Google Chrome OS is based on Linux core and Google Chrome Browser. The point of Chrome OS is cloud based system that can be used for web applications so there is no local user data and apps installed on your computer.

The project is open source and easy to modify, so following Google Chrome OS guidance you can make your personal Chromium OS version with a few modifications you’ve like or if you don’t like Chrome you can put Firefox on top of it and you get Firefox OS. Here is very simple tutorial on how to make your personal OS:

1. We will use Slax distribution for this tutorial but you can use other distributions also if you have more linux skills. Slax is ideal because is already live CD and USB installer and on Slax web site on “build” section you can remove the no needed modules for your Firefox OS system (Turn off the no needed icons). Follow this link and choose only: Slax core, Slax XORG and Firefox. We need OS core for the system, Graphics System and Firefox. You can add more modules if you want to customize your system according to your needs – Skype for example.. but here we will use this three only.

2. After components selection, download TAR file because we need a few more modifications.

3. Next, unpack TAR file. You will get “boot” folder that includes tools for booting the OS, and inside Slax folder “rootcopy” that will contain additional modules pack for main boot core. If you want automatic Firefox start up in full screen just like Chrome OS, you need to modify rootcopy folder. Create root folder in rootcopy and then file “.xinitrc” with next tutorial:

4. Open terminal

Cd slax/rootcopy
Mkdir root
echo “/usr/bin/firefox” > root/.xinitrc

If you want to remove the boot screen with OS choose, you must modify bootloader. Go to “boot/slax.cfg” file and copy paste this line:

DEFAULT /boot/vmlinuz initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;telinit~4 changes=/slax/ nohd

This is already Slax command with + nohd – at the end that means no Hard Disc access to the system.

5. Now you can start packing your Firefox OS system in Live CD or USB. For that purpose we use slax/make_iso.sh. This script will create ISO CD image. For Live USB use the script boot/bootinst.sh. ATTENTION: Be careful when entering install path, do not use your hard drive path because the script will modify your MBR and you can broke your system. After this, you will make installer again with Firefox and Extensions in it.

6. Firefox configurations and extensions

You can test your Personal OS on Virtual Machine or on real clean installation. If everything is ok, Firefox will boot up at start up. As bonus on this package, Firefox on Slax comes with Chrome Like theme but you can easily change that if you don’t like.

The next step will be adding some extensions to installed Firefox OS. If you want to add Adobe Flash, download the archive in tar.gz format from Slax page, unpack it and copy the libflashplayer.so file in plugins directory

cd /root/Downloads
tar xzf install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz
mkdir /root/.mozilla/plugins
cp libflashplayer.so /root/.mozilla/plugins

Restart Firefox and Flash Plugin will be active.

Becouse you are doing this on RAM memory, everything after restarting computer will be erased so copy the folder “/root/.mozilla/” from your new Firefox-Flash OS to main folder where you are making the OS components : “slax/rootcopy/root/.mozilla/”

Follow the upper command to make OS boot installer again and that’s it. After this you will have your personal Firefox Linux. Have fun

Tags | Howto, Linux, Open Source