Chromium OS ported to iPad

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/29/chromium-os-infiltrates-ipad-makes-itself-comfortable/

by jayeshsalvi • 16 years ago

71 27 16 years ago

pornel• 16 years ago

Besides hacking coolness, is there any point in swapping iOS for Chromium? You get almost same WebKit browser, but without iOS apps?

al_james• 16 years ago

We will have to see how much of a draw the Chrome web app store is when its ready. App availability will be a deciding factor, although google will have lots of work to do to get even with Apple.

ladon86• 16 years ago

Right, but by the same token, why swap Mac OS for iOS? It's a further step towards utter simplicity - a device you can pick up and use purely for browsing the internet with no other complications.

If it wasn't (most likely) hacky and unstable, I'm sure my mum would dig it.

code_duck• 16 years ago

This is 'Hacker News'. That question shouldn't need to be asked! I think it's pretty cool, but then, I still have QNX 4 on a floppy disk.

ChromeOS is a bit more open than Apple's system, isn't it? That's not a rhetorical question, I actually don't know.

cryptoz2• 16 years ago

Chromium OS is fully open source. Chrome OS is the closed, Google-compiled version that will arrive on physical machines. As far as I know, iOS is fully closed-source.

So yes, Chromium OS is much more open than iOS.

buro92• 16 years ago

* Multi-user

* Flash (I browsed the Bowmore whiskey site on my iPad last night... I still hit this occasionally - http://www.bowmore.co.uk/ )

* The chance of getting some native Google apps from the Chrome appstore

* Perhaps a chance to break the dependence on iTunes for updates (just give me OTA already and don't require a link to a computer)

* Chrome Sync so your tabs, passwords, bookmarks go with you

Hell, I'd want it for most of the above. Though I'm growing dependent on the Twitter app for iPad (thankfully the site is catching up fast) and also Flip Board (which doesn't yet have a HTML5 version or Chrome version.

borism• 16 years ago

Multi-user?

bruceboughton2• 16 years ago

OTA sync? Wireless is still not fast enough for that. And what's the point if you still need to be in your house? 3G networks are definitely not fast enough, which leaves USB sync.

melling• 16 years ago

I'd get a second tablet. Apple will do yearly refreshes of the iPad. Previous gen will get Chrome OS.

madmaze• 16 years ago

Thats almost a reason to get an iPad. I wonder what else could be ported over

cryptoz2• 16 years ago

Tablets and netbooks that run Chrome OS will be released in one or two months, so you might want to wait a bit.

angusgr• 16 years ago

Looking forward to seeing more details on this... I'm guessing an ARM build of Chromium OS' userspace components[1], ported to run on iOS' Darwin kernel?

If that's the case, I'm guessing there could be a Chromium OS "App" for "normal" jailbroken iPads (running in a chroot jail or similar.)

As I see it, the alternative way would be a working port of Linux to Apple's A4 SoC, but AFAIK that doesn't exist. :(

[1] http://code.google.com/p/chromium-os/wiki/ArmWIP

wrath• 16 years ago

If this actually works without any roadblock like catches, I wonder if Apple will start modifying the iPad to make chromeOS (or any other OS for that matter) can't run on it. I don't know if there's anything you can do from a Hardware perspective to stop someone from installing a different OS, but the cat and mouse game will be fun to watch nevertheless.

sorbus• 16 years ago

From the article: "one of his outgoing missives includes the dire warning that he'll "dash your hopes later, there are a few catches.""

jsz0• 16 years ago

I doubt it. Apple seems to understand the futility of the cat & mouse game. Even with the Hackintosh community that is not buying an Apple computer and probably pirating OSX they haven't added any additional road blocks since the first public x86 OSX Tiger build from 2005. Even with jailbreaking they haven't taken a very aggressive stance besides fixing exploits.

Xuzz3• 16 years ago

Each firmware update they block the ability to run custom code (jailbreaking) -- of course they'll block this as well.

Chromium OS ported to iPad

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