Windows 10 Coming to Chromebooks?

We can now run Linux on our Chromebooks with Crostini, is Windows 10 next?

Chromebooks May Get Apple Boot Camp-Like Windows 10 Dual Boot With ‘Campfire’

Slashdot – Posted by BeauHD – “Google is reportedly working on a secret project to get Windows 10 running on Chromebooks. XDA Developers’ Kieran Miyamoto reports on the latest developments surrounding ‘Campfire’ — the Chromebook equivalent of Apple’s Boot Camp. From the report:

Earlier this year, a mysterious project appeared on the Chromium Git. The Chrome OS developers had created a new firmware branch of the Google Pixelbook called eve-campfire and were working on a new ‘Alt OS mode’ for this branch. We have since confirmed this Alt OS refers to Microsoft Windows 10 and found evidence that it wasn’t just an internal project but intended for public release.

The developers have reworked the way in which they distribute updates to a rarely-used section of ROM on Chromebooks called RW_LEGACY. The RW_LEGACY section on a Chromebook’s ROM traditionally gives users the ability to dual-boot into an alternative OS, but it is something of an afterthought during production and the section is rarely updated after a device leaves the factory. Now, with Campfire, Google will push signed updates to RW_LEGACY via the regular auto-update process, so firmware flashing won’t be a concern for Joe Public. A recent commit for enabling Alt OS through crosh with a simple [alt_os enable] command indicates that it will be a fairly easy setup process from the user’s end too.

We may expect to see the first demo of ‘Campfire’ at Google’s upcoming Pixel 3 launch event in October. Also, the report notes that the Google Pixelbook won’t be the only Chromebook with Campfire support, citing ‘mentions of multiple ‘campfire variants.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.