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Any cheap old laptop works just as well if not better if you just want to use ssh into another box! I personaly snapped up a nice Asus netbook with built in 3g

by Zenst 14y ago

Any cheap old laptop works just as well if not better if you just want to use ssh into another box! I personaly snapped up a nice Asus netbook with built in 3g modem, wifi and bluetooth and cuts a lovely battery life. But a nice cheap chromebook is probably the best option for most unless you can find a cheap netbook of comparable use. Though ironicly none have beat my old psion 5mx (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5) for battery life and that can do ssh as well, sadly though IRDA and serial are not the cutting edge comm's standards. Have been a few that come close, but just not jumped out at me. That said I'm still awaiting for something of that form factor with some modern love. That all said if Mr Linux Linus is happy with a chromebook as a dev machince, then they must be doing something right, though a Chrome pixel just for SSH would be fiscal perversion on my budget.

mcintyre1994 14y ago
> Any cheap old laptop works just as well if not better if you just want to use ssh into another box! Agreed, and if you put Ubuntu on it (or the Chromebook), doesn't this all become much easier with its remote login from the login page feature? Not sure if any other distros have that too, but regardless, surely it'd be much easier? >though a Chrome pixel just for SSH would be fiscal perversion on my budget. According to the article a MacBook Air used to fill this role, totally agree that both are crazy expensive for that.
protomyth 14y ago
It's a true shame no manufacture has released a modern version of the Psion 5mx. If there is a market for Linux / BSD portables, that would fill it nicely.
mtgx 14y ago
A cheap netbook of the same price will invariably be worse in some way, since the Windows license cost is included, so they've had to cut corners somewhere, and it might not show in the specs list, but in the build quality of the device, its thinness/lightness, the quality of the display, etc
- untog 14y ago
  Not necessarily. Dell sold Ubuntu laptops that cost more than the Windows one, because they made money by charging software companies to have their software bundled with Windows. There's also the issue of scale- a production run of Linux laptops would sell considerably less than Windows ones.
- Zenst 14y ago
  Since the tablet fad, netbooks have stagnated and some lovely models for sale at silly cheap prices. As for this windows TAX, well, you are not oblidged to use it and the one I got was half the price of a Chromebook, what more can one say.

by Zenst 14y ago

mcintyre1994 14y ago

> Any cheap old laptop works just as well if not better if you just want to use ssh into another box! Agreed, and if you put Ubuntu on it (or the Chromebook), doesn't this all become much easier with its remote login from the login page feature? Not sure if any other distros have that too, but regardless, surely it'd be much easier? >though a Chrome pixel just for SSH would be fiscal perversion on my budget. According to the article a MacBook Air used to fill this role, totally agree that both are crazy expensive for that.

protomyth 14y ago

It's a true shame no manufacture has released a modern version of the Psion 5mx. If there is a market for Linux / BSD portables, that would fill it nicely.

mtgx 14y ago

A cheap netbook of the same price will invariably be worse in some way, since the Windows license cost is included, so they've had to cut corners somewhere, and it might not show in the specs list, but in the build quality of the device, its thinness/lightness, the quality of the display, etc

untog 14y ago
Not necessarily. Dell sold Ubuntu laptops that cost more than the Windows one, because they made money by charging software companies to have their software bundled with Windows. There's also the issue of scale- a production run of Linux laptops would sell considerably less than Windows ones.
Zenst 14y ago
Since the tablet fad, netbooks have stagnated and some lovely models for sale at silly cheap prices. As for this windows TAX, well, you are not oblidged to use it and the one I got was half the price of a Chromebook, what more can one say.