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About time - many schools in Denmark is now offering free Chromebooks to students. Wonder what they'll do with them now.

noisy_boy 4y ago
Maybe that presents possibility for Linux on Chromebook migration project.
- O__________O 4y ago
  Oddly, Linux is hard, if not impossible, to run on many Chromebooks as root. A lot of Chromebooks only support “linux beta” (aka Crostini) as a subsystem of ChromeOS and the hardware doesn’t support running Linux as root from boot; frequently the low end models.
  - hardwaresofton 4y ago
    > Oddly, Linux is hard, if not impossible, to run on many Chromebooks as root. A lot of Chromebooks only support “linux beta” (aka Crostini) as a subsystem of ChromeOS and the hardware doesn’t support running Linux as root from boot; frequently the low end models. Does any one know the reason for this -- was there ever a good description given by someone technical on the project as to why it worked out that way? All I can imagine is malice/ill-intent and I'd like to be wrong. It just seems so unlikely that somehow it was cheaper/easier to have the hardware not boot linux. I remember seeing the chromebook story on HN lately[0][1] and I was kind of disgusted by it. The technical aspects might be great, but completely beside the point that those machines are basically on-ramps to google's surveillance ecosystem. I can only think of them as the hardware version of Facebook's internet.org push -- If a whole generation grows up to think that running programs is launching domains that end in google.com, who benefits? Maybe a whole new generation will have easier access to VS Code and be able to build cool new stuff, and they'll run linux in VMs/crostini or whatever, but I can't fight the nagging feeling that a bunch of people will just stick with consumption. Figuring out how to install a program was hard, but it engendered a feeling of self-determination and control. Seems like Google wants to build the WALL-E future. All that said, in recent memory this world has also produced: - System76 - Framework - Pinebook - RISCV - Tons of SBCs that are more and more performant and can function as full blown computing devices for cheap And Google makes huge contributions (monetary and otherwise) to open source software and hardware, organizations, and projects. Are things good or bad? Yes, I guess. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32198762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32198762 [1]: https://mobile.twitter.com/timsneath/status/1550598445248811008 https://mobile.twitter.com/timsneath/status/1550598445248811...
    - O__________O 4y ago
      All I know is the motherboard was the filter given on this site: https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices No reasoning is provided. If you’re curious, I sure you could contact the author for clarification.
      - hardwaresofton 4y ago
        Thanks for this link, what ac detailed resource
hestefisk 4y ago
I think it’s time for those executives in public sector who approved the purchase of those laptops to “please explain” why they procured them without checking data sovereignty compliance first.

noisy_boy 4y ago

Maybe that presents possibility for Linux on Chromebook migration project.

O__________O 4y ago
Oddly, Linux is hard, if not impossible, to run on many Chromebooks as root. A lot of Chromebooks only support “linux beta” (aka Crostini) as a subsystem of ChromeOS and the hardware doesn’t support running Linux as root from boot; frequently the low end models.
- hardwaresofton 4y ago
  > Oddly, Linux is hard, if not impossible, to run on many Chromebooks as root. A lot of Chromebooks only support “linux beta” (aka Crostini) as a subsystem of ChromeOS and the hardware doesn’t support running Linux as root from boot; frequently the low end models. Does any one know the reason for this -- was there ever a good description given by someone technical on the project as to why it worked out that way? All I can imagine is malice/ill-intent and I'd like to be wrong. It just seems so unlikely that somehow it was cheaper/easier to have the hardware not boot linux. I remember seeing the chromebook story on HN lately[0][1] and I was kind of disgusted by it. The technical aspects might be great, but completely beside the point that those machines are basically on-ramps to google's surveillance ecosystem. I can only think of them as the hardware version of Facebook's internet.org push -- If a whole generation grows up to think that running programs is launching domains that end in google.com, who benefits? Maybe a whole new generation will have easier access to VS Code and be able to build cool new stuff, and they'll run linux in VMs/crostini or whatever, but I can't fight the nagging feeling that a bunch of people will just stick with consumption. Figuring out how to install a program was hard, but it engendered a feeling of self-determination and control. Seems like Google wants to build the WALL-E future. All that said, in recent memory this world has also produced: - System76 - Framework - Pinebook - RISCV - Tons of SBCs that are more and more performant and can function as full blown computing devices for cheap And Google makes huge contributions (monetary and otherwise) to open source software and hardware, organizations, and projects. Are things good or bad? Yes, I guess. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32198762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32198762 [1]: https://mobile.twitter.com/timsneath/status/1550598445248811008 https://mobile.twitter.com/timsneath/status/1550598445248811...
  - O__________O 4y ago
    All I know is the motherboard was the filter given on this site: https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices No reasoning is provided. If you’re curious, I sure you could contact the author for clarification.
    - hardwaresofton 4y ago
      Thanks for this link, what ac detailed resource

hestefisk 4y ago

I think it’s time for those executives in public sector who approved the purchase of those laptops to “please explain” why they procured them without checking data sovereignty compliance first.