Google have recently launched a new browser called Google Chrome. Initially it is only available as a beta on Windows, but Linux and Mac are very much in their plans. You can read a great comic about why they decided to build a browser and some of the key architectural differences that they are putting into Chrome. The comic really is one of the most accessible and readable bits of technical documentation I have ever seen!
Paul McAdams managed to get Google Chrome running on his webbook, by using a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a fox. He used the VirtualBox application to install Windows XP inside of Ubuntu and is running VirtualBox in seamless mode so that the Windows windows just live alongside the Ubuntu windows. Note the XP taskbar at the bottom of the screen and the Ubuntu panel and menus at the top.
I did it first.
It can also be made to run (more or less successfully) in Wine. http://www.myscienceisbetter.info/2008/09/install-google-chrome-on-linux-using-wine.html
Can anyone explain how to install xp on the webbook and run both operating system on a choice for either or at a time..Thanks.
@heeman
so you are after a dual boot system. The easiest way is to start by installing Windows but in the installation don’t use all the disk space for the NTFS drive. After you have that set up install Ubuntu (or whatever Linux takes your preference) and put that in the remaining space. Towards the end of the Linux install it will offer to add an entry for your existing Windows operating system in the Grub menu. There are probably other ways to set it up, but that is what I would do.
Hi Alan,
But without a cd drive, it’s complicated to set up Xp on the webbook…I tried to install from a different pc’s cd drive and using the network connection to install windows but so far it’s been a failure..I google a bit and found some software that prepare some usb bootable flash drive but could not get anywhere..Can you describe that if possible.Many thanks
Without a CD drive installing Windows would be a significant challenge! You could do it in VirtualBox, by using a different computer to copy the CD to a .iso image file then copying that to the webbook and letting VirtualBox mount the image file as the CD drive. As I recall (which might be from windows 95 era) the windows CD has an i386 directory which contains the initial setup routine. If you format a USB stick to Fat32 and make it bootable (something like sys e: if e: is your drive) then copy the i386 folder across you may be able to boot from it and start the setup program. To boot from USB or SD insert your bootable drive in the webbook and switch on and go to the bios settings. You don’t want to mess with the boot order (although it sounds tempting) what you want to do is go to hard drives and change the order of the hard drives. This will let you boot from your USB or SD card. Once you have finished and reboot the webbook it won’t boot! Don’t worry, you just have to go back to the bios and to the hard drives section again and change the drive from disabled to sata. I will do a post about this soon, I was trying to figure out how to take screenshots of the BIOS. I think a camera is about the only way!
If you use an sd card or memory stick which is bootable you shouldnt need to change the boot order.
Indeed you shouldn’t. In theory. In practice if you have a very old USB or SD then you don’t need to do anything. It reports itself to the BIOS as a generic USB/SD device and it boots just perfectly. If you have a USB stick or SD card that is at all recent then it will report itself to the BIOS as an actual hard drive, then it ends up in the hard drive boot order, behind the SATA drive. Took me ages to figure that one out.
I got hold of an xp webbook at the weekend. it runs a lot quicker than i expected, although the wireless card had trouble connecting to my router when the ssid was not being broadcast. I am now trying to get ubuntu dual booting with it but the partitions didn’t want to resize, I kept getting an error. I will be trying with gparted today to see if I can do the resize and then install it in the freed up space. is there much difference between the distribution of ubuntu you ship with the webbook and the version that is available for download?
@Pete, we changed the xorg.conf file to fit the 1024×600 screen, and we installed a few extra things like tuxpaint and fixed a few config files where things didn’t fit the screen. We also installed the Wader dialer for 3G network dongles. Can you tell me what the error was?
Error message just said:
“resize operation failure”
tried it with a manual resize and a guided resize.
Is it just me that thinks google chrome is awful?
quick update gparted sorted the error, just installing now.
@Websourcerer – ah but at what time on 3 Sept did you have Chrome up and running? I might challenge you for the first if it was any time after 8.30pm (UK)
Chrome on XP runs nicely in the XP virtual machine, once the installed RAM is upped to 1 MB and the VM memory upped also. I’m commenting from it now.
Maybe Chrome’s UI and operation makes more sense to Mac users like me, but both the simplicity of the UI and the way in which complex operations are made straightforward is Mac-like to me,more so than Apple’s own browser. I’m looking forward to the Mac and Linux versions.
But for someone who was exclusively OS X at home and Windows 2000 at work, I’m taking to Linux with enthusiasm. I was no stranger to the Terminal in OS X, so I’m not put off by having to have frequent recourse to a terminal.
I’ve now got the XP virtual machine set up with its own simultaneous connection (host network) to my router via the wifi card (not NAT connection via the host), and that means the samba file sharing issues with the host Ubuntu and my other machines (all OS X) have been sorted out. That took some googling and trial and error with VBoxTunctl commands.
And to think I never had a Linux box before I got the Webbook in late August. Linux might not yet be ready for the general consumer, but I am enjoying myself immensely. The Ubuntu webbook is a lovely, if somewhat less than beautiful little machine. Roll on the updated graphics drivers.
PS, you really have to install the (free for non-commercial use) closed source edition of Virtualbox, I’m afraid. USB support and better networking make it necessary. The Open Source version that comes installed on the webbook is just too frustrating for me. I’m running 1.66 happily. v.2 is just out, not tried it yet.
@Nearly Legal,
interesting comments about the closed source version of Virtualbox. I use the Free one all the time, the networking setup is indeed a pain if you want your VM to be running a server of some kind. I didn’t realise networking was better in the closed version.
The networking is still a pain if you want to run the VM as effectively a freestanding machine on the network, at least over wifi. The Closed version is not much better than the Open Source version in that regard, as far as I can tell in my limited messing about.
The set up via Ethernet is apparently much easier, using bridging, but I don’t want to tether the webbook. I’ve just found that my current set up intermittently knocks the host machine off the local network, but not off the internet, when the VM and tap0 is running. It just doesn’t happen consistently enough to figure out.
I too have been using the closed version of VB for over a year now (alas I have to have XP for one work program, the seamless mode is just perfect for that).
@ Adam: no, you’re not alone, I didn’t like Chrome either. It wasn’t at all intuitive to me. But horses for courses, choice is always good.
@Nearly Legal, I agree with the “less than beautiful” remark. However, the webbook’s practicality makes it shine for me. The ease of upping the RAM in particular, compared to one of the other, definitely more pleasing to the eye, netbooks on the market gives it an edge for me (albeit to only 1GB). And the apparent ease of HD upgrade too – not done that yet but love the way the cassette just slides out (I hate machines that look as though you’re not meant to want to ‘play’ with them as well as use them!).
Hi, sorry, probably not in the right place and my answer has probably already been posted somewhere but i’m at the end of my tether. I have tried, without success, to install Windows live messenger on my sons webbook. He doesn’t mind the linux st-up and the firefox browser, but wants ‘his old messenger back’. Any suggestions please before it bocomes yet more clutter on his bedroom floor. Yes, I know Pidgeon is there, but he doesn’t like it.
Many thanks
Dave
Well I have never seen Windows live messenger, but as I understand it Pidgin (it is spelt as in pidgin English rather than the bird, the icon is a joke) does connect to MSN. I am guessing MSN messenger got renamed to Windows Live Messenger? So what does Windows Live Messenger do that Pidgin doesn’t?
apparently there is something called amsn which might help http://www.amsn-project.net/index.php you can install what looks like the latest version by going to System-Administration-Synaptic Package manager.
i have a webbook it ha linux unbutu on it. Is there a way to boot windows xp on it from a 2gb usb pen drive????????????
Thanks in advance.
demonangel2uk2007
@Lee, well I know nothing about how one might put XP on a USB pen drive, but I have booted Linux on a USB drive, in the bios you have to change the order of the hard drives, not change the order of the boot devices. After booting from it you have to go back into the hard drive section of the bios to turn back on the SATA drive. I don’t think the grub bootloader works on USB devices for some reason, so I am not sure if the Microsoft bootloader will work. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.
thanks to: Alan Bell for the info.
demonangel2uk2007
I’m also one of the handful of people who openly acknowledge that Chrome is awful. It contains some really obvious errors, has dreadful usability and convenience issues, and, given that it’s largely based on existing engines, it’s surprisingly lacking in substance. Google really didn’t do much to cobble their browser together; it often surprises me how shoddy some of Google’s output is.