I suppose it's possible that their "new" os might be able to be applied across the hardware.

"we believe that Google Fuchsia, if and when it finally comes to the light of day, will be the universal Google operating system stretching across all kinds of devices." https://www.techradar.com/news/google-fuchsia

Of course we have to assume that Google will leave all the billions of out of date/patchless/security lacking Android devices without any updates.

They seem to be inching that way. ChromeOS is very close, if not there. I'm not sure Fuschia is actually going to see the light of day. Sometimes Google just develops software for the sake of research, because some of it could be useful down the road. A smart company allows research into things that may not seem to have much relevance at the time, or which may never produce saleable products. Google has a history of that. I have no clue as to what will eventually come about, but right now on a chromebook it's as if everything is running in one OS, one desktop, whether it's Android, ChromeOS, or Linux. It took awhile for both the software and hardware to become available, but it is now. I think Google has too much invested in Android, with the enormous installed base, to abandon it anytime soon, without at least having backwards compatibility through whatever OS comes out.

I read that ChromeOS on Chromebooks is supported for 6.5 years after the launch of the Chromebook model, shortly after I found out early this year that ChromeOS on my Chromebook would not get updates after June - no security updates, no feature updates, nothing.

Since I bought mine new when the model was already 3-1/4 years old (unknowingly, silly me), I only got 3-1/4 years of support. There were many hardware features to like about my model for the price (with all the Google caveats that apply), so I’m looking at replacing ChromeOS with Debian (well described online) or Slackware (preferably), if I can figure out how to. Not sure if I’ll replace the booter.

TKS

You can run Debian, and perhaps Slackware, in a chroot. Do a search for Crouton, which installs the distro of your choice, at least some of them, and I'm certain about Debian, on a chromebook in a chroot. It used to work well for me on an older chromebook. I used an SD card for the installation. Actually, this is the place to start: Crouton Github home The documentation is adequate, and it's by the guy who developed it, not someone who is just trying to get hits on his site. He knows what he's talking about. If you decide you like it, you can look at removing ChromeOS and installing Linux to the internal SSD. That depends on the chromebook manufacturer.

Fuchsia will be released but I expect they will do it fast and hard and try to wipe out the ChromeOS and Android base in one move. The reason is that M$ and its proxies will go after Alphabet in the courts en masse the moment that happens. So if they get it on the shelves and established first, the courts will have less sway. M$ knows that first hand from the 1990s. Was it W95 or W98 which they did that with? A key decision had gone against M$ so they asked the courts about when the decision would be published and got the CDs onto the shelves in stores a matter of days before the official publication of that decision. The court could not or would not bother with a recall and thus M$ could continue to operate with impunity. Alphabet's leadership is probably aware of history and current legal details and I expect them to not show their hand until ready.

Anyway, Fuchsia (as they seem to spell it), is still probably a year or two out and few non-technical details are out there for now. My only question is whether the hardware will be upgradable to GNU/Linux in anyway. It might be locked into the Fuchsia OS.

However, back to Chromebooks, for the mean time, I'll point out again that you can still upgrade the Chromebook firmware to coreboot for now. Though the wget | sudo bash stuff within the upgrade process is very, very dodgy.

I heard ChromeOS64 does a 64 bit kernel, but a 32bit user land. Is it still that way?

I want to get rid of ChromeOS and have only one OS, so not intending to go down the Crouton path. For the model I have, the Chrome removal and Debian installation steps are well documented.

How else should they spell it?

I'm considering putting coreboot on. I looked at that reference quickly, but thanks, I will keep your warning in mind and look at it more closely.

Could be awhile - other higher priorities and the Chromebook isn't getting use at the moment. I will post here what I find.

TKS

My mother recently bought a Chromebook and, while it's a change from Windows, is mainly enjoying it and it seems a fairly decent machine for the price - I advised she go for the Intel N4000 rather than the cheaper model and think I steered her right. If I had the need to do cheap, light computing on the go I'd probably get a Chromebook myself and put up with the slight restrictions of the OS. Though, as things go, I've an old Chromebook-like machine from years ago with Debian installed and, due to the current situation, I'm not travelling any more so I've no need to upgrade.

My Christmas present was under 190 bucks.
HP 14" 2-in-1 Touch Teal Chromebook

$179.00

Having a AntiX only Linux chromebook and the above chromeos touchscreen chromebook is the bee's knee's. I am jazzed.

A couple of hundred bucks difference now. For the same unit.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-14-2-i...book/984743341

If I was born and raised in the EU. Ebay with world wide shipping or Alibaba would be my route I guess instead of WalMart for A chromebook purchase. My cheap chrome book deal my wife told me was a corp. sale only good for about a week.

When my wife dropped the hint. I mentioned I did not want a arm cpu based chromebook.
Linux choices are still a bit limited IMO with new arm technology.

Let us know with a update on what you settled for. This 2020 new unit is pretty snappy/speedy. Internal speakers are loud also.
Battery life is good also. Nice thing also. Can be a tablet when needed.

One thing I found out the hard way is that not all the newer models are supported by the better firmware. Buried somewhere on the the Mr Chromebox site, https://mrchromebox.tech/ there is a page which mentions that the 2017+ models are hit or miss, mostly miss.

I've had several Chromebooks, each of which I have been able to renovate easily so I did not read the fine print about the newest models. However, as of fairly recently I have one which only tolerates ChromeOS until maybe in the future when the firmware can be upgraded.

Also part of the learning process: be very sure to make the backup ChromeOS installer BEFORE messing with the device and installing GNU/Linux and or the better firmware.

The Mr Chromebox site has a table listing all chromebook models supported, even if only partially. Check here to see if your device is supported. It's a very long list. A chromebook from 2018 or later is a very versatile device, which can run ChromeOS, Android, and Linux software simultaneously and seamlessly. That turns out to be very, very convenient.