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ac29today at 6:55 PM1 replyview on HN

> ChromeOS meanwhile has the worst compatibility off all four

ChromeOS can run desktop Linux software and Android software, so it definitely isnt worse than Mac. Its probably even better than Windows. Of course, if you need Mac/Windows software, Web/Android/Linux alternatives might not exist or might be worse. But the devices are hardly lacking software compatibility.


Replies

Topfitoday at 7:08 PM

No, ChromeOS cannot. You can only run Linux applications via Crostini. Heavily sandboxed and restricted to limited hardware access, that is not software compatible by any reasonable measure. If that counts, my MacBook is compatible with all software ever made via UTM. Also, lest we forget ISA. If these Googlebooks are arm64, that restricts software compatibility further still as Crostini doesn't translate between arm64 and x86_64, so we are going from poor, limited support, to worse.

For reference:

> Cameras aren't yet supported.

> Android devices are supported over USB, but other devices aren't yet supported.

> Android Emulators aren't yet supported.

> Hardware acceleration isn't yet supported, including GPU and video decode.

> ChromeVox is supported for the default Terminal app, but not yet for other Linux apps.

Source: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9145439?hl=en