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I'm curious, but is a Chromebook useful in offline mode? My family and I have been on sabbatical sailing half the planet so far. Internet has been a big headach

by yardie 10y ago

I'm curious, but is a Chromebook useful in offline mode? My family and I have been on sabbatical sailing half the planet so far. Internet has been a big headache as Iridium tops out at 2400bps. And data plans in developing countries and islands can be extremely expensive, up to $1/MB. I've found our android tablets to be more crashy offline as apps that can't get an internet connection go braindead, blank, or just kick you out. Based on my Android experience I've been reluctant to get a chromebook even though I know they are popular in schools. As a parent I'm also concerned about the privacy aspects. I believe schools get a special Chromebook that cuts back on the tracking, does this hold true for their retail models?

mixedmath 10y ago
The short answer is no. But if you are a bit confident in your Linux skills, then I would recommend looking into Crouton [1], which allows you to easily access a fully functional Linux. I'm not sure what you're after, but this is what I use, and it satisfies all my needs. [I mean, it's just a Linux laptop, but that's what I need]. [1]: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton
- yardie 10y ago
  We're already running Debian onboard. Just wanted to see if ChromeOS would be more useful since schools are using it.
keithpeter 10y ago
"...on sabbatical sailing half the planet so far... Internet has been a big headache as Iridium tops out at 2400bps..." Interesting use case. How about a solid refurbished laptop (or rooted Chromebook) with a set of Debian stable DVDs (you can install thousands of packages offline) and a local install of Wikipedia[1] and a dump of Project Gutenberg[2]? Save that couple of kilobauds for email. [1] http://xowa.org/home/wiki/App/Import/English_Wikipedia.html#Option_2:_Download_the_wiki_from_archive.org http://xowa.org/home/wiki/App/Import/English_Wikipedia.html#... [2] http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/12311/how-to-download-all-english-books-from-gutenberg http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/12311/how-to-down...
- yardie 10y ago
  I was really interested in ChromeOS. We have a loads of laptops and tablets onboard for entertainment, navigation, schooling, and boat management. I saw that the Chromebooks were really popular and figure it might replace one or two of our laptops that are slowly dissolving in the salty air. But working offline for months at time is essential. This old battle axe of a Macbook Pro will have to keep on trucking. I've already lost the SD-card slot and glass is cracked (dropped from a motorbike)
witty_username 10y ago
> I'm curious, but is a Chromebook useful in offline mode? My family and I have been on sabbatical sailing half the planet so far. Internet has been a big headache as Iridium tops out at 2400bps. And data plans in developing countries and islands can be extremely expensive, up to $1/MB. Not used a Chromebook, but I assume whatever works in offline mode in Chrome (e.g. Google Docs and Amazon Kindle) works in a Chromebook. > As a parent I'm also concerned about the privacy aspects. I believe schools get a special Chromebook that cuts back on the tracking, does this hold true for their retail models? I don't think Chromebooks have any additional tracking beyond what Chrome has.

by yardie 10y ago

mixedmath 10y ago

The short answer is no. But if you are a bit confident in your Linux skills, then I would recommend looking into Crouton [1], which allows you to easily access a fully functional Linux. I'm not sure what you're after, but this is what I use, and it satisfies all my needs. [I mean, it's just a Linux laptop, but that's what I need]. [1]: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton

yardie 10y ago
We're already running Debian onboard. Just wanted to see if ChromeOS would be more useful since schools are using it.

keithpeter 10y ago

"...on sabbatical sailing half the planet so far... Internet has been a big headache as Iridium tops out at 2400bps..." Interesting use case. How about a solid refurbished laptop (or rooted Chromebook) with a set of Debian stable DVDs (you can install thousands of packages offline) and a local install of Wikipedia[1] and a dump of Project Gutenberg[2]? Save that couple of kilobauds for email. [1] http://xowa.org/home/wiki/App/Import/English_Wikipedia.html#Option_2:_Download_the_wiki_from_archive.org http://xowa.org/home/wiki/App/Import/English_Wikipedia.html#... [2] http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/12311/how-to-download-all-english-books-from-gutenberg http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/12311/how-to-down...

yardie 10y ago
I was really interested in ChromeOS. We have a loads of laptops and tablets onboard for entertainment, navigation, schooling, and boat management. I saw that the Chromebooks were really popular and figure it might replace one or two of our laptops that are slowly dissolving in the salty air. But working offline for months at time is essential. This old battle axe of a Macbook Pro will have to keep on trucking. I've already lost the SD-card slot and glass is cracked (dropped from a motorbike)

witty_username 10y ago

> I'm curious, but is a Chromebook useful in offline mode? My family and I have been on sabbatical sailing half the planet so far. Internet has been a big headache as Iridium tops out at 2400bps. And data plans in developing countries and islands can be extremely expensive, up to $1/MB. Not used a Chromebook, but I assume whatever works in offline mode in Chrome (e.g. Google Docs and Amazon Kindle) works in a Chromebook. > As a parent I'm also concerned about the privacy aspects. I believe schools get a special Chromebook that cuts back on the tracking, does this hold true for their retail models? I don't think Chromebooks have any additional tracking beyond what Chrome has.