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Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

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Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#111

Post by shadowgovt »

kennywinker wrote: post #38

In the 1990s Microsoft was heavily criticized, and litigated against, for the deep integration of internet explorer with windows, and their monopoly on operating systems and web browsing. Stunning to think that people are willingly installing chrome the browsers, and chrome the os in 2022.

As history has unfolded, it seems to have become increasingly clear that the antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in the 90s was ill-conceived. At the very least, it doesn't appear to have been based upon any underlying philosophy of monopoly that shows any consistency, for the very reasons you've indicated.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#112

Post by fartcannon »

vorpalhex wrote: post #97
fartcannon wrote: post #66

Schools should be using Linux (or a BSD) exclusively. And preferably, open format alternatives to anything locked down. Proprietary software is fine if the data is easily exported to another format. Transforming a perfectly good Linux machine into a Google data pipeline is a horrible thing to do to children.

I'd love to see you maintain 800 linux laptops kept in the hands of kids. "What do you mean you recompiled ALSA and now you can't join Zoom little Timmy? Did you try invoking modprobe again?"

"Timmy, you recompiled alsa? That's kind of impressive. I'm going to give you some more challenging work to try and help develop your computer skills. We sure are lucky that we have open computers that let you do things besides consume YouTube and be spied on."

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#113

Post by lillecarl »

prmoustache wrote: post #88
jeffbee wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between ChromeOS and any Linux distro is like night and day. The software updates are automatic, unobtrusive, and almost instantaneous. Multitouch input stack actually works. You can attach and detach displays as you like without anything weird happening. And all the binaries are highly optimized with profile guidance and link-time optimization.

> The software updates are automatic, unobtrusive, and almost instantaneous. Multitouch input stack actually works. You can attach and detach displays as you like without anything weird happening. I don't know about that multitouch thing and what it provides (is it similar to using 2 fingers to scroll down), I never have any weird thing happening when I attach/detach display and I would describe my software update as…

> No idea what "binaries highly optimized with profile guidance and link-time optimization" are though.

PGO is a thing where you record runtime information about the program to optimize better later. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13881292/

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#115

Post by sokoloff »

fartcannon wrote: post #112
vorpalhex wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to see you maintain 800 linux laptops kept in the hands of kids. "What do you mean you recompiled ALSA and now you can't join Zoom little Timmy? Did you try invoking modprobe again?"

"Timmy, you recompiled alsa? That's kind of impressive. I'm going to give you some more challenging work to try and help develop your computer skills. We sure are lucky that we have open computers that let you do things besides consume YouTube and be spied on."

No post body was provided.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#116

Post by derefr »

prmoustache wrote: post #28
andrewmutz wrote: post #23

I am writing this comment on Chrome OS Flex and can not say enough good things about Chrome OS Flex. I installed it on my wife's old macbook air (~2013) and it brought new life to a machine that we had written off as useless. The OS does a great job of exactly two things: web browsing and linux stuff. It won't do more than that, but if that's all you need it is great. I honestly think you could make some decent cash…

What does it do better than simply installing any decent linux distro?

Be left with your grandmother for 10 years without needing any kind of maintenance or repair.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#117

Post by wffurr »

wmf wrote: post #44
rufugee wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think their point is that Google is forcing perfectly good hardware into obsolescence unnecessarily.

Exactly. It makes no sense that Chrome OS gets 6 years of updates but Chrome OS Flex gets 10+ years.

ChromeOS Flex doesn't include the bios, firmware, or secure boot system of standard ChromeOS. It relies on an HAL that limits what can be updated.

See https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11542901?hl=e... for more on the difference.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#119

Post by flatiron »

Crontab wrote: post #107
andrewmutz wrote: post #23

I am writing this comment on Chrome OS Flex and can not say enough good things about Chrome OS Flex. I installed it on my wife's old macbook air (~2013) and it brought new life to a machine that we had written off as useless. The OS does a great job of exactly two things: web browsing and linux stuff. It won't do more than that, but if that's all you need it is great. I honestly think you could make some decent cash…

I am typing this on a mid-2013 Macbook Air and it doesn't feel useless to me - although I maxed out the RAM to 8GB when I ordered it.

My daily driver is a 2013 air on arch. Works 100% perfect for everything I want to do. My work computer is an i7 32 gig beast. I don’t need that for checking gmail.

Re: Early Access to Chrome OS Flex: The Upgrade PCs and Macs

#120

Post by cmrdporcupine »

prmoustache wrote: post #28
andrewmutz wrote: post #23

I am writing this comment on Chrome OS Flex and can not say enough good things about Chrome OS Flex. I installed it on my wife's old macbook air (~2013) and it brought new life to a machine that we had written off as useless. The OS does a great job of exactly two things: web browsing and linux stuff. It won't do more than that, but if that's all you need it is great. I honestly think you could make some decent cash…

What does it do better than simply installing any decent linux distro?

I put stock Ubuntu on a 2011 Air and I've been having all sorts of problems with it, most notably black screen on re-opening the lid after every 2nd closure. And power management generally.

So I'd be tempted to try the Flex thing just to see how that goes.

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