Google recently showcased the Ferrochrome project, a partnership aimed at preparing a Special assembly of the Chromium OS operating system. This assembly is designed to run in a virtual machine on devices with the Android platform. During the demonstration, the Chromium OS interface was projected on a large screen connected to the Pixel 8 smartphone. This advancement opens up the possibility of launching Chromium OS to create a fully functional work environment by connecting a smartphone to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
With the release of Android 13, the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) has been added to the platform. AVF is based on the hypervisor KVM and instrumentation tool crosvm, enabling virtual machines to run different operating systems. Google has utilized AVF to create Microdroid assemblies for isolating third-party system components.
Although the Ferrochrome assembly is not yet available to the public, Google has created a guide on launching Chromium OS in a virtual machine using AVF. Enthusiasts have already succeeded in reproducing the launch of Chromium OS on the Pixel smartphone 7 Pro C by connecting it to an external screen, keyboard, and mouse.