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Wow. Given that this works with ChromeOS, this appears to give me what I've been looking for for a long time: something that makes a Chromebook a usable develo

Wow. Given that this works with ChromeOS, this appears to give me what I've been looking for for a long time: something that makes a Chromebook a usable developer laptop. Now time to buy a Chromebook and try it out.

mattnewton 9y ago
Maybe a stupid question but why not just run Debian on a chrome book, or any cheap laptop? Or spend a bit more for a thinkpad or dell XPS
- haberman 9y ago
  Because I don't want to be a sysadmin. I want to take advantage of all the work Google has done to make ChromeOS a slick user experience, including good drivers, seamless and invisible auto-update, fast boot, integration with Google services, etc.
  - mattnewton 9y ago
    Don’t know why you are being downvoted- this is the exact reason I bought a Mac, can totally sympathize. I hear the dell and thinkpad have this problem solved from the driver point of view at least though.
  - andrepd 9y ago
    It's false that you have to be a sysadmin to run Linux, and the users here know it perfectly well. There hasn't been a laptop (or desktop for that matter) I owned in the past ~8 years that hasn't worked flawlessly out of the box on the latest Ubuntu/Linux Mint (granted, with the exception of dedicated GPU drivers). And I got everything you mentioned: slick UX, good drivers, auto updates, fast boot on SSD. Granted, no integration with Google services, and I consider that a feature. I also have this little extra: Owning my computer, as opposed to paying for it to be controlled by Our Benevolent Overlords.
    - keganunderwood 9y ago
      With fedora and gnome, I don't even dnf upgrade anymore. When I turn of the computer, I just check "install updates" which is unchecked by default. This is how updates should work.
  - 482794793792894 9y ago
    I don't think this sort of bottom-up approach will make you happy, though. You never know what kind of technology you need tomorrow and whether your Chromebook allows you then to handle that. And fixing that then is not possible, not with a bit of sysadmin work.
  - xorcist 9y ago
    > I don't want to be a sysadmin Hence "run Debian on it". The whole reason to run a Linux distribution is that the maintainers do most the sysadmin work for you, and Debian maintainers are among the most skilled sysadmins you can find. You have to keep your filesystems from being full, but apart from that things will Just Work as long as you stay within the Debian tooling.
- eltoozero 9y ago
  > Debian on a chrome book Easier said than done, Chromebooks aren't "computers" in the sense that you could easily or natively install Windows/Linux. ChromeBooks run ChromeOS and often don't even have a BIOS, thus to shoehorn a different OS requires installing SeaBIOS when it isn't present. They're more like an appliance, though GalliumOS[0] works on (most?) x86 Chromebooks. [0]: https://galliumos.org https://galliumos.org
  - lunchables 9y ago
    Why is the definition of a computer suddenly dependent on whether or not you can "easily" install Linux or Windows on it?
danjoc 9y ago
Having tried it, it's an "almost there" solution. Termux is a proot, not a chroot. This means you can't do certain things. You end up in a state where you can run nodejs and react, but you can't run create-react-app successfully. Rustup doesn't work in Termux, when it does booted into Linux on the same chromebook. You can git clone, but you can't clone a repo from a USB stick. Every single time I tried to do any development on it, the attempt ended in "nearly works" frustrations.
- haberman 9y ago
  That's a bummer to hear.
  - keganunderwood 9y ago
    I couldn't do bumpy and jupyter notebook Even though there are tutorials online.
- HyperMassive 9y ago
  I can run create-react-app. just be sure to change npm's global directory.
eltoozero 9y ago
Just a warning, unless you get a "free" Chromebook from a hacker friend you're looking at probably $100 for a new one. In the end you're way better off with a beater $50 eBay thinkpad like my favorite x201. Which supports LibreBoot, is a repairable real computer. Thick is the new thin.
- keganunderwood 9y ago
  $50? Nice find. I have come in possession of a t42 with a cracked display. I've set it up so I can ssh into it but it seems not worth the hassle because 1GB RAM and core2duo (afaik) processor. What is your setup and use case if you don't mind sharing.
  - eltoozero 9y ago
    > $50 If not cheaper, they're sometimes lacking AC adapter and/or drive caddy but that's maybe another $20. X201 (not the tablet x201s) is i5/i7 12", enough pep for my needs, also you can get DisplayPort and modular UltraBay for optical with the optional dock thing. The "dock" actually latches on and can even charge a standby battery with the most awkward external connector ever, if you desire extra thickness in your laptop, and frankly who doesn't.
drux 9y ago
https://blog.lessonslearned.org/building-a-more-secure-development-chromebook/ https://blog.lessonslearned.org/building-a-more-secure-devel...

mattnewton 9y ago

Maybe a stupid question but why not just run Debian on a chrome book, or any cheap laptop? Or spend a bit more for a thinkpad or dell XPS

haberman 9y ago
Because I don't want to be a sysadmin. I want to take advantage of all the work Google has done to make ChromeOS a slick user experience, including good drivers, seamless and invisible auto-update, fast boot, integration with Google services, etc.
- mattnewton 9y ago
  Don’t know why you are being downvoted- this is the exact reason I bought a Mac, can totally sympathize. I hear the dell and thinkpad have this problem solved from the driver point of view at least though.
- andrepd 9y ago
  It's false that you have to be a sysadmin to run Linux, and the users here know it perfectly well. There hasn't been a laptop (or desktop for that matter) I owned in the past ~8 years that hasn't worked flawlessly out of the box on the latest Ubuntu/Linux Mint (granted, with the exception of dedicated GPU drivers). And I got everything you mentioned: slick UX, good drivers, auto updates, fast boot on SSD. Granted, no integration with Google services, and I consider that a feature. I also have this little extra: Owning my computer, as opposed to paying for it to be controlled by Our Benevolent Overlords.
  - keganunderwood 9y ago
    With fedora and gnome, I don't even dnf upgrade anymore. When I turn of the computer, I just check "install updates" which is unchecked by default. This is how updates should work.
- 482794793792894 9y ago
  I don't think this sort of bottom-up approach will make you happy, though. You never know what kind of technology you need tomorrow and whether your Chromebook allows you then to handle that. And fixing that then is not possible, not with a bit of sysadmin work.
- xorcist 9y ago
  > I don't want to be a sysadmin Hence "run Debian on it". The whole reason to run a Linux distribution is that the maintainers do most the sysadmin work for you, and Debian maintainers are among the most skilled sysadmins you can find. You have to keep your filesystems from being full, but apart from that things will Just Work as long as you stay within the Debian tooling.
eltoozero 9y ago
> Debian on a chrome book Easier said than done, Chromebooks aren't "computers" in the sense that you could easily or natively install Windows/Linux. ChromeBooks run ChromeOS and often don't even have a BIOS, thus to shoehorn a different OS requires installing SeaBIOS when it isn't present. They're more like an appliance, though GalliumOS[0] works on (most?) x86 Chromebooks. [0]: https://galliumos.org https://galliumos.org
- lunchables 9y ago
  Why is the definition of a computer suddenly dependent on whether or not you can "easily" install Linux or Windows on it?

danjoc 9y ago

Having tried it, it's an "almost there" solution. Termux is a proot, not a chroot. This means you can't do certain things. You end up in a state where you can run nodejs and react, but you can't run create-react-app successfully. Rustup doesn't work in Termux, when it does booted into Linux on the same chromebook. You can git clone, but you can't clone a repo from a USB stick. Every single time I tried to do any development on it, the attempt ended in "nearly works" frustrations.

haberman 9y ago
That's a bummer to hear.
- keganunderwood 9y ago
  I couldn't do bumpy and jupyter notebook Even though there are tutorials online.
HyperMassive 9y ago
I can run create-react-app. just be sure to change npm's global directory.

eltoozero 9y ago

Just a warning, unless you get a "free" Chromebook from a hacker friend you're looking at probably $100 for a new one. In the end you're way better off with a beater $50 eBay thinkpad like my favorite x201. Which supports LibreBoot, is a repairable real computer. Thick is the new thin.

keganunderwood 9y ago
$50? Nice find. I have come in possession of a t42 with a cracked display. I've set it up so I can ssh into it but it seems not worth the hassle because 1GB RAM and core2duo (afaik) processor. What is your setup and use case if you don't mind sharing.
- eltoozero 9y ago
  > $50 If not cheaper, they're sometimes lacking AC adapter and/or drive caddy but that's maybe another $20. X201 (not the tablet x201s) is i5/i7 12", enough pep for my needs, also you can get DisplayPort and modular UltraBay for optical with the optional dock thing. The "dock" actually latches on and can even charge a standby battery with the most awkward external connector ever, if you desire extra thickness in your laptop, and frankly who doesn't.

drux 9y ago

https://blog.lessonslearned.org/building-a-more-secure-development-chromebook/ https://blog.lessonslearned.org/building-a-more-secure-devel...