GalliumOS – A Linux alternative for ChromeOS

I’m happy to announce the release of the first beta of GalliumOS, the free Linux distro for Chrome devices (Chromebook/Chromebox).
GalliumOS is based on Xubuntu (which is based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian) and offers many more optimizations and features for Chrome devices than other Linux distros.

It is lightweight and works smoothly out of the box with all functions a Linux enthusiast might require. We have optimized the touchpad by integrating the ChromeOS mouse driver, offering a similar experience as in ChromeOS. Furthermore, GalliumOS includes bug fixes for Chrome devices not available in any other Linux distros yet.

Check out our wiki to see a detailled comparison.

Why Linux?

Linux can run many different types of applicatons. No matter what you’re trying to do, an application exists for Linux. ChromeOS is very limited. Sure, NaCl (Native Client) brings the ability to run native code to ChromeOS, but that’s a hack at best, and there’s still no good software to take advantage of it. With Linux you can install any Linux compatible software, totally natively. Firefox, Transmission (BitTorrent), LibreOffice, Steam, VLC Media Player, Kodi Media Center, the GIMP, VirtualBox, and many more are available on Linux to do things that simply aren’t possible on ChromeOS.

The Design

I’m happy to be involved in the project as the Lead Designer, contributing to the look & feel of the distro, the branding, color scheme and of course, the website. I hope you like what you see so far and that you will give GalliumOS a try, especially if you own a Chrome device!

The beta is currently out and is available on our website.

Support Us

If you like what we are doing and would like to help us out, one way is to donate. Donations will be used to cover bills, purchase new ChromeOS devices to test/develop for, pay the developers that contribute to the project, and giving back to projects we rely on. You can donate via PayPal to paypal@galliumos.org

Want to get involved?  You can find us on IRC at the #galliumos channel on freenode also. If you need to shoot us an email, send it to contact@galliumos.org

Feel free to file an issue on GitHub too!