Chrome on CentOS AT LAST!

I'm not a big fan of CentOS but I've been compelled to run it for a couple of reasons. The first being I need something compatible (and free) that's compatible with the Red Hat systems we have at the Salt Mines. CentOS is Red Hat with all the branding removed to make it free.

The other reason is this old (circa 2005) Sony Vaio laptop I inherited from my kid, Inky Dink, shown at left. Installing Linux on it was pure Hell. CentOS is the only Linux distribution that runs on it and doesn't crash, and it's actually a pleasure to run it (the touchpad is super flaky but I usually use a USB mouse with it anyway).

And that in itself is the reason I have a love/hate relationship with CentOS. The stability comes at a price: everything about it is old.

Because it's old you just can't get the latest and greatest version of anything. Then again, because it's Red Hat compatible almost everything is available for it.

Almost! Chrome isn't. Google doesn't distribute a compatible version. But these folks in the UK hacked together a distribution that really works.

I'm using it now to write this. I have been using Opera, but it dogs down in places where I need it to perform, specifically Google Maps (I'm quite proud of this and I need to update it every day).

In typical Chrome fashion, everything is just plain fast.

I'll definitely be using this laptop a lot more in the future.

Now if I could only play UT on it... hmmm...