but this is surely not it.
They all look like glammed up linux!!!!!
I know cause i have a glammed up linux!!!!!
If Google were releasing a completely new operating system, wouldn’t you say that there would have been a huuuge media frenzy from other sources rather than on tech crunch and random forum screenshots?
Regards
Craig
Could somebody tell me what this has to do with Google OS?
These are Ubuntu screenshots?
if i cant play windows based games and use applications like yahoo and msn messenger then i dont want it. same goes with linux….sorry.
Weird…i saw in one of the SS the linux environment this inst the real Google Chrome OS, i think this is the linux distribution a bunch of fans made trying to ook like Google chrome OS..
i will stick with my debian linux ;] i think it’s the same xD
Ok if this is Chrome OS then i have had it for 6 months. You people and MG are idiots, what a way to get traffic to your site. You showed me a chrome browser on a gnome interface. Chrome Browser for Linux has been avail. for about 6 months. And now with extensions in version 4 you can add the clock or features into the browser. WOW so i guess you chrome os is a FAKE!!! if you have debian or Ubuntu and would like to download chrome for your box please go to http://dev.chro...ved/dev-channel its a official chrome build they changed it about 3 months ago. sorry only deb files for now. Peace and lets make linux the system of future!!
ps::: you do not need chromium or wine to install google chrome on debian or ubuntu box. like i said in earlier post go to http://dev.chro...ved/dev-channel
Thanks and spread the word. Help test the best browser.
so its got a windows toolbar and a mac toolbar…