If you want to try out Google Chrome OS, I’ve compiled a build, code is current as of Friday the 20th. To test out Chrome OS, you’ll need either one of the VMware products (Player, Workstation, Server) or Sun VirtualBox. I recommend Sun VirtualBox, as I have not had much luck with getting networking to work with VMware Workstation on my PC or Fusion on my Mac.
You can download the build by clicking here. (766.8MB VMDK file, Right-Click and use Save Target / Link as to download)
A couple tips:
- This is very early pre-release code not meant for production use. You may experience some bugs. Feel free to go to http://code.google.com/p/chromium-os/issues/list and report anything that you find.
- If you are unable to get networking to work, or you feel uncomfortable using your personal information (I promise that I did not and do not include any malicious code in this build. It’s not my way of doing things), I have enabled a local user account. To use it, type “chromeuser” for the username and then leave the password field blank.
- If for any reason you need / want to play with the Terminal (available by pressing Control-Alt-T) and you need to use sudo, the password is pass@word1
Below are directions on how to configure Sun VirtualBox (Downloadable from http://www.virtualbox.org)
1. Open Sun VirtualBox, and click New
2. Click Next
3. Give a name to the Virtual Machine, and Select Linux for the Operating System, and Ubuntu for the Version, then click Next
4. Drag the slider to 512 MB, and click Next
5. Select Use and Existing Virtual Disk, and click the folder symbol to the right of the drop-down menu
6. Click Add, and then browse to the location that you saved the Chrome OS VMDK file.
7. After reviewing the details, and making sure everything is correct, then click Finish.
Once you’ve created the virtual machine, you can then click the start button and begin to play with Chrome OS.
Tom on Tech 