No, it's not quite the same... I've installed CloudReady on old (non-Chromebook) systems myself, so I'm a little bit familiar with it and what it can do.
However, I've never tried to run 'Crostini' in CloudReady, so I don't know if that works, or (if it does), how well it parallels the implementation of Crostini on Google Chromebooks. I have read up some on how Google implements a GUI interface to applications running in its Linux containers, and it's not trivial. (But it does work very well on Chromebooks -- you can install a Linux app and have a clickable icon that appears just like any other ChromeOS or Android app icon.) And, yes, Crostini Linux containers give you a way to develop software on Chromebooks! Not only does Pharo work, but also other languages can be installed. (I'm running Pharo, Lua, and Lisp on my Pixelbook model.) For those who are not familiar with CloudReady: The company 'Neverware', with Google's approval (and investment), took ChromeOS's open-source foundation, Chromium OS, and built its own "Chromebook-like" version on top of it called 'CloudReady'. It was designed for schools, to give their old PCs new life -- they can run Google's 'G Suite for Education' while managing CloudReady PCs & laptops with the 'Google Admin Console'. Businesses, other organizations, and individuals can use it too. It's also free for individual users who don't require Google Admin tools. Like ChromeOS, CloudReady is updated every six weeks or so with security fixes and new features. And as with ChromeOS, to use CloudReady you must have a Google account. It not only runs on old WinTel systems, it runs on Mac hardware as well. You can 'test drive' CloudReady on your system without installing it (or wiping out your existing OS) by booting it from a USB thumb drive. If you decide you like it, you can later overwrite your system's OS by installing it to disk. Be aware that it will "take over" your entire drive and restrict the ways you can access it. (Crostini significantly opens up how you can use your disk space, since it basically implements a full Linux file system inside its container.) Here's a recent, detailed article on CloudReady, which includes procedures on how to make a bootable USB thumb drive, test drive it, and install it: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-switch-from-windows-7-to-chrome-os-cloudready/ -t -- Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html
