Chromebooks are great for a lot of things:they allow people who can't afford to buy a decent computer that does just about everything they need. In fact, there's a lot to like about Chromebooks, and they're getting more and more popular.
Yet Google's operating system is very consumer-focused. You won't find anyone on a Chromebook hacking Python code. Instead, they'll be more likely to browse Reddit or post pictures of their cats on Facebook.
That's where NayuOS comes in. It tries to take the good stuff from Chrome OS, sift through the bad stuff, and create a totally free, secure, and open environment for people to develop software on.
Its ability to take Chrome OS technology and remove Google makes NayuOS special, effectively presenting a lightweight, Google-free operating system perfect for the kind of hardware occupied by Chromebooks.
The overall goal here is total and complete software freedom as defined by Richard Stallman. No proprietary tools or services of any kind. It's completely decoupled from all of that – so much so, in fact, that you actually lose some key features of standard Chrome OS when using NayuOS (external device support, Chrome web apps).
It’s very developer friendly, to say the least. With it, you have the ability to create Python and Flask apps as well as the ability to develop for Javascript. It is definitely not for consumers. However, if you're looking for a solid, lightweight development environment on your Chromebook, it's hard to say no to this operating system.
Installation for NayuOS is a device-by-device thing. Not all Chromebooks on the market are supported, and they're generally compatible with the most popular ones (or so it seems). You'll need to scroll down to the homepage to find out if your Chromebook is supported. If so, just find the image download link and download it.
In Chrome OS, run the following command to create the installation USB drive.
Note: you will need to open a shell in Chrome OS by pressing "Ctrl+Alt+T" and then typing shell and pressing the Enter key.
zcat your_board.nayuos.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/somedevice
This command takes a bit of time, but after a while your installation media will have been created.
Now it's time to boot into the player. Enter this command to have Chrome OS start NayuOS directly:
sudo crossystem dev_boot_usb=1
After that, just reboot with the USB stick and follow the instructions provided by NayuOS to install everything.
NayuOS is an interesting project. Few projects choose Chrome OS as the basis of an operating system, especially for development. If you are a programmer, this operating system can get you noticed.
Do you want to develop software on an operating system based on Chrome OS? Let us know below!
Image credits:nayuos.com
