Ubuntu Linux on Chromebook: Crouton vs ChrUbuntu, or installing over Chrome OS or dual booting.

For the end of the term at the University, I've decided to bring with me my Chromebook (Samsung Series 5). I am on a computer science degree, so I must sometimes act like I am a power user or at least, have access to ssh, plus a X client. Therefore, it seemed obvious that I sometimes needed to have a desktop environment able to run native applications (e.g java), plus the X thing via ssh. Okay, Chrome OS is somehow able to do ssh and some sort of X server-client thing, because it's still a Linux operating system underneath, but it's not brilliant at that. 

Before starting anything, I need to say that I am not responsible for anything that happens to your computer by following what I will say. You are doing everything on your own responsibility. Everything is specifically designed for Samsung Chromebook Series 5. It might apply to other machines, or it might not. Please check the sources carefully before doing anything.

One vs. another.

Just to make everything clear: 

• ChrUbuntu is installed on a removable storage, so it doesn't touch the internal storage or alter it.
• crouton is installed on the internal storage, so it *might* touch the internal storage.

My recommendation is crouton, for a number of reasons I will enumerate in the section designed to it. ChrUbuntu is probably easier to install, and easier to use, but it has some fundamental drawbacks which make it a bit annoying. For crouton, you'll probably need to use the terminal a little bit, but it's really not that much to be afraid of.

However, because ChrUbuntu is installed on a removable storage, all you have to do in order to get rid of it is to format that storage. This is rather easy, and won't affect the existing Chrome OS installation from the internal storage at all. For crouton, there are some commands to run in Chrome OS in order to remove it, because it installed on the internal storage of the Chromebook. This can get risky sometimes, and if something goes wrong, the only way to recover is to get back to the original state of the storage, and that is to wipe everything and set-up as a new Chromebook.

Fortunately, on Samsung Series 5, there is a hardware switch which just turns off developer mode, and so it wipes the internal storage completely. It might be this easy on other Chromebooks also, but I am not sure about this matter. I advise you to search a little more on recovery for your Chromebook before doing anything.

ChrUbuntu.

First off, I tried to install ChrUbuntu. ChrUbuntu is a quite nice thing, it runs, as I have already told, on a USB flash drive or on a SD card, and you basically dual-boot in order to be able to get into Ubuntu. Yes, you need to reboot for that, so you don't have both running on the same time. 

Installation. 

Technically, to get anything working you need to follow everything from (this is the official ChrUbuntu website) (here), except that at point number 4, you MUST replace the command with the one you get from (here), according to your device and according to where you are installing it (USB flash or SD card). That is all.

Note: turning on developer mode will remove everything from the internal storage!

Luckily, it's not a very hard process (even though at first sight is seems so), and it should be easily reversible in most cases. Unfortunately, after a month, my USB drive stopped working (applications were reporting I/O errors when it happened), and after a reboot it failed to boot anymore in ChrUbuntu. I've seen some other people complaining about this, I don't know if it's only the flash drive which has been broken, if it's related to ChrUbuntu, or if something from the operating system got broken. Anyway, Chrome OS was just fine. 

Booting it up.

What I should mention here is how ChrUbuntu is supposed to start. When you first start the Chromebook, you'll get a warning screen with a "scary" face. At this point, you have three options:

• Wait for about 30 seconds and it will beep two times, and boot Chrome OS.
• Hit Ctrl + D -> instantly boot Chrome OS.
• Hit Ctrl + U -> boot Ubuntu.

Nothing that complicated at all. If you hit Ctrl + U and the installation of Ubuntu is not present, than it will beep so that you know that it can't boot.

Good and bad points.

+ Ubuntu runs exactly like on a regular computer.

+ so you can do (almost, look below) anything you would do on any other machine running Ubuntu.

+ the guy who created ChrUbuntu took care of the drivers, everything is working fine (on my machine at least).

+ little or no maintenance to involved, so might be suitable for people not willing to touch the terminal at all.

+ nothing really altered on the internal storage (except when you first turn on developer mode).

- it's only Ubuntu 12.04, not one of the latest versions.

- because it's installed on a USB drive (2.0 is supported only), or on a SD card, it's deadly slow.

- limited to the maximum speed of the medium it's installed on.

- requires a medium of at least 8 GB, about 2 GB will be free after installation.

- has no swap partition, so when you get out RAM...well, Chrome and other applications will eventually crash, or lag being very bad.

Crouton.  

It's a bit more complicated, but the huge advantage is that it runs on top of Chrome OS, and in the same time with Chrome OS. Therefore, it uses the kernel provided by Chrome OS, all the drivers from Chrome OS, and everything else that is provided by Chrome OS, and so everything should be working just fine and it's extremely fast. When I say extremely fast, I mean that it's one of the fastest experiences I've seen to date on a computer running Ubuntu (this is on just 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core Intel Atom processor running at just 1.6GHz!). 

Important here: just don't do the silly thing of installing Xfce instead of Unity. Xfce is just awful. It has the worst interface I've seen, it's not attractive at all, half of the icons are broken etc etc etc. Go for Unity from the beginning. I did the silly thing, and it seems that there are some "traces" from Xfce on my installation of Unity, and it's sometimes annoying, but I can still do whatever I want because I have the terminal available. 

Actually, forget what I said above. Xfce works actually quite well, and it is worth to give it a try. It will be significantly faster than with Unity, but I still think that Unity will give higher productivity. It's really up to you. Please note that you must use "xfce" wherever you see "unity" in this guide, and start it using "sudo startxfce4" after installation.

Installation.

For the installation, follow the first point from ChrUbuntu for your own Chromebook, that is, just to turn on developer mode. I repeat, from (here), follow just the first point!

Then, from (here), download the package provided. 

Afterwards, follow the guide from (here, same as before but at another heading), but for the point 2, type "unity" instead of "xfce". This will install Unity. For point 4), type "sudo startunity", and Unity will start. Everything else is the same.

Note: logging off does not work for me, for some reason. If this is the case for you, to close Unity, just hit Ctrl + Alt + Back to get back to Chrome OS, and then, in the crosh window in which Unity is running, hit Ctrl + C. This is not a very elegant way of closing it, but it should kill it pretty okay.

Starting it up.

Just as with ChrUbuntu, when you power up your Chromebook, you will get the "scary" face warning. But now, you can wait for 30 seconds and Chrome OS will boot automatically, or you can hit Ctrl + D and it will boot Chrome OS at that moment.

When you want to start unity from now on, hit Ctrl + Alt + T. This will open a crosh window on Chrome OS. There, type "shell". Afterwards, type "sudo startunity", just as before, and it should start.

To close it, try to click logoff. If it doesn't work, then go to Chrome OS, and in the crosh window, hit Ctrl + C.

Good points and bad points of this method.

+ it runs on top of Chrome OS, in the same time with it.

+ easily switch between them.

+ everything is guaranteed to work.

+ performance is absolutely astonishing, as everything is optimized for Chrome OS.

+ Unity + my apps apps add up to about 2 GB, leaving around 8 GB of free storage.

+ unified storage, so each OS can easily manage the files.

- it's only Ubuntu 12.04.

- can be a bit too technical for some users.

- in my experience, I had to use the terminal quite a little bit.

- uses internal storage (not excessively much).

- resources are shared, but I could not notice any difference.

Conclusion.

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the Chrome OS not being a complete operating system, about not knowing to do that and that, about being too minimalist and so on. With the possibility of having Linux working on a Chromebook, this completely vanishes. It's definitely not a solution which satisfies anyone, at least not on my machine. I am expecting it to work much better on the Series 5 550, the newer generation of Chromebooks that has the Celeron processor and double the amount of RAM.

However, it transforms the Chromebook into a computer that is capable of handling almost all the tasks a home or a power user would need to perform.


If you have any kind of questions, I will answer them here. I will try to look regularly for this on this particular post. I think that almost anything you would need can be found just by searching on Google, but if you still need help, I am here and I will try to provide it. 

Congratulations to Microsoft for buying Skype. They simply destroyed the compatibility with Linux.

Update: I actually seems to be working now. However, it's not brilliant at all, the quality is unacceptable for any standard, in my opinion. The sound tends to be very unnatural, and it gets stuck for a few times every single second, so you must sometimes guess what the person at the other end is saying. Furthermore, the video gets behind for about 7-10 seconds after just a few minutes of talking. I talked with a lot of  friends from twitter, and they all complain about Skype. I have no idea where Microsoft is heading towards. 

 Who has not heard of Skype? It's probably one of the most known and popular service for voice and video chatting over the web, and it's been a wonderful product a few years ago. The times in which the quality of both sound and video were great have disappeared a long time ago, and all that's left today is a poor service, with quality which is below any acceptable level and disastrous compatibility (given the fact that mobile and Linux usage have significantly increased over the last few years).

Skype's decay has actually started before it getting acquired by Microsoft, but Microsoft only made everything worse. Before the Microsoft story, Skype was somehow working for me. I am using Linux most of the time, because not only I enjoy it the most, but my University courseworks and tasks require me to use Linux for almost every single module I have on my course. So I had to use Skype under Linux, which used to work quite decent, I might say.

However, over the last few months, it's been getting worse and worse, and now it is completely unusable under Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (after being bought by Microsoft, coincidence?) . From the very beginning, video quality was a total mess under Linux, as the colors were completely out of their place and I always had a lot of shadows of different colors going on in the place where my image should have been (my image was still in the background, with all that going on on top of it). But recently, it started to crash frequently, mostly when I was trying to answer a call (calling worked just fine). And it still used to be decent, even like that!

But now, it reached the point when it signs in, and that's virtually all it can do. There are no connections going on at all between me and the other contacts, no matter what device/OS they use. All contacts appear as offline, I appear offline to them, I can't call, they can't call, so it's completely useless, and this has been happening for about a month now.

I gave up any chance that Microsoft will even think about fixing something, the last update they launched has done nothing good (it seems to have broken anything which was working), except bringing compatibility with MSN (which by the way, I heard they are planning to close and use Skype as their main messaging service). I just suppose they are probably trying to close down the compatibility with Linux because their recently-launched Windows 8 seems to be a flop, and Linux seems to be gaining more and more market share (or simply "users", because it doesn't really have market share as it's open source).

Therefore, the only chance of getting a Skype conversation is through Windows, but the situation is not exceptionally good even there, while doing Windows-to-Windows video calls (but this is another story). Microsoft's own software doesn't work good on their own operating system, so there is nothing new here. They simply deserve their Windows 8 to fail so bad that they will be motivated to do much better software, which works exceptionally at least on their own software!

Don't get me wrong, I am not asking for a flawless product from them for Linux. All I want is one which just does its job, on software it used work on.

The best alternative out there: Google hangouts. Unfortunately, its interface is sometimes confusing for some users, but quality and compatibility wise, it is absolutely perfect. Recommended trying.

Google Chrome 7 dev version is available for download.

Google launched their seventh dev version of Chrome, the browser which attracts many people by combining the minimal design with sophisticated technology, making it one of the fastest and one of the most advanced browsers available. I'm using it on both my Linux and Mac OS computers and, as expected, you won't see any important changes compared to the previous version.

Of course that there are many changes, but almost all of them are in the background, and they are not observable for the end-user. If you're on Mac, you'll feel that the loading time of the webpages was reduced, making it impossible for any other browser to keep up with it (Safari, Opera, or the so acclaimed Firefox). Most of the webpages load, literally, instantly, and if there are any delays, they are caused by the DNS or by the latency of the network.

Regarding the update, if you're on Linux and you used dev versions before and updated the system regularly, you already got Chrome 7 dev.

If you are a Mac OS X or Windows user (or a Linux user who needs the dev version), here is the official link where Chrome 7 dev is available for download: Google Chrome 7 Dev (it should automatically give you the version of Chrome according to your OS).

Syncing Palm handhelds (running PalmOS) with Ubuntu 10.04/10.10.

If you have an Ubuntu 10.04 or 10.10 and a (older) Palm handheld, you probably want to synchronize them, especially to install programs on your device (I have a Zire71, which doesn't have WiFi, so the only way of installing applications is via a computer). We'll be using "gnome-pilot" in this purpose. So, go to Synaptic Package Manager (System | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager), search for "gnome pilot", and install it. 

After you installed gnome-pilot, go to Start | Preferences | PalmOS Devices, and click Add. Now make sure that the port/hub in which the handheld is connected is working, and your device has enough battery. If you had your device synced before, click on "Get from PDA" button, and tap on the sync button on the dock. If that doesn't work or it's the first time you sync your device, give it an owner name, and an ID (it doesn't matter what  ID, I put 1000), click "send to PDA" and tap the sync button on the dock.

If that succeeded, close that window, and on the "Conduits" tab, enable all settings you want. Make sure that conduit "File" is enabled. When you're ready, right-click on panel (the bar with Applications, Places, System, etc) and click "Add to Panel". There, select "Pilot Applet" and click Add. A black-and-white icon should appear on the panel (if you can't find it, ask for help). 

All that you have to do now is to download applications for your PDA, and to drag and drop them over that icon. When you tap on the sync button on your device, it should be automatically installed on your device. I know, it isn't intuitive, but you can't say that it's difficult. 

If you have any problems, don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll be happy to assist you.

Fixing "connection refused" problem in Pidgin (Ubuntu).

"Connection refused" error is a problem which is known by many Linux users. It is usually occurred (sometimes) on most IM clients, especially when trying to connect to Yahoo!. This is a very annoying problem, and almost nobody knows exactly how to fix it (and if they fixed it, what they really did). Certain is that this usually occurs when the guys from Yahoo! are changing the way users are authenticating on their servers. So their servers are probably misconfigured (for Linux users), and they are simply refusing all clients who are coming from other clients, different than their own client (application).

There are some ways of fixing this on the internet. It has been reported that if you continue trying to connect, you could be in a final connected or redirected to a server which allows authentication in the old way. However, theoretically spoken, this solution is only temporary. If you disconnect, you'll probably have again problems connecting. Other users reported that changing the server on which the application is logging on may resolve the problem. I've tried changing it between scsa.msg.yahoo.com, cn.scs.msg.yahoo.com, scs.msg.yahoo.com and other addresses like these. I tried to change the address even with server's IP address directly (thinking that it could be an address resolving problem), everything with no luck.

But I continued trying, and after tens of forums and blogs, I found on brainstorms.in a user who reported that changing the server to scsd.msg.yahoo.com works. And it really works. So, if you have this problem, click on Accounts -> (on your account) Edit Accounts -> Advanced, and on the first row (Pager server), put "scsd.msg.yahoo.com".

Please leave a comment to know if this fixed your problem or not.

Running Android 1.6 on your PC (+video).

Android is the operating system for mobile devices which is getting more and more popularity everyday (about 60-100 000 devices with Android OS are activated every day, and it's coming fast behind iPhone OS). By knowing this fact, users of iPhone and Windows Mobile devices are trying to port Android to their devices. But what I am going to show is how you can get Android running on your PC. OK, not natively, but with the help of a virtual machine.

Note: this works on any platform (Windows, Linux, and Mac). None of your data from your computer is going to be affected.

What you have to is to download VirtualBox from here, and the Android 1.6 that will run on VirtualBox from here (scroll down to "StableRelease" and click "view" on the first file, named "android -x86-1.6-r2.iso" to start downloading). These two downloads are not large so the download should finish fast. Do not burn on CD Android OS after downloading, just let the image somewhere where you know about it. Then install VirtualBox like a normal application.

When you finish installing VirtualBox, do the following (if your know what VirtualBox is and how to configure it, all you must know is that Operating System and Version must be selected as "Other", and respectively as "Other/Unknown"; otherwise follow these steps):

• Select "New", give it a name, and at Operating System select "Other" and "Other/Unknown" at Version.
• Give it a quantity of RAM (doesn't matter how much, but make sure to have free on your system that amount you're giving to it).
• Let the settings like they are (Boot Hard Disk and Create new hard disk)
• Then, on the window that appears, click Next, then Next, and because 2.0 GBs are just enough, click again Next, then Finish and again Finish.
• Now, your new Guest OS appeared on the left column of VirtualBox, with the name you gave it. Click Start.
• On the window that appears, click Next.
• Now, where it says "Media Source", click on that folder sign on the right part of the window.
• Click Add, and browse to where the image it located and click Open. Make sure it is highlighted and then click Select.
• Click Next and then Finish

Congratulations. You have now successfully configured your Virtual Machine and Android 1.6 is being booted automatically. I haven't installed it, I only ran it like a "Live CD". If you want to install it, you can try, but I don't know if it is difficult or not. I recommend you selecting "Live CD" just to see how it's look like.

You can now try and explore the functionalities of Android 1.6 on your PC (except calling and SMS because there isn't any carrier available). Below is a video which demonstrates you that this really works (even if I tried it on Mac, it runs also on Windows or Linux hosts).

Get a Mac OS X-like dock for Ubuntu.

The dock from Mac OS X is one of the most beautiful docks for PCs. Unfortunately, you have to buy a MacBook/iMac in order to get that dock in front of your eyes (the process of installing a Mac OS X on a regular, non-Apple platform is very complicated). But if you have Ubuntu on a computer, you can get a dock that looks something like that one from Mac OS X on that computer.

It is called Avant Windows Navigator (or simpler, AWN), it can be found on Ubuntu Software Center, and it looks something like this:

The dock is not that simple to use as that one from Mac OS X, but after a few minutes you should already know how it works and be able to configure it without problems. But, this dock is even better than that one found on Mac OS X, because you can add many other widgets on it directly from its menu (like real-time statistics about computer or weather). You can put it on any part of the screen, even on the top, and this is something that you can't do with Mac's default dock.

Get it from the Ubuntu Software Center by searching "AWN".

Opera 10.51 for Ubuntu is available.

Opera claims to be the fastest browser on the earth, so do you want to know if this is true or not? You can now test this by yourself if you are using Linux, because an official build of Opera 10.51 is available for download. Please note that this is not a final release (on the official website only 10.10 is available for Linux), but it works pretty good.

More details can be found on WebUpd8, by clicking here, and the official download link is here.

Testing Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Alpha 3.

Today I've fully upgraded my laptop which had Ubuntu 9.10 on it, to Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. The whole upgrade process took some time, but the results are impressive. So, what I've observed in the following 30 mins after the installation:

• The OS moves significantly faster than before
• Notification problems from the previous Alpha release were resolved
• Possible bug with the sound (or only with its icon)
  
• Gwibber added (application, Twitter client)
• Some changes in "Disk Utility" (interface)
• Many programs have up-to-date versions
• Human theme is pretty changed (most obvious changes are related to the panel)
• 2 Completely NEW themes included; one is called "Radiance", and the other one is called "Ambiance"

About the themes. Ubuntu now has on all its themes the buttons for the windows on left (minimize, maximize and close), pretty much like Mac OS X. The new "Radiance" theme is completely inspirited from Mac OS X (wallpaper, colours, buttons, etc), and nobody can tell me that it isn't.

But they are differently placed. They are in the following order: maximize-minimize-close, order which is not present on any other OS. This seemed a little strange, but it didn't create confusion for me. Many Linux users declared that they don't agree with these new buttons, but if you want my opinion, I really like it. Update: the buttons are now placed like in the Mac OS X: close-minimize-maximize.

The other new theme called "Ambiance" is exactly the same with "Radiance", except that it has dark colours. I'm currently really tired, and I observed that "Ambiance" is really relaxing, compared to "Radiance" which has very bright colours and it's pretty unpleasant now. Below is the "Ambiance".
The OS is fully functional, like the previous version, and it is extremely stable (since it's an Alpha version, I was expecting to be pretty unstable). It offers quite a similar experience (compared to 9.10), except that is more responsive and moves faster.

Installing Windows XP under Ubuntu, via VirtualBox.

I wrote some time ago an article on which I described how to install Ubuntu on a Mac OS X via VirtualBox, and now I've installed a Windows XP on Ubuntu. So, it works pretty well, and the steps described in that article are 99% identical (with the exception of the first steps, where you select the Guest OS). The article can be found here: http://it-nthusiast.blogspot.com/2010/02/installing-ubuntu-on-macbook-via.html.

Some notes: You may have problems with the resolution, since the Guest OS doesn't see the Graphic Adapter. It will use a driver provided via Guest Additions. At times, Windows XP becomes quite unstable, but since now everything worked well (most of hardware worked out-of-the-box).

Below is screenshot which shows you my desktop, including my problem with my resolution.

iPhone/iPod Touch works out of the box on Ubuntu 10.04 (confirmed).

Yesterday came the first announce which said that Ubuntu 10.04 supports iPhone/iPod Touch out of the box. Now, more and more people (including me) are confirming that this is true (including unjailbroken devices). The method works even if Ubuntu is ran via VirtualBox (tested by me).

For additional details about running Ubuntu 10.04 in VirtualBox, follow this link.

More details on WebUpd: http://www.webupd8.org/2010/02/confirmed-ubuntu-1004-supports-iphone.html.

Why Yahoo! has never created a messenger version for Linux?

Yahoo! has created different versions of their messenger for both Windows and Mac operating systems, and for mobiles (iPhone, Blackberry, etc), but they have never launched an official version for Linux. And I can't understand why. If they worked for so many versions (for all operating systems), how hard would it be for them to crate one more, for Linux?

There are available many applications capable of connecting with Yahoo! (such as Pidgin or Empathy internet messengers, and a very complex dedicated application, named GYachE), but a proprietary messenger application would be well-welcomed. This can avoid from repeating the problem that millions of Linux users occurred just after Yahoo! updated the way users were authenticated on their servers (for Yahoo! Messenger 10). That made their servers to refuse almost any trial to connect from Linux operating systems. The problem was fixed, but that took some time.... And, on an official version, any functionality that Yahoo! can offer should work normally.

I really can't understand why they didn't made any version for Linux. Probably, they don't really care about users.

OpenArena (Quake III) game for Linux.

Most people refuse to use Linux because they say that there are no games. This is completely false. Linux is a great operating system, capable of running games (if they are designed for it), just like Windows. OpenArena (Quake III) is a good example. It runs exactly like on Windows, but on Ubuntu Linux.

There are even possibilities for running Windows designed games on Linux, by emulation, with a program called Wine. But I'll detail this into a future article. So, go on Ubuntu Software Center and search for OpenArena. It installs in minutes, and no additional configuration needed.

Please note that 3D accelerated graphic drivers are needed. If your computer doesn't run natively a 3D accelerated driver, go to System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers and select the driver (if available).

Controlling Synaptics touchpads on Ubuntu.

Even if Ubuntu is a great OS, it might have some problems on laptops with their touchpads. My laptop's touchpad is made by Synamptics, which runs, natively, on Linux, but for changing the way it responds and behaves, it needs a driver. The best way you can get it is via Ubuntu Software Center (located on Applications). Within the software center, search for "Touchpad". Click on the right button from the first result, and click install. Now, it will ask for your password (which you entered when you have installed Ubuntu). Wait for the installation to finish, then close software center, and go to System -> Preferences -> Touchpad. Now you can modify the way your touchpad moves, behaves, and others.

Tested on Dell D610 and works without problems.

Best Yahoo! Messenger client for Ubuntu.

Some of the most requested features for Ubuntu are probably video and calling functionality for Yahoo! Messenger. The chatting functions for Y!M network are assured by Pidgin Internet Messenger and, from 9.10, by Empathy Internet Messenger (as default multi-chatting service).You can't use or view webcams, or call or receive calls, like as in the official Y!M for Windows.

There is a very complex (maybe too complex), Yahoo! Messenger dedicated chatting client, which can bring voice and webcam functionalities to you. It's called GYachE (or GYachI). It has many functionalities... such as webcam and voice calling (if the drivers from Ubuntu can permit this), mail checker, very customizable chatting options and many, many others (trust me, the're so many).

Program is perfect for experts (they should get how it works fast), but the others, it might take a little to learn how to use it and what it can. The interface is complicated, and I think that they could make it a little more... organized, but for me, it's fine. You can hide offline contacts by clicking where it says "Friends: xxx Online: xx", and selecting "Don't Show Offline Buddies".

The current version is 1.2.2, designed for Karmic, and it's pretty buggy. For installation, you must have an internet connection available because it needs some dependencies from the internet.

If the program becomes unstable, let it like that until it starts responding again, otherwise it has bigger chances to crash.

Download link (Karmic Koala):

http://www.4shared.com/file/192403865/ea495118/gyachi_122-2karmic_i386.html

TweetDeck. The popular Twitter client.

TweetDeck is one of the world's most popular Twitter clients. His popularity comes from its efficiency and ease of use. It is for me the best Twitter client I have ever used. It comes with a dark interface, just perfect for the eyes. You can add many columns, started from your timeline, replies, dm's, public timeline and even columns with searches (you can view constantly what people from all over the world are saying about something).


I'm using it almost everywhere. On my computer (Linux), on my Windows-based Laptop, on my MacBook, and even on my iPhone !! Its installation will also install Adobe AIR, which will practically manage TweetDeck. But when you're using TweetDeck, do not use any other Twitter client at the same time. Both clients might search periodically for updates, and the requests limit per hour will be passed, so you will have to wait for them to reset in order to receive new tweets. And it can connect even to your Facebook, MySpace, or/and LinkedIn simultaneously, and get updates from this networks.


Just try it, I'm sure you'll like it: http://www.tweetdeck.com/.

Google Chrome OS on VirtualBox.

Even if Google Chrome OS is still not available for complete installation on regular computers, it can still be ran on virtual machines. A good and free virtual machine is called VirtualBox, and it can be downloaded from the official site here. Everyone should be able to install and use VirtualBox, since it is very simple and efficient.

By the way, you should start downloading the image of Chrome OS from here, while I'll tell you what else you need to know. The image archivated, so if you are under Windows I would recommend you to download and install WinRar, and when the image download is completed, you can unarchive (or dearchive, or how it should be told) it. Leave the image as it is. In the VirtualBox, Google Chrome OS should be set as a Linux operating system, then as version Ubuntu. Everything you need to do is simple, and for additional informations you can either visit this link:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/19/guide-install-google-chrome-os/, or you can leave a comment and i'll help you. You will have to login into OS with your Gmail username and password.

I've tested it on a Macbook with 2 GB of RAM and Intel Core2 Duo processor at 2.00 GHz, and it worked fine.

Attention!! Do not allocate to VirtualBox more than your current free RAM memory, otherwise the computer can become unstable or it can stop responding !! (it would be good if you save your work before starting the virtual machine)

Thanks to WebUpd8 for everything.