dhicks Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 Hello All, I see that Chromebooks - notebook machines running Chrome OS - will be available to order in a month's time: Chromebook Is anyone planning to buy one? Or a classroom's worth for a school? It would seem that Chrome OS includes a Citrix client for remote application access, does anyone know if it will support plain RDP too?
Gatt Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 Would be better if Google weren't restricting it to OEM's only...
mthomas08 Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Seems a bit too limited really, 3 months down the line you will probably want to do more.
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 Would be better if Google weren't restricting it to OEM's only... I can understand why, though - OEMs take care of all the bits that need extra licensing (video codecs, etc), and provide a clearly defined hardware platform. There's no messing around installing the OS, you just buy a device that works. Saying that, has anyone installed Chromium on a netbook recently? We have some Eee PCs that struggle to run Windows XP, would Chromium be likly to work better?
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 Seems a bit too limited really, 3 months down the line you will probably want to do more. Limited in what way, and do more of what? I've been saying for years that all we really need for a school laptop is something that can browse the web and connect to remote servers via RDP / VNC / Citrix / etc, and this OS would seem to be it.
mthomas08 Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Limited in what way, and do more of what? I've been saying for years that all we really need for a school laptop is something that can browse the web and connect to remote servers via RDP / VNC / Citrix / etc, and this OS would seem to be it. You answered your own question We dont have the back bone for allowing that many users to access software server side (has been some thing I want to do), we have been cheating and brought a load of netops in the last 12 months. I think we brought about 350 of those in total in that time, allows them to run IE easy but also allows them to access a range of software that isnt too powerful. Netops only cost us about 200 a piece maybe less then that with us buying in bulk. They wouldnt of run Vista at all but have managed windows 7/XP so far (Office 2003-2010) macromedia software and a few others. If its just for the internet, is there a way of locking them down? I am thinking of a student point of view of limitations.
JJonas Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Will there be OS download links or will it be Chromebooks only?
localzuk Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Limited in what way, and do more of what? I've been saying for years that all we really need for a school laptop is something that can browse the web and connect to remote servers via RDP / VNC / Citrix / etc, and this OS would seem to be it. You bring this concept up repeatedly on here, and you repeatedly get given the same answers - schools have massive amounts of software in use that aren't web based. Or if they are, were written at a time when 'Requires Internet Explorer' was acceptable. About 1/3rd of our software doesn't work on a terminal server as well. So, what you're suggesting simply isn't workable for many schools. If I were to look at all our different software and then look at moving to a web based system, we'd be looking at at least 30 pieces of software that would need replacing. Also, for smaller schools (we're not huge, 600 kids, 250 computers), we wouldn't be able to afford to do it. Art and DT both require access to things like the Adobe suite and CAD software, IT and music both require access to things like audio editing software, and composition software, Maths and English both have software that relies on 3D hardware acceleration (which kills terminal servers). This means that we need full machines. By the time we have enough of these in place, there'd be no need for web based machines. Chrome OS looks like a brilliant concept, but it will take a good while for many schools to be able to move to a web based OS.
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 We dont have the back bone for allowing that many users to access software server side (has been some thing I want to do) True - I don't think Chromebooks are going to be practical in a school without decent managed wireless. I can't figure out if this first set of machines have wired ethernet ports, either - I'm guessing they're designed to rely entirely on wireless. If its just for the internet, is there a way of locking them down? Locking what down, the OS itself or the Internet connection? Your Internet connection will have to be filtered via a filtering gateway solution of some kind (I'm guessing most schools already do that, but I guess some might rely on client-side systems), and I understand the entire point of the OS is that there's pretty much nothing to worry about "locking down" - it's a web browser, that's it. Admitedly I'd need to actually use a Chromebook to see how true that was - I bet there'll still be some way to tinker with some settings that pupils can mess up.
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 Will there be OS download links or will it be Chromebooks only? I understand the idea is that the Chromium project is the open source version of Chrome OS - the two projects will follow each other closely, but aren't exactly the same. I'm guessing that this basically means that Chromium will work on more varied hardware but Chrome OS will come ready with OEM-licensed video codecs and similar.
JJonas Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Found some download links for Chromium (nightly builds so very recent) so going to take a look.
danbuntu Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Will there be OS download links or will it be Chromebooks only? Chrome OS is already downloadable - it's sister project chromium os is open source. See here for one possible one Chromium OS builds by Hexxeh. the built in drivers limit things a bit though. I can understand why, though - OEMs take care of all the bits that need extra licensing (video codecs, etc), and provide a clearly defined hardware platform. What codecs? chrome os is essentially a full screen web browser with a underlying slimed down linux os to allow access to the hardware. Flash and Webfm are already baked in. OEM support is important because these things need to be able to work out the box. There was also some talk a few month ago of google having some kind of way of accessing programs on other machines. I'm guessing this will be some kind of app-v or X11 single windows streaming. probably the biggest issue around chrome os is if android honeycomb has already rendered it obsolete.
Arthur Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Would be better if Google weren't restricting it to OEM's only... Another reason it's limited to OEMs is that hardware support in ChromiumOS is limited. For example, Broadcom WiFi cards do not work... http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/getting-dev-hardware/dev-hardware-list Google's Cr-48 notebooks also have firmware restrictions that prevent you from installing Windows (and other OSs) on them. I assume ChromeBooks (and ChromeBoxes) will be the same. Saying that, has anyone installed Chromium on a netbook recently? We have some Eee PCs that struggle to run Windows XP, would Chromium be likly to work better? You could try Hexxeh's ChromiumOS Flow and let us know. 1
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 Chrome OS looks like a brilliant concept, but it will take a good while for many schools to be able to move to a web based OS. Oh sure, I'd hardly expect to be able to switch to straight to a web-based OS accross the school overnight, it'll take a while to transition. Google seem to recognise this, though, as they seem to be including a Citrix client in the OS for connection to remote desktops. I just hope they also provide standard RDP / VNC / SSH clients. Running most things as a remote desktop might be viable more quickly than you think - the new server-side graphics cards for remote desktop application graphics acceleration are rather expensive at the moment but should drop to realistic prices soonish. That plus VDI should give us the ability to run most 3D-requiring, not-written-to-run-on-TS applications - I'm guessing that in 3 years time or so, as people do hardware refreshes and look at the available options, running a bunch of web-based laptops is going to be the cheaper solution. 1
zag Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 I love the idea of this. Surely its the future. The vast amount of work done in our school is web based, or microsoft office. Both of which are easily done online.
fafster Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 I've been playing about with Chrome(ium) OS since Hexxeh first started releasing builds. It's an interesting concept, and works relatively well. I don't think the current setup is suited to schools (requires a google login), but it could be adapted I'm sure. I think native applications are being phased out in favour of the convenience of the web (SaaS and all that), and things like Chrome's Native Client go a long way in helping with regard to performance and capability. 2
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 What codecs? I thought Flash and it's associated video codec (H.264?) had to be licensed? I imagine there'll be royalties to pay to Microsoft, too, for OEMs. There was also some talk a few month ago of google having some kind of way of accessing programs on other machines. The latest information I could find reckoned a Citrix client - Chrome's schools / companies enquieries page asks if you currently have Citrix servers installed, which kind of implies they'll be pushing Citrix as the remote desktop solution. Hopefully you'll still be able to use plain RDP as well.
localzuk Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 H.264 is not included in Chrome. Flash is licensed yes, but by Google as the distributor of the software in the firstplace - much like we have to be licensed to distribute it to our networks. 1
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 H.264 is not included in Chrome. Ah - does this mean Chrome OS won't be able to view YouTube video?
localzuk Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Ah - does this mean Chrome OS won't be able to view YouTube video? I don't see why not? Flash is bundled with Chrome instead of native H.264 support. Not to mention Google are moving Youtube video away from H.264 to WebM instead.
Arthur Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 Ah - does this mean Chrome OS won't be able to view YouTube video? http://www.edugeek.net/forums/news/74663-youtube-all-new-video-uploads-now-webm-format.html 1
dhicks Posted May 13, 2011 Author Posted May 13, 2011 Flash is bundled with Chrome instead of native H.264 support. So you mean the version of Flash included with Chrome OS will be able to decode H.264 video? Surley whoever owns the patent on H.264 is still going to want a fee for each H.264-capable unit sold, hence I imagine stuff like H.264 support (in flash or otherwise) will appear in Chrome OS and not Chromium. I could be wrong, of course - Google might have come to some blanket licensing agreement with H.264's owners, or they might simply make the code available and leave it to resellers / OEMs to sort out licensing. Not to mention Google are moving Youtube video away from H.264 to WebM instead. Good point - I'd forgotten Google owned YouTube. I thought H.264-encoded FLV was the most widely used video format on other sites, though?
localzuk Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 So you mean the version of Flash included with Chrome OS will be able to decode H.264 video? Surley whoever owns the patent on H.264 is still going to want a fee for each H.264-capable unit sold, hence I imagine stuff like H.264 support (in flash or otherwise) will appear in Chrome OS and not Chromium. I could be wrong, of course - Google might have come to some blanket licensing agreement with H.264's owners, or they might simply make the code available and leave it to resellers / OEMs to sort out licensing. I think Adobe would be the licensee for H.264, not Google or the OEM - as they're the ones producing the software (ie. Flash). Good point - I'd forgotten Google owned YouTube. I thought H.264-encoded FLV was the most widely used video format on other sites, though? Yes, the older stuff is mostly in FLV with H.264, but all new stuff is cross encoded in WebM, with their older stuff being transcoded over time - with the eventual goal of moving to HTML5 for the site. 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now