I dont get it , for the price of a chromebook , one can get a netbook with a full linux plateform to install whatever stack one needs (and ides like netbeans/eclipse/sublimetext2...) , what's the point being a chromebook for development purposes ? ( it is a question not a rant against chromebooks )
Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
11–20 of 41 posts
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looks nice, apparently supports Vim and Emacs too. Although it only works for Rails so far... there is a whole world out there that's not Rails. And they are only planning to support NodeJS, Django and some other frameworks.
Co-Founder of action.io here, we have python, node.js and go boxes already and many more in the pipeline. And in the future, the ability to create your own custom dev environment. if you'd like an invite, please email me at arun action io
Ah I see, I really like Go: interesting.
I already signed up for the beta, waiting for the email.
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#13I love my chromebook so I'm fairly interested in doing this. I have two questions:
1) How does having a chroot environment affect battery life? Does access to the Ubuntu tools cost a ton of battery?
2) After I go into developer mode can I still get updates to Chrome OS?
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#14I dont get it , for the price of a chromebook , one can get a netbook with a full linux plateform to install whatever stack one needs (and ides like netbeans/eclipse/sublimetext2...) , what's the point being a chromebook for development purposes ? ( it is a question not a rant against chromebooks )
Because Chromebooks are zero administration, and easily replaceable. Having set up my Mac OS X environment for the umpteenth time, and wrestled with wireless backups flaking out again, Chrome OS is the new "it just works". And if your laptop gets squashed by a steam roller, you buy another one, and you're back where you were.
Of course, what the article is describing means that you are back to admin hell again, which I don't advocate at all. Googlers use a Chrome Remote Desktop to get work done on a Chromebook, which helps, but of course, requires someone else to punt off the sysadmin, otherwise it's your problem again, just one step removed.
I wouldn't purchase a Chromebook as a primary development environment. I would purchase it as a home machine if I already have a work machine.
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#15I dont get it , for the price of a chromebook , one can get a netbook with a full linux plateform to install whatever stack one needs (and ides like netbeans/eclipse/sublimetext2...) , what's the point being a chromebook for development purposes ? ( it is a question not a rant against chromebooks )
For me personally, it's not a environment I'd want to develop in 100% but it's nice for vacations or conferences. 2.5lbs vs 6lbs when you are in and out of a couple of airports and train stations is a big deal.
I've not been able to duplicate the battery life in a netbook running Linux 100% of the time. My side hustle is tech writing so most of my dev work is on my "big Bertha" Linux box and when I'm out and about and need to do light dev and mostly write or consume, I'm on the Chromebook.
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#16The real question is why have we devs been forced to bastardize this OS since 2009 in order to actually use the darn thing? Where's the innovation Google? Where's the Chromebook for Devs? Because I bet if we looked at the numbers, we're the only ones buying these things anyways.
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#17I dont get it , for the price of a chromebook , one can get a netbook with a full linux plateform to install whatever stack one needs (and ides like netbeans/eclipse/sublimetext2...) , what's the point being a chromebook for development purposes ? ( it is a question not a rant against chromebooks )
The ARM Chromebook looks to be a much nicer piece of hardware than anything under $250 on Amazon's top 20 list of netbooks[0]; bigger screen, dead silent (no spinning HDD, no fans), great battery life, and a keyboard/touchpad better than nearly every low/mid-end PC laptop I've used.
And you lose this benefit if you go outside CrOS as described in the article (I'm fine using it as a SSH terminal myself), but they're more or less disposable. I could chuck mine out the window, watch it get trampled in a conveniently timed parade, run out to Best Buy and pick up another one, and I'm right back where I was minus only $250 and an hour (incl. drive time and re-syncing).
[0] http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computer-Accessories-Netb...
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#18I dont get it , for the price of a chromebook , one can get a netbook with a full linux plateform to install whatever stack one needs (and ides like netbeans/eclipse/sublimetext2...) , what's the point being a chromebook for development purposes ? ( it is a question not a rant against chromebooks )
Can you get 6h battery life for $250? I have the Samsung one and it delivers on the battery life promise.
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#19The real question is why have we devs been forced to bastardize this OS since 2009 in order to actually use the darn thing? Where's the innovation Google? Where's the Chromebook for Devs? Because I bet if we looked at the numbers, we're the only ones buying these things anyways.
Ummmm. It is possible to run a full-blown Ubuntu including arbitrary kernels etc. Some are doing it.
This is just an easier method if all you want is access to a powerful Debian userland: it turns out that Debian already solved the problem of creating a self-consistent cross-compiled directory tree ages ago so it makes sense to reuse that solution here.
Re: Setting Up a Local Development Environment in Chrome OS
#20I love my chromebook so I'm fairly interested in doing this. I have two questions: 1) How does having a chroot environment affect battery life? Does access to the Ubuntu tools cost a ton of battery? 2) After I go into developer mode can I still get updates to Chrome OS?
Article author here. Anecdotally the battery life takes a bit of a hit, but I've been running it pretty hard to get everything installed. I haven't done any tests. I have a suspicion that Chrome limits its CPU usage, and the chroot does not. That said, the battery life isn't completely shot in the chroot.
I got my Chromebook on Monday, so I haven't updated it after initial boot. I'm not sure about the updating issues, but you can always go into non-Developer Mode and update from there. If that causes problems for the chroot, it's really easy to back up the chroot (it's just a directory) and reinstall it with Crouton: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton#you-want-to-make-a-boot...
So in other words, I can't answer any of those questions yet, sorry!