Chromium OS

Chromium OS is an open-source and completely free Linux kernel-based operating system that tries to mimic the appearance and functionality of the original Chrome OS developed by Google. It is built around the Chromium web browser.

Distributed for free as virtual appliances and USB images

This special Linux OS is distributed for free as virtual appliances, supporting the VirtualBox and VMware virtualization programs, as well as an IMG image that must be written on a USB thumb drive of 1GB or higher capacity in order to boot it from the BIOS of a computer.

Supported hardware

Chromium OS comes with improved hardware support for Broadcom Wi-Fi cards, including BCM43XX, Ralink Wi-Fi cards, including RT24XX, RT28XX and RT30XX, Realtek Wi-Fi cards, including R8187SE, R8712U, RTL73, RTL8180, RTL8187 and RTL8192XX, Nvidia GPUs 6 series and newer, as well as ATi/AMD GPUs like Radeon HD2900 and newer.

An operating system built around the Chromium web browser

This is not the first, and most probably not the last operating system built around a web browser, in this case Chromium. Because of this, it starts really fast and comprises only of the aforementioned browser, which has been integrated with a top panel that displays the Wi-Fi and battery status, as well as the current time.

It also features a login screen that has been designed from the ground up to display all the users created from within the Chromium web browser. Support for guest accounts is also built into the operating system. You can find detailed instructions about who to deploy it onto a USB stick on the project’s homepage.

Bottom line

Summing up, Chromium OS is an ideal operating system for your netbook, laptop or even desktop computer. It provides users with a web-based environment built around the Chromium/Google Chrome web browser.