Chrome OS Flow by Hexxeh Review

I’m blogging from within Google Chrome OS Flow by Hexxeh. As you may know from my previous posts (e.g., this one), Chrome OS is simply a bootup and login to the Google Chrome browser. The simplicity of the Chrome OS offers performance advantages on netbooks. I’m evaluating the very popular and recently released Flow build of the Google Chrome OS which is offered up by Hexxeh (link at end of post).I have a first generation netbook, a Gateway that is equivalent to an Acer Aspire One, with Wifi G, 1 GB RAM and an Intel Atom 1.60 Ghz processor. (This was a terrific Black Friday find on NewEgg.com for $199.) The beauty of Flow is that it can be run off of a USB device or even an SD Card (both of which require at least a 2 GB capacity and will be wiped clean before the installation). I chose to install it on an SD Card. Here are my observations:

1. It’s screaming fast.  Pages pop into place quickly. The rendering is almost immediate and the weakest link in terms of speed is probably the Wifi G card. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, my netbook boots in about 10 seconds and shuts down in 4 seconds.

2. Hexxeh built in a really cool update feature that will allow you to upgrade by simply clicking through the browser.

3. The Chrome desktop (or whatever you want to call it.. the left-most tab) comes with links to many sites broken down into the following categories: Email, Games, IM, Media, Productivity, Shop, Social and Search. You can flag any of the icons as favorites and they appear on the “My Apps” tab. Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Jolicloud users will find this system familiar.

4. Extensions work just as you would expect and the icons can be rearranged (unlike the fixed icons in the latest Windows version of the Chrome Browser).

5. You get more real estate on your screen with Chrome OS than you do with Ubunutu Netbook Remix and Jolicloud because the tabs are flush against the top of the screen. This is especially helpful on first generation netbooks with 1024 x 600 screen resolution.

6. When you power down, your open tabs are saved for your next session. This is similar to the hibernate mode in other linux varieties and Windows.

Where to Get It

You can download Chrome OS Flow from Hexxeh’s website (http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/) and he has complete installation instructions online. Not all netbook hardware configurations are supported. Also, it seems that the first time you login to your netbook (using your Google ID, of course), the netbook must be connected to a wired internet connection. After you get your credentials by wire, the wifi will work as well.

Many thanks to Curtis Edenfield on Google Buzz (join if you are a techie and haven’t yet checked it out) for tipping me off about the Flow variety of Google Chrome OS.

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