待翻译：How I turned my ancient Windows PC into a Chromebook for free - with FydeOS

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Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET's key takeawaysFydeOS is a great way to give new life to old hardware.If you like ChromeOS, you'll enjoy FydeOS.FydeOS is free and can be installed on laptops and desktops alike.ChromeOS is the operating system that powers Chromebooks. It's simple, it's useful, and it runs on machines that Windows would cripple. Having ChromeOS for standard PCs would mean that average users could install the OS, bring those old machines back to life, and enjoy a Chromebook experience without having to purchase a Chromebook.FydeOS is a Linux-based OS that looks and feels just like ChromeOS, down to the Material Me design. It includes background updates (so you don't have to worry about remembering to update), seamlessly supports web, Android, and Linux apps, boots in 8 seconds, uses read-only access and "virus armour" for hardened security, FydeOS AI that seamlessly integrates with the OS, and it's free.Also: First look at Googlebook: A premium Chromebook alternative for Android usersI installed FydeOS on an aging laptop to see how it would fare, and, other than one small issue, it came out a winner.Picking the right versionThis is one aspect that FydeOS really needs to change. Choosing the right version of FydeOS can make or break your experience. Choose the wrong version, and your display, network, keyboard, sound, or trackpad may not work. The problem is that the descriptions of the versions aren't exactly user-friendly. When you go to the FydeOS download page, you are first greeted with four options: FydeOS for PC, FydeOS for VMware, FydeOS for You, and FydeOS for SBC. Most will go to FydeOS for PC. When you do, you'll find (again) four versions: Intel Slim, Intel Modern, AMD Graphics, and Intel Legacy. The problem lies in the descriptions. For example, the description for the Intel Slim option is:Compatible with 6th to 9th generation Intel Celeron and Pentium processors between 2015 and 2019. Supports Intel HD, Intel UHD Graphics, meeting the requirements of low-power devices and budget laptops.Also: Chromebook vs. Googlebook: How I'm deciding which laptop to upgrade to nextThat's all well and good, but most users won't know whether their machine has a 6th- or 9th-gen Intel Celeron CPU. So what happens is that they'll guess, download a version, run into issues, try a different version, rinse and repeat.I started with the Intel Slim version, but wound up with a black screen. I then turned to the Intel Modern option, which booted fine, but refused to recognize my trackpad. So, I plugged in a USB mouse and all was well.Even before you get to the installation process, you have to take the downloaded file (a compressed .zip file) and create a bootable USB using a tool like Balena Etcher.Make sure you do not decompress the file before using it with Etcher; otherwise, you'll wind up with a bootable USB drive that doesn't work.The experience If you don't have any issues with installation, you'll log in with your Google account. When I discovered that the trackpad was unresponsive, I plugged in an HP 935 Creator wireless mouse, and all was good. After logging in, I began poking around to see what was what. It came as no surprise that FydeOS very much resembled ChromeOS. I even noticed all of the old apps I'd installed on my last Chromebook. Nice.Also: After 30 years with Linux, here's my way of convincing Windows users to switch What struck me immediately was how smoothly the OS ran. I'd installed it on an older (2019) laptop with a 10th-gen Intel Core i3 and 8 GB RAM. While Windows 11 would cripple this laptop, FydeOS ran buttery-smooth. You get the typical apps you might expect on a Chromebook, centered on the web browser. Unlike ChromeOS, FydeOS ships with Chromium (the open-source browser on which Chrome is based).The browser runs great. Open the desktop menu, and you'll find the preinstalled apps and any apps you've added to your previous ChromeOS instances. You can even install web pages as web apps (as you can on a Chromebook). There are several FydeOS apps that do require a Fyde account. The Notes app lets you keep your notes locally or sync them with your FydeOS cloud account. The FydeOS AI tool can be called anytime (after you've signed in with Meta+A), or you can select text and hit Meta+C to have FydeOS AI interact with that text. Also: Google's AI-first Googlebook laptop is almost here - can it avoid the Copilot+ PC problem?One thing to note about FydeOS AI. After signing in to my free FydeOS account, I noticed that FydeOS AI is listed as a free trial. I was unable to locate any information on FydeOS AI pricing, nor could I find any mention within Settings about a free or paid FydeOS account. I have no idea how long the trial is or if it will expire. According to the FydeOS Rox help chat on the FydeOS site, FydeOS AI is free "right now," and it provided no further information.I gave FydeOS AI a try, and it seemed fairly adept. If you've used any AI tool, you'll feel right at home here. Do note that you'll need to create a free FydeOS account to use the tool. Beyond the usual chats, you can also add assistants to FydeOS, with many to choose from. I added a general problem-solving assistant and informed it that my vegan peanut butter cookies were not very peanut-buttery. The assistant gave me some suggestions as to how I could resolve that problem. Then I added a sports research assistant to ask about stretching my Achilles for long-distance running. It all worked as expected. The other caveatsIf you're looking for a normal Linux experience, that's not what FydeOS is about. This OS is more about ChromeOS and what ChromeOS has to offer. Yes, you can enable developer mode and then add Linux support (similar to what you can do on Android), but if you just want to open a terminal and run Linux commands, you won't find that out of the box.FydeOS is also supposed to include Android app support, but that was nowhere to be found. I did find F-Droid installed, but I'm not sure whether it was from my previous Chromebook. Either way, it listed zero Android apps, so there was nothing to install from there. I also downloaded an APK file, but there was no support for it in the OS. Bummer.Also: After 30 years with Linux, I gave Windows 11 a chance - and found 9 clear problemsEven with these caveats, I found FydeOS to be a great way to revive old PC hardware and make it function much like ChromeOS. So, if you want a Chromebook and have a spare machine lying around, download a copy of FydeOS, create a bootable USB drive with it, boot it, and install it. I think you'll be pleased with the results.