Because Google dropped support for 32-bit x86 years ago, versions like this are primarily kept alive by archivists. You can sometimes find legacy builds on sites like The Internet Archive if you are looking to run them on vintage hardware for nostalgia.
Based on an early Linux 2.6.x kernel branch, customized for rapid boot times.
This specific build represents the "proof of concept" phase of Chrome OS. It was a way for users to turn old 32-bit laptops into "Chromebooks" before the actual Chromebook hardware existed. It was lightweight, restricted to the browser, and entirely dependent on the web.
While modern users know ChromeOS as a polished, Android-integrated system, early iterations like version 1.0.628 were far more experimental. These builds were often compiled for the i686 architecture—the standard for the 32-bit x86 processors used in the netbooks that originally popularized the "cloud-first" concept. The Evolution of Early ChromeOS
Let’s wind the clock back to late 2009. The world was still recovering from the financial crisis. Windows 7 had just launched to rave reviews, and Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala” was the darling of the Linux world. But in a quiet corner of Mountain View, Google was preparing to challenge everything we knew about operating systems.
While visually just a browser, the underlying system was a lightweight Linux distribution—initially based on Ubuntu before the development team switched to Gentoo in early 2010.
