FAQ

Compatibility and Installation

Will GalliumOS work on my Chromebook/Chromebox?

Yes, for most devices. See Hardware Compatibility.

Haswell and Broadwell devices are best-tested. Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge devices are also tested. Bay Trail devices are also working well with updated packages.

ARM devices are not supported, and Atom/Pineview devices are not supported.

How do I install GalliumOS? And why would I want to?

Installing GalliumOS

Why GalliumOS?

What about Bay Trail devices?

Resolved! Everything should now work well.

Keyboard mappings? How do I ...

Media keys and default keybindings

Keyboard backlight?

A solution. Will be incorporated before 1.0.

Touchscreen support?

GalliumOS uses Xfce, but presently has no additional touchscreen capabilities. Got a loaner device? Let us know! :)

Software

How do I update the OS and apps?

We are in the process of selecting a package manager/Software Center style app for GUI updates.

You can update from the command line with sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade.

BETA releases will update to newer BETAs and to the 1.0 release as they become available.

Does Minecraft work? Does Steam work?

Yes and yes. Remember that in most cases, this is not powerful hardware. Minecraft is playable at 30fps on an Acer C720 (2GB Celeron 2955U 1.4GHz), and many Steam titles are playable on the same hardware. A faster processor and additional RAM will improve the experience, as usual.

See Games for more info and installation recommendations.

How can I run Flash apps/videos (e.g. Twitch)?

Flash player is not installed by default. You have a few options, see Adobe Flash.

Can I watch Netflix under GalliumOS?

Absolutely. See Netflix.

How do I install Wine?

Wine requires i386 libraries, so you'll need to enable those first:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386, then

sudo apt-get install wine

Performance

How does battery life compare between GalliumOS and ChromeOS?

TBD. Watch this space!

Initial tests show parity with other lightweight Linux distros, but the comparison against ChromeOS has not been performed yet.

How much disk space will GalliumOS use?

A clean new installation of GalliumOS will use somewhere around 3GB on your SSD or HDD. Obviously, it will expand as you install more software and store your personal data.

Wiki

How can I contribute?

You need an account on the wiki to contribute to it.

How can I register?

We now have a captcha powered by Are You A Human PlayThru, and have re-enabled registration. If you are not logged in, the registration link should be at the top of the page next to the login link.

Unfortunately we have been attacked by a nasty army of bots that want to clog up our databases and destroy us from the inside. As a direct result, we have disabled registration for now.

If you want to contribute, please join the IRC channel and we can create an account for you.

We will get the bot situation handled and re-enable registration before 1.0 release!