Difference between revisions of "About GalliumOS"

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Linux can run many different types of applicatons. No matter what you're trying to do, an application exists for Linux. ChromeOS is very limited. Sure, NaCl (Native Client) brings the ability to run native code to ChromeOS, but that's a hack at best, and there's still no good software to take advantage of it. With Linux you can install any Linux compatible software, ''totally natively''. Firefox, Transmission (BitTorrent), LibreOffice, Steam, VLC Media Player, Kodi Media Center, the GIMP, VirtualBox, and many more are available on Linux to do things that simply aren't possible on ChromeOS.
 
Linux can run many different types of applicatons. No matter what you're trying to do, an application exists for Linux. ChromeOS is very limited. Sure, NaCl (Native Client) brings the ability to run native code to ChromeOS, but that's a hack at best, and there's still no good software to take advantage of it. With Linux you can install any Linux compatible software, ''totally natively''. Firefox, Transmission (BitTorrent), LibreOffice, Steam, VLC Media Player, Kodi Media Center, the GIMP, VirtualBox, and many more are available on Linux to do things that simply aren't possible on ChromeOS.
  
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=== More control ===
+
=== More flexibility ===
  
 +
* Change the desktop's appearance
 +
* Configure the desktop to your liking
 +
* Change the desktop
 +
** Note: the default desktop has many fixes for ChromeOS devices
 +
* Install development tools and write some code
 +
* Replace the kernel with a different version
 +
** The patches we use are here: https://github.com/galliumos/linux-patches
  
 +
== Why GalliumOS as opposed to other Linux distros? ==
 +
GalliumOS focuses on providing a stable and well performing Linux system. The changes are mostly under the hood.
 +
 +
Below are some examples of the improvements/changes that are in GalliumOS compared to standard Xubuntu. This is not a comprehensive list and it continues to change.
 +
 +
=== Improved Performance ===
 +
GalliumOS includes optimizations that greatly reduce system stalls and improve overall responsiveness.
  
−
== Why GalliumOS as opposed to other Linux distros? ==
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* Alternative kernel schedulers to prevent system stalls
 +
** [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Fuck_Scheduler BFS] for process scheduling
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** [http://algo.ing.unimo.it/people/paolo/disk_sched BFQ] for I/O scheduling
 +
* Removed some services to improve the boot time and reduce memory usage
 +
* Zram for swap, which is a much faster swap than to disk
 +
* Removed unnecessary kernel features/modules
 +
* Compton as the compositor for tear free compositing
 +
** Performs better than enabling Tear Free in the Intel graphics driver with a compositor
  
−
=== Better Performance ===
+
=== Improved Battery Life ===
−
GalliumOS includes optimizations that eliminate system stalls and improve overall responsiveness. Alternative kernel schedulers have been included: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Fuck_Scheduler BFS] for process scheduling and[http://algo.ing.unimo.it/people/paolo/disk_sched BFQ] for I/O scheduling. The reason for these is to prevent system stalls due to I/O and processes hogging the CPUs. Also there have been removed some services to improve the boot time and reduce the number of things running since some chromebooks/boxes only have 2GB of memory.
+
* As of beta2, disabled the Intel pstate driver and instead use the standard ondemand cpu frequency governor
−
There have been tweaked a few things for power saving and performance:
+
** The Intel pstate driver was not scaling the cpu frequency correctly most of the time. We verified this with multiple tests.
−
* The kernel watchdog timer has been disabled.
+
* Miscellaneous changes: disabled the watchdog timer, disabled drm polling, reduced the minimum gpu frequency
−
* HDMI polling (that doesn't prevent HDMI connections from working as they work fine)has been disabled.
 
−
* It has been reduced the minimum GPU frequency.
 
−
* Its included zram for swap that is a much faster swap than to disk
 
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* Its has been hacked the installer to stop making a swap partition since we use zram, ChromeOS also uses zram.
 
−
* There have been stripped out some unnecessary things from the kernel to improve boot time
 
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* Possibly controversial - It has been removed lightdm in favor of SLiM to reduce system resources. We also chose slimlock as a replacement for light locker and xscreensaver.
 
−
* We use compton as the compositor to provide tear free drawing of the desktop windows. This is supposed to perform better than turning on Intel's tear free option in the driver, especially because there is already a compositor running.
 
  
 
=== Improved Touchpad ===
 
=== Improved Touchpad ===
  
 
Integrated ChromeOS mouse driver provides a touchpad experience similar to ChromeOS
 
Integrated ChromeOS mouse driver provides a touchpad experience similar to ChromeOS
 +
 +
=== Faster boot up ===
 +
 +
Boot up time is faster than other Linux distros due to less services, a smaller kernel, and lxdm.
  
 
=== Built on Xubuntu ===
 
=== Built on Xubuntu ===
Line 35: Line 53:
 
=== Bug Fixes ===
 
=== Bug Fixes ===
  
−
For the issues that affect ChromeOS devices and are not found in standard distros
+
Fixes for issues that affect ChromeOS devices and are not found in standard distros
 +
* XFCE Power manager issues
 +
* HDMI issues
 +
* Media keys
 +
* Kernel patches for Chrome OS hardware
 +
* Other bugs

Latest revision as of 16:44, 4 March 2016

GalliumOS is a fast and lightweight Linux distro for ChromeOS devices.

Why Linux?

More applications

Linux can run many different types of applicatons. No matter what you're trying to do, an application exists for Linux. ChromeOS is very limited. Sure, NaCl (Native Client) brings the ability to run native code to ChromeOS, but that's a hack at best, and there's still no good software to take advantage of it. With Linux you can install any Linux compatible software, totally natively. Firefox, Transmission (BitTorrent), LibreOffice, Steam, VLC Media Player, Kodi Media Center, the GIMP, VirtualBox, and many more are available on Linux to do things that simply aren't possible on ChromeOS.

More flexibility

  • Change the desktop's appearance
  • Configure the desktop to your liking
  • Change the desktop
    • Note: the default desktop has many fixes for ChromeOS devices
  • Install development tools and write some code
  • Replace the kernel with a different version

Why GalliumOS as opposed to other Linux distros?

GalliumOS focuses on providing a stable and well performing Linux system. The changes are mostly under the hood.

Below are some examples of the improvements/changes that are in GalliumOS compared to standard Xubuntu. This is not a comprehensive list and it continues to change.

Improved Performance

GalliumOS includes optimizations that greatly reduce system stalls and improve overall responsiveness.

  • Alternative kernel schedulers to prevent system stalls
    • BFS for process scheduling
    • BFQ for I/O scheduling
  • Removed some services to improve the boot time and reduce memory usage
  • Zram for swap, which is a much faster swap than to disk
  • Removed unnecessary kernel features/modules
  • Compton as the compositor for tear free compositing
    • Performs better than enabling Tear Free in the Intel graphics driver with a compositor

Improved Battery Life

  • As of beta2, disabled the Intel pstate driver and instead use the standard ondemand cpu frequency governor
    • The Intel pstate driver was not scaling the cpu frequency correctly most of the time. We verified this with multiple tests.
  • Miscellaneous changes: disabled the watchdog timer, disabled drm polling, reduced the minimum gpu frequency

Improved Touchpad

Integrated ChromeOS mouse driver provides a touchpad experience similar to ChromeOS

Faster boot up

Boot up time is faster than other Linux distros due to less services, a smaller kernel, and lxdm.

Built on Xubuntu

A fast, lightweight, beautiful, and fully functional desktop

Bug Fixes

Fixes for issues that affect ChromeOS devices and are not found in standard distros

  • XFCE Power manager issues
  • HDMI issues
  • Media keys
  • Kernel patches for Chrome OS hardware
  • Other bugs
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