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Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS

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  Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-06 15:05 +0000
    Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Randy Westlund <Vorzakir@invalid.invalid> - 2014-03-06 22:49 +0000
      Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS greymausg <maus@mail.com> - 2014-03-07 09:09 +0000
      Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-07 10:46 +0000
    Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS 2phar <none@example.com> - 2014-03-06 18:12 -0500
    Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com> - 2014-03-07 07:23 +0000
      Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-07 07:49 +0000
        Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-07 10:21 +0000
          Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-07 11:49 +0000
            Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-07 12:21 +0000
              Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2014-03-07 19:43 -0400
          Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware  not their OS "wjwlsn" <ibillwilson@gmail.com> - 2014-03-07 15:02 -0600
      Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS root <NoEMail@home.org> - 2014-03-07 19:24 +0000
        Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Alister <alister.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2014-03-07 19:48 +0000
        Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2014-03-07 21:52 +0000
          Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS greymausg <maus@mail.com> - 2014-03-08 11:55 +0000
        Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Rich <rich@example.com> - 2014-03-07 22:17 +0000
          Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-03-08 20:52 +0000
    Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware  not their OS "jonh" <jon@nada-sub.co.uk> - 2014-03-07 01:55 -0600
    Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware  not their OS "tdk" <forum.tdk@squte.com> - 2014-03-07 19:06 -0600
      Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware  not their OS "q.kontinuum" <achsis_of_elvis@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-03-17 07:53 +0100
        Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware  not their OS Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-17 14:22 +0000
        Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware  not their OS "tdk" <forum.tdk@squte.com> - 2014-03-18 14:46 -0600

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#1301 — Buying Chromebooks for their hardware, not their OS

From the screw you, Google department:
Title: Buying Chromebooks for their Hardware, not their OS
Author: Jeff Hoogland
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 04:03:00 -0500
Link: http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2014/03/buying-chromebooks-for-their-hardware.html

I've kind of been on a Chromebook kick lately. Last month I posted a review[1]
of the Acer C720 I picked up recently, to summarize: I really love the
device.

I think computers like Chromebooks are the way of the future, but not because
of their operating system - because of their hardware. Relatively low cost
laptops with SSDs for storage and an insane battery life are everything I
want in a computer.

I liked the hardware specs of the Acer C720 so much, I've decided to replace
not only my old netbook with a Chromebook - but I've replaced my primary work
laptop with one as well. I picked up an HP 14" Chromebook[2] this past
weekend which has identical hardware specs to the Acer C720, while providing
an even longer battery life:

[image 3][3]
Since I started posting about these laptops and my work with Bodhi Linux[4]
on them I've had piles of Linux users ask me why I am buying Chromebooks with
the intent of running something other than ChromeOS on them.

This question is VERY hypocritical.
Some even go so far as to recommend "traditional" laptops that would have
been a better choice. Guess what operating system these traditional laptops
come with? You guessed it: Windows! Buying a Chromebook with the intent of
installing a different Linux distribution on it is no different than
purchasing a Windows laptop with the same intention.

Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a Chromebook
not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware, but I am getting a
laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an amazing battery life. To get
these things from a Windows PC you generally have to pay a giant premium.

In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware at a low
cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer C720[5] or the HP 14"[2]
Chromebooks.

Cheers,
~Jeff Hoogland

Links:
[1]: http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2014/02/acer-c720-review-perfect-little-pc.html (link)
[2]: https://www.google.com/intl/en-us/chrome/devices/hp-14-chromebook.html#hp-cb-14 (link)
[3]: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/assets/common/images/devices/hp-cb-14-chromebook/hero.png (link)
[4]: http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2014/01/howto-bodhi-linux-on-acer-c720.html (link)
[5]: https://www.google.com/intl/en-us/chrome/devices/acer-c720-chromebook.html#ac-c720 (link)

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#1315

On 2014-03-06, RS Wood wrote:
> From the screw you, Google department:
> Title: Buying Chromebooks for their Hardware, not their OS
> Author: Jeff Hoogland
> Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 04:03:00 -0500
> Link: http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2014/03/buying-chromebooks-for-their-hardware.html

This is interesting, I haven't really examined chromebooks.  Does
anyone here use them like this?  I imagine you'd be doing a lot over
ssh/sshfs due to the lack of storage.  It could be nice for working
while traveling -- you could just keep the files you need stored
locally and sync once you get off the plane.

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#1327

On 2014-03-06, Randy Westlund <Vorzakir@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 2014-03-06, RS Wood wrote:
>> From the screw you, Google department:
>> Title: Buying Chromebooks for their Hardware, not their OS
>> Author: Jeff Hoogland
>> Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 04:03:00 -0500
>> Link: http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2014/03/buying-chromebooks-for-their-hardware.html
>
> This is interesting, I haven't really examined chromebooks.  Does
> anyone here use them like this?  I imagine you'd be doing a lot over
> ssh/sshfs due to the lack of storage.  It could be nice for working
> while traveling -- you could just keep the files you need stored
> locally and sync once you get off the plane.
>


I got one about a year ago, an Acer, forget the number, cheap, shoddy
keyboard. It wouldnt accept Linux, no bios, there was a workaround,
but it was a PITA. I swapped it for something else with my sister, 
who knows nothing about computers, and whos laptop was overrun
with virus. The Chrome system reentered. She loves it, and her friends 
and family have bought Chromes. For 50-60 euros extra, a better keyboaard
was available. 

-- 
maus
 .
  .
...

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#1331

In message <lfau10$ju5$1@dont-email.me> 
  Randy Westlund <Vorzakir@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 2014-03-06, RS Wood wrote:
>> From the screw you, Google department:
>> Title: Buying Chromebooks for their Hardware, not their OS
>> Author: Jeff Hoogland
>> Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 04:03:00 -0500
>> Link: http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2014/03/buying-chromebooks-for-their-hardware.html

> This is interesting, I haven't really examined chromebooks.  Does
> anyone here use them like this?  I imagine you'd be doing a lot over
> ssh/sshfs due to the lack of storage.  It could be nice for working
> while traveling -- you could just keep the files you need stored
> locally and sync once you get off the plane.

If I'd ever seen a desktop Linux that was usable I would consider this,
but I haven't so I haven't.

-- 
It would be a pretty good bet that the gods of a world like this
probably do not play chess and indeed this is the case. In fact no gods
anywhere play chess. They haven't got the imagination. Gods prefer
simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go
Straight To Oblivion; a key to the understanding of all religions is
that a god's idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs.

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#1318

Are there are chromebooks with decent resolution display.. i.e. 1600x900 
or better?

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#1324

On Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:22 +0000, RS Wood wrote:

> 
> Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a
> Chromebook not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware, but I
> am getting a laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an amazing
> battery life. To get these things from a Windows PC you generally have
> to pay a giant premium.
> 
> In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware at a
> low cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer C720[5] or the
> HP 14"[2]
> Chromebooks.

So far the Chromebooks I've seen have ARM processors and small hard 
drives (albeit SSD) or Intel processors and a big hard drive the better 
part of a terabyte).  I'd love one with an ARM and a large hard drive.  

-- hendrik

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#1325

On 2014-03-07 07:23, Hendrik Boom wrote:
> On Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:22 +0000, RS Wood wrote:
> 
>> Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a
>> Chromebook not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware, but I
>> am getting a laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an amazing
>> battery life. To get these things from a Windows PC you generally have
>> to pay a giant premium.
>>
>> In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware at a
>> low cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer C720[5] or the
>> HP 14"[2]
>> Chromebooks.
> 
> So far the Chromebooks I've seen have ARM processors and small hard 
> drives (albeit SSD) or Intel processors and a big hard drive the better 
> part of a terabyte).  I'd love one with an ARM and a large hard drive.  

Wouldn't a netbook for which Linux distros have already been developed
be a better bet? The Google website doesn't give much away about the
Chromebook hardware, but somehow I can't see it running Debian and
Gnome. (Having said that, the battery life of my Debian/Gnome laptop is
about two hours.)

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#1330

On 2014-03-07, Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> wrote:
> On 2014-03-07 07:23, Hendrik Boom wrote:
>> On Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:22 +0000, RS Wood wrote:
>> 
>>> Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a
>>> Chromebook not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware, but I
>>> am getting a laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an amazing
>>> battery life. To get these things from a Windows PC you generally have
>>> to pay a giant premium.
>>>
>>> In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware at a
>>> low cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer C720[5] or the
>>> HP 14"[2]
>>> Chromebooks.
>> 
>> So far the Chromebooks I've seen have ARM processors and small hard 
>> drives (albeit SSD) or Intel processors and a big hard drive the better 
>> part of a terabyte).  I'd love one with an ARM and a large hard drive.  
>
> Wouldn't a netbook for which Linux distros have already been developed
> be a better bet? The Google website doesn't give much away about the
> Chromebook hardware, but somehow I can't see it running Debian and
> Gnome. (Having said that, the battery life of my Debian/Gnome laptop is
> about two hours.)

I've still got an aging netbook (Starling, by System76) and love it - it's
perfect for what I do, and Bodhi flies on it.  But the hardware is close to
dead: doesn't power up reliably (failing hard disk I think), the battery is
dead and can't be replaced, and you have to jiggle the power cord to get it to
power (Apple's magsafe attachment is really useful; I'm sure I damaged this
one by tripping over the power cord and yanking the plug out at an angle that
damaged teh socket).  

So I'm looking for a replacement, and since the only netbooks around are now
used stuff on ebay, Chromebooks look like a reasonable option.

The first chromebooks were ARM chipped and somewhat underpowered, but Samsung,
Acer, and HP all offer Intel (Haswell) chip machines that run well and that
Bodhi and other have had an easy time developing software for.  So it's easy
to get Linux on one.

There are two approaches, apparently.  I'm still learning about this.  One
approach is installing the Linux OS while the chromebook is in developer mode.
It's probably irreversible, but you're installing Linux because you dislike
ChromeOS.  The second method installs Linux like an application so you boot up
into ChomeOS and then run the app, which gets Linux going - slower, but you
can keep the original software intact and have an easier time selling the
machine if you give it up.

I like the idea of ChromeOS for my aging parents, but for me it's close to
unusable because there are no web apps for things I like to do (there's no
ChromeOS SSH or Terminal client that I can find, for example), I usually have
poor network connectivity that makes GoogleDocs-like solutions impossible, and
I mistrust Google anyway.

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#1336

On 2014-03-07 10:21, RS Wood wrote:
> I've still got an aging netbook (Starling, by System76) and love it - it's
> perfect for what I do, and Bodhi flies on it.  But the hardware is close to
> dead: doesn't power up reliably (failing hard disk I think), the battery is
> dead and can't be replaced, and you have to jiggle the power cord to get it to
> power (Apple's magsafe attachment is really useful; I'm sure I damaged this
> one by tripping over the power cord and yanking the plug out at an angle that
> damaged teh socket).

My laptop is just over five years old now, and on its third HDD, second
optical drive, and second fan. Spare parts are still available, and I'm
trying to look after it. The audio out connector has become unreliable,
one day I may go inside with a soldering iron, but I'll be getting an
external audio interface anyway so it may not be so critical.

> So I'm looking for a replacement, and since the only netbooks around are now
> used stuff on ebay, Chromebooks look like a reasonable option.

I see what you mean. MSI Winds (well-supported by Linux distros) are
still available here, but that's about it for netbooks. Nice price though.

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#1337

> My laptop is just over five years old now, and on its third HDD, second
> optical drive, and second fan. Spare parts are still available, and I'm
> trying to look after it. The audio out connector has become unreliable,
> one day I may go inside with a soldering iron, but I'll be getting an
> external audio interface anyway so it may not be so critical.

I've got a friend who still has his 1986-ish Commodore 64, and it boots up just
fine.  Obviously modern hardware is more complicated, but damn it doesn't last
as long.  You've got a long list of hardware woes on a laptop that by my
standards *shouldn't be* that old.  But these days, a five year old laptop is
decrepit.  My old PIII Compaq laptop limped along for nearly ten years, though
it was in bad shape towards the end.  Each new machine lasts for less time,
dammit.

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#1356

RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> writes:

> I've got a friend who still has his 1986-ish Commodore 64, and it
> boots up just fine.  Obviously modern hardware is more complicated,
> but damn it doesn't last as long.  You've got a long list of
> hardware woes on a laptop that by my standards *shouldn't be* that
> old.  But these days, a five year old laptop is decrepit.  My old
> PIII Compaq laptop limped along for nearly ten years, though it was
> in bad shape towards the end.  Each new machine lasts for less time,
> dammit.

I have a couple of P1 Toshiba laptops (430CDS) that still work fine
(plugged in; batteries are defunct) running Slackware 10.0.  Last time
I wanted to use one away from home (which is why I have them), the
PCMCIA wireless card failed to connect to the cafe's server. Card
works at home; maybe server didn't support 802.11b. So Now I need
something newer. But not because the Toshi hardware has failed.

-- 
Mike Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada

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#1350 — Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware not their OS

RS Wood wrote: 

>  The first chromebooks were ARM chipped and somewhat underpowered, but Samsung, 
> Acer, and HP all offer Intel (Haswell) chip machines that run well and that Bodhi 
> and other have had an easy time developing software for. So it's easy to get Linux 
> on one. 
> There are two approaches, apparently. I'm still learning about this. One approach 
> is installing the Linux OS while the chromebook is in developer mode. It's probably 
> irreversible, but you're installing Linux because you dislike ChromeOS. The second 
> method installs Linux like an application so you boot up into ChomeOS and then run 
> the app, which gets Linux going - slower, but you can keep the original software 
> intact and have an easier time selling the machine if you give it up. 


There's a new review of the Acer C720p on Liliputing. It quotes the following specs: 
"11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an Intel Celeron 2955U Haswell processor, 
2GB of RAM, a 32GB solid state drive, and up to 7.5 hours of battery life". 

http://liliputing.com/2014/03/acer-c720p-touchscreen-chromebook-review.html 

The second half of that review discusses the use of a utility called crouton to 
easily install Debian or Ubuntu onto the machine, either in addition to ChromeOS 
or as a replacement. If installed in addition, the two operating systems will reportedly 
share the original ChromeOS kernel, ensuring all devices work properly and allowing 
easy switching back and forth with just a few key presses. I haven't researched 
crouton too much yet, but here is the github link. 

https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton 

Later! 




-- 
I drive a '74 AMC Hornet in my dreams. Also, I really like cheese.
View this thread at http://squte.com/node/5287#comment-16613

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#1344

Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:22 +0000, RS Wood wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a
>> Chromebook not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware, but I
>> am getting a laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an amazing
>> battery life. To get these things from a Windows PC you generally have
>> to pay a giant premium.
>> 
>> In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware at a
>> low cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer C720[5] or the
>> HP 14"[2]
>> Chromebooks.
> 
> So far the Chromebooks I've seen have ARM processors and small hard 
> drives (albeit SSD) or Intel processors and a big hard drive the better 
> part of a terabyte).  I'd love one with an ARM and a large hard drive.  
> 
> -- hendrik

The ones mentioned by the OP have Celeron processors. The size of
the SSD (16Gb) is too small to have much of a linux installation.
I wonder if the Cloud storage can be accessed as a hard drive?

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#1345

On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 19:24:44 +0000, root wrote:

> Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:22 +0000, RS Wood wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>> Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a
>>> Chromebook not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware, but
>>> I am getting a laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an amazing
>>> battery life. To get these things from a Windows PC you generally have
>>> to pay a giant premium.
>>> 
>>> In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware at
>>> a low cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer C720[5] or
>>> the HP 14"[2]
>>> Chromebooks.
>> 
>> So far the Chromebooks I've seen have ARM processors and small hard
>> drives (albeit SSD) or Intel processors and a big hard drive the better
>> part of a terabyte).  I'd love one with an ARM and a large hard drive.
>> 
>> -- hendrik
> 
> The ones mentioned by the OP have Celeron processors. The size of the
> SSD (16Gb) is too small to have much of a linux installation.
> I wonder if the Cloud storage can be accessed as a hard drive?

I spent many years using an acer Aspire 1 with 8gs ssd & a separate 8gb sd 
card as home
I just mounted a shared drive for long-time storage when @ home



-- 
No people are all bad, just as none are all good.
Tecumseh, (Shawnee) to his nephew Spemica Lawba 1790

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#1354

On 2014-03-07, root <NoEMail@home.org> wrote:
> The ones mentioned by the OP have Celeron processors. The size of
> the SSD (16Gb) is too small to have much of a linux installation.
> I wonder if the Cloud storage can be accessed as a hard drive?

It looks like you can get a 128GB SSD that will fit for about $100 US.

This looks intersting, like others I have an aging netbook (Asus Eee
1000HA), and wonder what to replace it with when the time comes since
there appear to be no new netbooks on the market. The Eee is five years
old, still works OK aside from a missing keycap. However it's slow even
with an SSD and Xubuntu, is maxed out at 2GB, and is likely reaching
the end of its expected service life.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Roger Blake (Change "invalid" to "com" for email. Google Groups killfiled.)

  NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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#1370

On 2014-03-07, Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> wrote:
> On 2014-03-07, root <NoEMail@home.org> wrote:
>> The ones mentioned by the OP have Celeron processors. The size of
>> the SSD (16Gb) is too small to have much of a linux installation.
>> I wonder if the Cloud storage can be accessed as a hard drive?
>
> It looks like you can get a 128GB SSD that will fit for about $100 US.
>
> This looks intersting, like others I have an aging netbook (Asus Eee
> 1000HA), and wonder what to replace it with when the time comes since
> there appear to be no new netbooks on the market. The Eee is five years
> old, still works OK aside from a missing keycap. However it's slow even
> with an SSD and Xubuntu, is maxed out at 2GB, and is likely reaching
> the end of its expected service life.
>
and the screen is too small.

-- 
maus
 .
  .
...

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#1355

root <NoEMail@home.org> wrote:
> Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:22 +0000, RS Wood wrote:
> > 
> >> Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a
> >> Chromebook not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware,
> >> but I am getting a laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an
> >> amazing battery life. To get these things from a Windows PC you
> >> generally have to pay a giant premium.
> >> 
> >> In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware
> >> at a low cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer
> >> C720[5] or the HP 14"[2] Chromebooks.
> > 
> > So far the Chromebooks I've seen have ARM processors and small hard
> > drives (albeit SSD) or Intel processors and a big hard drive the
> > better part of a terabyte).  I'd love one with an ARM and a large
> > hard drive.
> > 
> > -- hendrik

> The ones mentioned by the OP have Celeron processors. The size of the
> SSD (16Gb) is too small to have much of a linux installation. I
> wonder if the Cloud storage can be accessed as a hard drive?

Depends upon the installation.  A full install of Slackware takes up
only about 4-6G.  Leaving about 10-12G free.  Yes, not a whole lot, but
it will fit.

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#1381

Rich <rich@example.com> wrote:
> root <NoEMail@home.org> wrote:
>> Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com> wrote:
>> > On Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:05:22 +0000, RS Wood wrote:
>> > 
>> >> Well, I guess it is a small bit different. You see - when I buy a
>> >> Chromebook not only am I not paying a Windows tax for my hardware,
>> >> but I am getting a laptop with a sleek form factor that gets an
>> >> amazing battery life. To get these things from a Windows PC you
>> >> generally have to pay a giant premium.
>> >> 
>> >> In closing, if you are in the market for some sleek Linux hardware
>> >> at a low cost I would highly recommend checking out the Acer
>> >> C720[5] or the HP 14"[2] Chromebooks.
>> > 
>> > So far the Chromebooks I've seen have ARM processors and small hard
>> > drives (albeit SSD) or Intel processors and a big hard drive the
>> > better part of a terabyte).  I'd love one with an ARM and a large
>> > hard drive.
>> > 
>> > -- hendrik
> 
>> The ones mentioned by the OP have Celeron processors. The size of the
>> SSD (16Gb) is too small to have much of a linux installation. I
>> wonder if the Cloud storage can be accessed as a hard drive?
> 
> Depends upon the installation.  A full install of Slackware takes up
> only about 4-6G.  Leaving about 10-12G free.  Yes, not a whole lot, but
> it will fit.

Agreed.  Salix 13.37 system on an AA1 with an 8G SSD:

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       6.6G  4.1G  2.3G  65% /
tmpfs           753M     0  753M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/mmcblk0p1  939M  224M  668M  26% /var
/tmp            245M  8.0K  245M   1% /tmp
/dev/mmcblk0p2   14G  1.9G   12G  14% /home

sda1 is / & /usr. Home & var are on a 16G SDHC card in the left-hand
slot. There's also 512M swap partition on sda3.

Works very well using Fluxbox as a WM.

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#1326 — Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware not their OS

I didn't look too hard yet, but there're a few different Chromebooks listed on 
ebay for $200-300, free shipping. That's well into impulse-buy territory -- my 
wife will be thrilled :) 

But I have heard rumours that (on some of them at least) it's very easy to accidentally 
reinstall the ChromeOS and wipe your third-party OS, so I'd probably want to do 
some reading up on that before committing to buying one to run Linux on it. (And 
actually, I never did get round to dual-booting my Asus Transformer...) 
-- 
--
"Make use of a lover or white-noise machine inside your master bedroom to assist you in drifting off to sleep."
View this thread at http://squte.com/node/5287#comment-16506

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#1359 — Re: Buying Chromebooks for their hardware not their OS

Can you do whole disk encryption on these? 
I have Ubuntu on my laptop and this is the killer feature. 
It's easy to set up and not only protects your data if your laptop is stolen but 
means it's less valuable to the thief who has to install another OS (and that's 
only if you haven't locked down the bios) 
I've tried to install Ubuntu with disk encryption on a USB flash drive before but 
found it unusably slow. 
Has any one tried this on a Chromebook? 

-- 
regards
~tdk
View this thread at http://squte.com/node/5287#comment-16629

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