Have a Pixel book and been using the new GNU/Linux support and supported everything thrown at it. Supports Docker, Wine, Eclipse, AS, and Steam.
Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
171–180 of 190 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#172You can use Termux on a Chromebook to run Linux already and develop. See termux.com and https://medium.com/digitalcrafts/exiting-vim-on-a-touch-scre... This is without going into dev too. You just need to enable android on your chromebook.
Prefer GNUroot over Termux.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
In OPs defence: if they work in one of the main tech hubs then pretty much all they will likely see people using is MacBooks. I guess a better way to have phrased the question is “do development on a laptop with a cloud based operating system rather than a traditional OS”
Last time I attended a developer meetup here in Berlin I saw more ThinkPads than Macbooks...
Yeah, I think in Germany it's more like 50/50 for small companies with a big trend to 90% Apple with freelancers and 90% Thinkpad/Dell for bigger companies.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Anyone who isn't already backed up to at least 1 cloud service is stuck in the last decade. Are finances not a concern here, or am I missing something else with this suggestion? I don't backup _anything_ to a cloud provider because my last-decades solutions (automation + home network NAS or SAN at work) _just works_, and I, and my company, don't need the recurring costs hit from a cloud provider.
For many people here the finances of their tech are not a concern. It’s the source of our income so minor efficiencies can have a big impact on productivity and income. For me any reasonable expense that I will gain value from is worthwhile. If you are a software engineer and you are concerned about $100/year in cost for your backup system, you might want to consider your priorities.
I guess... I make considerably more than that and my wife makes even more than I do (both of us are Software Engineers, no kids yet) and I have way more important and interesting shit to spend my money (and time) on than cloud provider backups. We also both grew up relatively poor, her from an immigrant family and myself from hillbillies in the Appalachians. Maybe that has something to do with it.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
this looks like my dream machine. Two questions: how is the fan noise, and where did you find 1tb ssd drives so cheap?
I'm also running a t450, albeit w/ only 16gb ram and a 500gb ssd. Fan noise is not bad, certainly not loud enough to be distracting. I purchased mine refurb through Amazon for the 6 month warranty, but didn't need to use it. Wifi works great under Debian, but I could not get the Bluetooth card to work reliably. I replaced it with a card designed for the t430, but it wasn't all that easy. I would advise just using a U…
On my T430:
synclient TouchpadOff=1
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
For many people here the finances of their tech are not a concern. It’s the source of our income so minor efficiencies can have a big impact on productivity and income. For me any reasonable expense that I will gain value from is worthwhile. If you are a software engineer and you are concerned about $100/year in cost for your backup system, you might want to consider your priorities.
I guess... I make considerably more than that and my wife makes even more than I do (both of us are Software Engineers, no kids yet) and I have way more important and interesting shit to spend my money (and time) on than cloud provider backups. We also both grew up relatively poor, her from an immigrant family and myself from hillbillies in the Appalachians. Maybe that has something to do with it.
A lot of people who grow up poor have a hard time adjusting their spending habits to optimize their life when they become well off.
I've known such people who will go through great aggravation, follow on sunk costs no good reason, and waste a lot of time - just to save a few dollars or feel they didn't waste money.
I waste probably a few thousand dollars a year on expenditures I never utilize. If the dollar amount is below the cost of the aggravation, I generally won't bother.
If you're working as a software engineer, I assume you are making at least $100,000. A $100 annual cost to ensure your data is saved, and the time savings from maintaining a local backup, seems well worth it and it doesn't make sense to me for that cost to weigh into the decision.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess... I make considerably more than that and my wife makes even more than I do (both of us are Software Engineers, no kids yet) and I have way more important and interesting shit to spend my money (and time) on than cloud provider backups. We also both grew up relatively poor, her from an immigrant family and myself from hillbillies in the Appalachians. Maybe that has something to do with it.
A lot of people who grow up poor have a hard time adjusting their spending habits to optimize their life when they become well off. I've known such people who will go through great aggravation, follow on sunk costs no good reason, and waste a lot of time - just to save a few dollars or feel they didn't waste money. I waste probably a few thousand dollars a year on expenditures I never utilize. If the dollar amount is…
How can you assume someone is making at least $100k if he is working as a software engineer? There's more to the world than the Bay Area.
At Italy maybe 30% of that is the average.
Even in the US this is not the average salary for software engineers if you look outside of the Bay Area and Seattle.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#178Two months with the Pixelbook i7, don't regret investing that much on a Chromebook, which was my main concern. Kept the old MBP just in case and it's been just sitting there, even through tax season.
Pretty happy with performance, Linux apps work well but still "feel" a little out of place. Very like how it runs Android apps, so much works but it's just the issues that DO come up that can be frustrating. If you're not ready for that experience then it might not make sense to switch your main dev machine.
Doubt I'll ever buy a laptop bigger than this one ever again, but it is a little harder to dev directly on this, mainly bc of that MBP trackpad, but this keyboard is MUCH better.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess... I make considerably more than that and my wife makes even more than I do (both of us are Software Engineers, no kids yet) and I have way more important and interesting shit to spend my money (and time) on than cloud provider backups. We also both grew up relatively poor, her from an immigrant family and myself from hillbillies in the Appalachians. Maybe that has something to do with it.
A lot of people who grow up poor have a hard time adjusting their spending habits to optimize their life when they become well off. I've known such people who will go through great aggravation, follow on sunk costs no good reason, and waste a lot of time - just to save a few dollars or feel they didn't waste money. I waste probably a few thousand dollars a year on expenditures I never utilize. If the dollar amount is…
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Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you talking about the threat of Google getting hacked? Because otherwise ChromeOS seems considerably more secure than OS X or Windows
ChromeOS encourages you to store files using Google Drive. There is the threat of Google being compromised, yes, even though they take security much more seriously than the average company. More likely, your own account can be hacked, since it's out there on the web and not all developers are security-minded, sadly. But there's also the concern that you can have your Google account shut down and it may be difficult t…
Assuming you install updates from your OS vendor regularly, than Microsoft or Apple getting hacked is game over anyway. Google has some if the best tools available for securing your account (very solid 2fa if you set it up right)