1259242893191_1e393

Say what you will about Dell, but there’s no denying that this is one of the coolest things any OEM has done for enthusiasts in a long time.

Own a Dell Mini 10V? Wish you could give that early build of Google Chrome OS a try on your netbook? You’re in luck, because Dell’s Doug Anson and some friends have taken the time to hack in all the necessary hardware support you need – and provide a custom download.

You can download Google Chrome OS for the Dell Mini 10V right here. Before you click, be aware that this is almost 8GB of data – so you’ll need a USB flash drive of at least that capacity to use it.

Once downloaded, you’ll need to dump the image to your flash drive. If you happen to have a Linux box handy, the command to do so is dd if=ChromiumOS_Mini10v_Nov25.img of=/dev/sdb (assuming your drive mounts as /dev/sdb/).

Once it’s on the drive, simply plug it in to your Mini 10V and enjoy your Google Chrome preview!

Doug notes that wifi behaves a little strangely right now. You may have to wait five to ten minutes for Chrome OS to start seeing access points. Boot time, however, is as fast as you’ve seen in preview videos (about 12 seconds).

Want to play with it on the “official” hardware? Grab a Mini 10V at Amazon for $299.99!

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,545 other subscribers

Lee Mathews

Computer tech, blogger, husband, father, and avid MSI U100 user.

58 replies on “Dell provides custom Google Chrome OS image for Mini 10V users”

  1.  Damn it, I just sold my Mini 10v! Oh well, I think my Lenovo ThinkPad S205 will be worth the trade.

  2. What’s the difference between the Dell Mini 10 and the Dell Mini 10V? I have the Dell Mini 10 (non-V), will this image work for me?

  3. What’s the difference between the Dell Mini 10 and the Dell Mini 10V? I have the Dell Mini 10 (non-V), will this image work for me?

    1. The Dell Mini 10 uses a different chipset from the Mini 10v. Currently, only the chipsets in the Mini 10v (and Mini 9…) are supported in the ChromiumOS image.

    1. Chrome OS ISO beta has NOTHING to do with Google Chrome OS. It is simply a stripped down Linux distribution running the Google Chrome browser (and who knows what else). Do not be mislead.

      Google Chrome OS and the opensource Chromium OS do not have other applications, such as OpenOffice, included. They are only comprised of the underlaying operating system components Google has put together to run the Chrome environment. The ISO above is an impostor.

    1. It should… I’ve tried it on my Mini 9… but the same “slow” wifi 🙁 issue exists FYI…

      Doug

    2. It should… I’ve tried it on my Mini 9… but the same “slow” wifi 🙁 issue exists FYI…

      Doug

  4. Cool! Good going Dell!

    This sounds like a much cleaner solution, than running it in a VM…especially for netbooks.

    Hopefully, images will continue to be updated, for some current netbooks, even as Google optimizes ChromeOS for their REAL target hardware.

Comments are closed.