Unboxing a $100 Chromebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#161

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 3:28 PM UTC

bla3 wrote: post #140

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #21

> Like, real Linux, not some weird virtualized or translated environment. Ah, no. It is very much specifically in a container inside a VM. Now, full credit where it's due: You're unlikely to notice. Performance is good, they've done work integrating it (filesystem integration, forwarding windows to the host display servers through Sommelier). But native it is not. (Details: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumo…

The tweet says "in a container". It _is_ real Linux in a container. I think the part you quoted is supposed to mean "not WSL".

WSL 1 was ABI emulation, which I agree is different. But WSL 2 is Linux in a VM, which is actually one layer less than this, because this is Linux in a container in a VM.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#162

Post by deergomoo » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

morninglight wrote: post #10

shrubble wrote: post #4

https://www.microcenter.com/product/649971/evolve-iii-maestr... On sale $59.99 ; regular price $79.99. Smallish keyboard however...

Bought a couple of these for the kids, and they love them. Not a Chromebook, but surprisingly well made and priced like a Raspberry Pi. Even has an LTE modem. Comes with Windows 10 Pro Education installed, and I haven't seen any difference from our other Win 10 installations. Of course, you could also buy it from Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/evolve-iii-maestro-e-book-...

> Comes with Windows 10 Pro Education installed, and I haven't seen any difference from our other Win 10 installations

The stuff it’s missing could actually be considered an advantage, as it’s a lot of stuff people find an annoyance in modern Windows.

“Windows 10 Education builds on Windows 10 Enterprise and provides the enterprise-grade manageability and security desired by many schools. Windows 10 Education is effectively a variant of Windows 10 Enterprise that provides education-specific default settings, including the removal of Cortana*. These default settings disable tips, tricks and suggestions & Microsoft Store suggestions.”

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/windows-10-edition...

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#163

Post by mark_l_watson » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

I read that thread on Twitter earlier today. Great stuff.

I bought a Lenovo Duet 2 last year - similar comments: except for my phone, the Duet could replace all of my devices, at a drastically low cost. Except, while it does everything, the CPU and memory are weak. If I were poor, it could easily be my only device and do everything I need. But, I am not poor and have 2 Mac laptops, 2 iPad Pros, and a really nice System76 Linux laptop. Still, the Duet is amazing for the money. Chromebooks are great generally for security and low effort admin, and the Linux containers handy - but, in using Google products it is really important to carefully set privacy and data sharing options.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#164

Post by ac29 » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

permo-w wrote: post #144

dTal wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd have thought that would be even lower spec than the Chromebook.

would it? I'm curious to know

The Chromebook in the post has two 1.1GHz Atom cores^, so a $5 VPS even if it is only 1 hardware thread on a modern-ish server processor is probably significantly faster.

^It can boost higher, but probably not for long with a 6W TDP and no active cooling

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#165

Post by mark_l_watson » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:49 PM UTC

agraddy wrote: post #129

prox wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been using an iPad as a remote workstation. Powerful enough, some great apps and a small package to carry around.

I've debated what I want to use for my next device. I've definitely considered getting an iPad as an option.

With iPadOS 26, StageManager, and when home plugging into a large monitor and using a Bluetooth mouse, this is indeed possible.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#166

Post by mark_l_watson » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

davidbanham wrote: post #146

farmin wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What apps do you use on ipad for development?

I use Blink to mosh in to a server where I do my work through tmux, vim, etc. I use Safari to view the stuff I’m building. There’s a Safari dev tools plugin which sucks compared to Firefox dev tools but it’s okay in a pinch. I use NoMachine to remote into the graphical desktop environment of the server on the rare occasion I need to use a real browser.

I really liked Blink, paid for it, and then was forced to buy it again when they updated it, or get advertisements to upgrade. Really clumsy and annoying since the earlier version did everything I needed.

I went back to just using Prompt app, with tmux on remote servers.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#167

Post by justinhj » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 7:06 PM UTC

haunter wrote: post #141

rvdginste wrote: post #106

With these kinds of really cheap devices, it always makes me wonder whether you are not better off buying older used hardware instead... especially if you are looking for a cheap linux laptop. For example, some time ago I got a Thinkpad X200 tablet in good condition off ebay for that price. I was mainly interested in the tablet functionality, but it's a nice little laptop that is still usable today. Even if you are s…

Agreed. I got an i5 Thinkpad x230 from eBay for similar price (~$120) and arguably it's much better in every aspect (probably not in thinness and weight)

I bought a damaged x230 to restore and play around with. I now use it for all my side projects and outside of work. It’s a really nice size and I love the keyboard.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#168

Post by haunter » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 7:32 PM UTC

justinhj wrote: post #167

haunter wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I got an i5 Thinkpad x230 from eBay for similar price (~$120) and arguably it's much better in every aspect (probably not in thinness and weight)

I bought a damaged x230 to restore and play around with. I now use it for all my side projects and outside of work. It’s a really nice size and I love the keyboard.

Love mine too, it's a great notebook. Recently started hunting for a palm rest part with the built-in fingerprint reader, for whatever reason just love that more than using a USB key.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#169

Post by agraddy » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

dTal wrote: post #142

agraddy wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a $5 Digital Ocean "droplet".

I'd have thought that would be even lower spec than the Chromebook.

It may be, I'm not positive what my Chromebook specs are. I know the droplet has more disk space. I use TACE[0] style development so I don't need a powerful machine.

[0] https://www.agraddy.com/introducing-tace

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#170

Post by agraddy » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 10:06 PM UTC

baisq wrote: post #126

agraddy wrote: post #54

I do all my work on an under $200 Chromebook. I have a VPS where I do all the actual work. I use Mosh and TMUX for connecting and saving my different projects (I'm a freelance developer who is often juggling multiple clients). Basically, the Chromebook is just an SSH client and a web browser (I can also boot into Linux if needed - slightly different than described in the Tweets). I've been doing this for years. The b…

How do you handle backups?

I pay a little extra for DigitalOcean's backup service and then I also have an rsync.net account (they offer a HN discount that you can email them and ask about if you are interested).