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Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

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Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#181

Post by davidbanham »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #166
davidbanham wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They give you the new app for free if you paid for the old one now. Not sure if that's something they added later on but it's a thing now.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#182

Post by davidbanham »

farmin wrote: post #177
neurostimulant wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recent version of iPadOS supports bluetooth mouse now: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211008

Ok that changes things. I just saw too some keyboard/case combos have touch pads below the keyboard. Anyone have any recommendations?

I really like the Logitech Slim Folio case with a separate small bluetooth mouse for when I need it. 98% of the time the trackpad would just be taking up space that I'd rather fill with keyboard. The times I do need a mouse, I probably want a proper mouse rather than a trackpad.

The different remote desktop apps (VNC, Nomachine, etc) have ways to translate touch events into mouse pointer movements/clicks. Not what you'd want to use for a serious CAD session, but fine for little things here and there to save pulling out the mouse.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#183

Post by davidbanham »

farmin wrote: post #153
davidbanham wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's cool. Didn't know Safari had dev tools on ipad. I did try blink. I wanted to get vscode running via SSH plugin from a vps but didn't have patience to figure it out. Then I realised I should just use my laptop.

I've had that "I should just use my laptop" moment many, many times. There are lots of things the iPad is objectively worse at than my very nice X1 Carbon running Arch. And yet I keep coming back to my iPad pro. I can't put my finger on what it is but I think it's some combination of:

1. Gorgeous high resolution, high refresh rate, generally pretty screen.

2. Long battery life.

3. Instant wake.

4. Ruggedness. Even with solid-state everything I'm always a little wary of chucking my laptop into the passenger seat of a car, taking it near sand or dust, etc. There's fan vents and hinges and... stuff. The iPad Pro in a Logitech Folio case has all the corners protected from drops, no airflow, few holes. I just don't worry about it.

5. Pencil. The handwritten notes experience has gotten really good. Being able to flick into that mode any time is nice.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#184

Post by rnk »

public_defender wrote: post #176
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, but it's loud, freezes boot for 30s or until you hit the key combo, and if you hit the wrong key it wipes your device. Developer mode is a decent escape hatch but I wouldn't want to use it in "normal" use.

Yes, this is what I meant by "not the most frictionless experience." However in my mind it was all paid back to me 100 fold when a customs officer at an international border tried to open my laptop and examine it, but was subjected to the sonic-boom beeping of dev mode boot timeout.

What happened next? Did they say log in? Don't some countries, maybe the us say they will keep your laptop for "study" if you don't log in and let them snoop?

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#185

Post by yencabulator »

SahAssar wrote: post #131
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…

Seems like the FAQ makes a distinction between running the default container and running custom containers. From the description it seems like when using the default terminal app it is a container, not a VM, and when running custom containers it is in a VM: https://chromeos.dev/en/linux/linux-on-chromeos-faq#am-i-run...

ChromeOS forces an Google-dictated immutable VM image ("termina"). Inside this VM, in LXD containers, you get to run whatever you want. You can have multiple VMs, but they're all the termina image. You can get a shell in the termina VM, but it's pretty pointless, and all useful things are inside the LXD container.

When the hardware supports it (most often true these days), you can run nested virtualization: KVM (inside LXD) inside KVM. That will get you an arbitrary VM image.

They might relax the "Termina VMs only" policy later, but that depends on a bunch more security spending.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#186

Post by yencabulator »

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #115
chasil wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microkernels have always been slower than monolithic kernels, never faster. There is zero chance that Zircon will be faster than Linux. The classic example is Mach from CMU: "When Mach was first being seriously used in the 2.x versions, performance was slower than traditional monolithic operating systems, perhaps as much as 25%... When Mach 3 attempted to move most of the operating system into user-space, the overhea…

Also an ancient example. Mach's latest version is ~30 years old (released 1994). See https://fediverse.blog/~/3542/the-three-generations-of-micro... for advancements since then such as an order of magnitude performance improve.

seL4 can barely do SMP. Modern hardware is all multicore. seL4 is not a performance winner outside of the embedded space.

https://docs.sel4.systems/projects/sel4/frequently-asked-que...

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