If you are a hobbyist or developer working with legacy operating systems, I can provide more details on this era of computing.
To understand why Google targeted i686, you must remember the market in 2009. The "Netbook" craze was at its peak. Devices like the ASUS Eee PC, Acer Aspire One, and HP Mini ran Intel Atom processors—specifically the N270 and N280. Google Chrome OS Linux i686 1.0.628 OEM Beta x86
At the time, Google specifically positioned Chrome OS for netbooks and lightweight laptops. The i686 1.0.628 build was designed to boot in under 10 seconds, resume from sleep instantly, and run smoothly on modest hardware like Intel Atom processors with 1–2 GB of RAM. It was a "thin client" OS, shifting the computational heavy lifting to the cloud. If you are a hobbyist or developer working
: Created shortly after Google announced the Chrome OS project in July 2009. Devices like the ASUS Eee PC, Acer Aspire
To run this specific historical version, you generally need to use a recovery-style installation process. ChromeOS 90 | Specs, reviews and EoL info - InvGate