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ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

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Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#51

Post by forgot-my-pw »

maccio92 wrote: post #26
jrockway wrote: post #23

I used Chrome OS as my primary OS when I worked at Google. I didn't really like screwing around with the Linux desktop, so I just used a Chrome OS desktop as an interface onto a more powerful Linux box. All I really use are a terminal and a browser, so it worked fine. It never did anything that annoyed me; it just stayed out of my way and I could get my work done without annoyance. It also solved the problem I've alw…

> With Chrome OS, that was never a problem, all my settings sync'd perfectly between my two desktops (home/work) and laptop did these two desktops also use Chrome OS? This sounds pretty nice

Non-chrome OS: It syncs your Chrome browser settings (bookmarks, credentials, etc).

On other Chrome OS: It syncs your Chrome browser + the OS settings.

Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#52

Post by cdh »

simonh wrote: post #19
IvanK_net wrote: post #9

I remember when Microsoft was fined for not offering other browsers to users: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/mar/06/microsoft... . Chrome OS can not even install other borwsers by default, and it seems like nobody cares :/

That laws suit was crazy. Every other competing OS came with a browser, and how are you even going to download a third party browser, if the OS doesn't come with a client you can use to download it with? The 'browser selection dialog' was just Bonkers. What if I wanted one that wasn't in the court-approved list? I need MS to install IE, so I can use it to go and get IceWeasel, or whatever. Leave them alone!

> how are you even going to download a third party browser, if the OS doesn't come with a client you can use to download it with?

Software was distributed offline as well. It seems like a long time ago now, but there was no shortage of AOL installation discs at the time.

(In fact, I believe both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator were distributed on floppy disks at one point, although that would have been long before the antitrust case.)

Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#53

Post by taude »

garren wrote: post #43
taude wrote: post #18

I'm interested in responses here. I'd like to get a lightwight laptop, similar to my 11" Mac Book Air. I don't feel like I want to pay Apple prices for a second "travel" machine. I would like to be able to run Emacs on it. It doesn't have to be full blown dev machine, but I'd like some of my simple tooling, and backup to cloud storage to share with my main work machines. I currently using an iPad with a Brydge keyboa…

I recently picked up a Yoga C630 out of curiosity. I figured that if the chromeos thing didn't work out, then I could probably install linux. It turns out that the C630 is a pretty capable machine - I'd initially toy'd with developer mode but gave up pretty quickly once I found crostini. The chrome crostini project [0] basically gives you a little container in which you can run a terminal (probably more, but a termin…

This is pretty interesting. Thank's for the details, I might try this out.

Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#55

Post by swixmix »

csytan wrote: post #49
swixmix wrote: post #24

I use ChromeOS with a chromebook. It works fine but it's not a convenient swiss army knife. For example: To use 'adb' to connect to my phone I know of three options. 1 Use Chrome but that is extremely limited to web. 2 Activate developer mode and upgrade adb to current. Or 3 Connect to another device like rpi. I chose to activate developer mode for convenience. I run OpenBSD via qemu for a decent CLI. I keep a loopba…

Are there any disadvantages to choosing developer mode?

It's no longer a safe and supported system. (Opposite of what I really want.)

Also the nag screen on reboot is alarmingly bright and, i think, just gives directions to disable developer mode.

Always backup your files if you use developer mode.

Always backup your files if you use the linux system.

Always backup your files.

Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#56

Post by O1111OOO »

IvanK_net wrote: post #9

I remember when Microsoft was fined for not offering other browsers to users: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/mar/06/microsoft... . Chrome OS can not even install other borwsers by default, and it seems like nobody cares :/

> Chrome OS can not even install other borwsers by default

We live in weird times when there is (almost) only one browser left... Chrome (chrome-clones). The argument may soon be moot regardless of market share or other variables.

(Of course, I'm stretching this a bit for effect but it's scary to think about).

Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#57

Post by simonh »

cdh wrote: post #52
simonh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That laws suit was crazy. Every other competing OS came with a browser, and how are you even going to download a third party browser, if the OS doesn't come with a client you can use to download it with? The 'browser selection dialog' was just Bonkers. What if I wanted one that wasn't in the court-approved list? I need MS to install IE, so I can use it to go and get IceWeasel, or whatever. Leave them alone!

> how are you even going to download a third party browser, if the OS doesn't come with a client you can use to download it with? Software was distributed offline as well. It seems like a long time ago now, but there was no shortage of AOL installation discs at the time. (In fact, I believe both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator were distributed on floppy disks at one point, although that would have been long…

2001 was at an inflection point where it was very rapidly becoming clear that argument was archaic. In any case, the fact that everyone else was giving away browsers for free is hardly a great argument that Microsoft should be prevented distributing it for free also, and if they can why not let them bundle it?

The world of 2001 was very rapidly becoming the connected world we're in now, and imposing a restriction on anyone like that now would just seem ludicrous and in fact user hostile, as it was. To me and I think anyone else paying attention back then, that was very obvious.

Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#58

Post by dustinmr »

chuhnk wrote: post #3

After my macbook pro keyboard became completely unusable and keys literally started to fall off I went out and bought a Pixelbook and handed my Macbook in for repair. I'll tell you right now, I'll never go back and I immediately understood that Apple are truly screwed. The macbook is dead and they don't even know it. All developers will eventually move to a Chromebook, Surface or whatever else. Chrome OS for me is pe…

Agreed. I’ve been using one for about a year. It’s my favorite machine since my first MacBook Air.

Good keyboard, decent screen, long battery life.

The only thing I’d have done differently would be to have gotten the i7 version.

Re: ASK HN: Has anyone adopted Chrome OS as their primary OS?

#59

Post by KRuchan »

jrockway wrote: post #23

I used Chrome OS as my primary OS when I worked at Google. I didn't really like screwing around with the Linux desktop, so I just used a Chrome OS desktop as an interface onto a more powerful Linux box. All I really use are a terminal and a browser, so it worked fine. It never did anything that annoyed me; it just stayed out of my way and I could get my work done without annoyance. It also solved the problem I've alw…

You might want to try the Pixel Slate as a iPad Pro replacement as that would fix most of your issues. Several folks report doing this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pixel_slate
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