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Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

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Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#3
While this is probably very helpful to Chromebook owners, it doesn't make me want to use a Chromebook for development, or understand the choice.

If the hardware is particularly good (is it?), why doesn't someone make it easier to just straight up run Linux from the hard drive? I mean no weird scripts, SD cards, etc. but just a proper distro like Debian.

Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#4

If Google came out with a 13" Chromebook for around the same price, I'd buy that in a heartbeat. The 11" version is just too darn small for my beefy hands.

I felt (and still feel) the same way. A 13" Chromebook would be the sweet spot for most on-the-go developers. I've seen the HP 14" Chromebooks but couldn't get myself to pay the price difference.

Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#5
post #3

While this is probably very helpful to Chromebook owners, it doesn't make me want to use a Chromebook for development, or understand the choice. If the hardware is particularly good (is it?), why doesn't someone make it easier to just straight up run Linux from the hard drive? I mean no weird scripts, SD cards, etc. but just a proper distro like Debian.

> If the hardware is particularly good (is it?),

With the exception of the Pixel the advantage of most Chromebooks is that they are cheap and fairly nice in terms of portability.

> why doesn't someone make it easier to just straight up run Linux from the hard drive? I mean no weird scripts, SD cards, etc. but just a proper distro like Debian.

That's what Crouton does for you.

Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#6

If Google came out with a 13" Chromebook for around the same price, I'd buy that in a heartbeat. The 11" version is just too darn small for my beefy hands.

If it's like the MacBook Air 11/13 models, the keyboards would be basically identical in size.

The 11" form factor is just another level of portability.

Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#7

If Google came out with a 13" Chromebook for around the same price, I'd buy that in a heartbeat. The 11" version is just too darn small for my beefy hands.

HP is coming out with 14" Haswell Chromebooks next month that look fairly nice. Usual HP caution applies.

Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#8
What are the odds of programs like SublimeText being able to run on ARM in the near future? I'm sure Eclipse would be far too heavy.

Most of the 'Chromebook as a developer laptop' make it into a fancy SSH terminal - which is fine. But I don't really see a 'terminal' as a 'developer laptop'. I understand you can still access the internals of Linux along with the shell and other languages, but it doesn't work for a lot of people when you can't use the same apps/devices as you can on a your 'normal' machine.

A $999 XPS 13 or MacBook Air looks pretty inviting, even at 3X the price of a $299 Chromebook when you realize how much productivity gain there is when you don't have to dink around with the OS and aren't limited in your app selection.

Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#9
I think the thing that has always held me back from finally pulling the trigger on A chromebook pixel is the fact that you have to dismiss the "developer mode" popup everytime you boot. I guess that is a bit of a nitpick though and it otherwise seems like a solid machine.

Re: Chromebook Developer Setup Guide

#10
post #8

What are the odds of programs like SublimeText being able to run on ARM in the near future? I'm sure Eclipse would be far too heavy. Most of the 'Chromebook as a developer laptop' make it into a fancy SSH terminal - which is fine. But I don't really see a 'terminal' as a 'developer laptop'. I understand you can still access the internals of Linux along with the shell and other languages, but it doesn't work for a lot…

I've been using a Chromebook as a development laptop for a few months after leaving my real laptop on a train (it was possibly the stupidest thing I've done due to caffeine withdrawal).

Yes, it can function as an SSH Client, but its up there with the worst SSH clients you've encountered. Its slow, and its ugly. You'll also have problems when it comes to more advanced things.

Like copying a CSV you generated with a script on the real computer you're SSHed into so that you can email it to someone.

I did briefly run a full Ubuntu install in a chroot, which made things a little nicer, but I swapped one set of problems for a whole new set, such as multiple displays not working.

Having said all that, if you're not a developer Chromebooks are lovely things.

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