Arch Linux vs. Chrome OS

If you know anything about Linux, then you should know that there are a lot of different distributions of Linux, including Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint etc. One of the best distributions of Linux in the opinion of the Slant community is Arch Linux. Arch Linux is heavily focused on customizability and keeping things simple. While Chrome OS is definitely not even in the top 10 Linux distributions, it has definitely become a sensation as it's an online OS. It also doesn't need that much computing power, making Arch Linux and Chrome OS somewhat similar. In this blog I am going to compare the two operating systems more in detail, bringing out their differences and similarities in different fields.

So, let's start off with Arch Linux. Where did Arch Linux begin and what was the purpose of it's creation? The Arch Linux project started in March 2002, when Judd Vinet was inspired by CRUX (another minimalist distribution) and decided to create his own take of the open source operating system. The first ISO image was released in April 2006 and a year later Vinet stepped down as the leader of the project and transferred the position to Aaron Griffin. Arch is based on binary packages, meaning that the packages target the X86-64 microprocessors to assist performance on modern hardware. Arch was built to be straightforward and relatively use for the user to understand directly and it is under the GNU GPL license.

Arch Linux is targeted for advanced users, who are not afraid to use the command line to install required software. The operating system only has the base system as the ISO on their webpage and after installation the users themselves have to find and install the features they want. Arch uses a package manager called Pacman (PACkage MANager), which was built specifically for the operating system. The Arch package repositories and User Repository contain 58 000 binary and source packages, which is close to Debian's 68 000 packages. Before November 2011 package signing was not a thing for Arch Linux, meaning that packages and metadata were not verified for authenticity by Pacman during the download-install process. By March 2012 every official package was signed.

Now let's talk about Chrome OS. Chrome OS is a Gentoo Linux-based operating system that was designed by Google. It derived from the free software Chromium OS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as it's user interface. However Chrome OS is proprietary software, meaning that it is only available pre-installed on Google Chromebooks. Sure, it's open-source upstream, Chromium OS can be compiled from downloaded source code, but Chrome OS itself cannot. Google announced Chrome OS in July 2009, describing it as an operating system where user data and applications fully reside in the cloud. In 2010 Google released the first prototype Chromebook that had Chrome OS on it and later on other manufacturing companies (Acer, Samsung, Lenovo) began to partner with Google to create their own Chromebooks.

At first Chrome OS was almost a pure web thin client that relied on servers to host web applications and data storage, but later on it also started to support packaged applications and later Chrome Apps. The operating system is not meant for heavy-duty software, that require a lot of computing power and therefore Chromebooks also don't have very powerful processors making them quite cheap (you can get a Chromebook for 200€). The low cost makes Chromebooks a good choice for students and schools that do not need high-end computing power and can get the computers for a lower price.

References:

  • https://www.slant.co/versus/2690/14616/~arch-linux_vs_chromeos
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Linux
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_OS
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions

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