[ale] Ot: chromebook

Sat Aug 29 19:28:37 EDT 2015

Go in on Monday and say, "i just had an interview with a company that will
give me ... workstation." You either get the workstation you want or know
where you stand. Life is too short to use bad tools or work where you are
not appreciated.

On Sunday, August 23, 2015, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:

> Then tell that cheapskate boss to quit messing around and provide the
> tools you need to continue to be an awesome employee :-)
> On Aug 23, 2015 10:41 PM, "James Taylor" <James.Taylor at eastcobbgroup.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','James.Taylor at eastcobbgroup.com');>> wrote:
>
>> I've been looking at that model to upgrade from the screens resolution on
>> my hp envy.
>> I do a lot of onsite work, and the hp would be perfect if it didn't have
>> the ridiculous 1366x768 resolution that's standard on most notebooks.
>> The xps has a decent resolutions, plus and ssd. The hp has the 30gb
>> "cache" that I use as my root volume, but full ssd is a nice perq.
>> My employer would also be buying it, but then I am my employer...
>> -jt
>>
>>
>> James Taylor
>> 678-697-9420
>> james.taylor at eastcobbgroup.com
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','james.taylor at eastcobbgroup.com');>
>>
>>
>>
>> >>> Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','jim.kinney at gmail.com');>> 8/22/2015 8:27
>> AM >>>
>> I love my new Dell XPS 13. Even better, work bought it. The developer
>> edition ships with Ubuntu. Fedora22 works great. Thanks to the screen
>> design, it's a 13" in the same space as an 11". Right around 2 pounds. Not
>> cheap, though. At $1500 that's a lot of chromebooks (except for the
>> pixel).
>> On Aug 22, 2015 8:11 AM, "DJ-Pfulio" <djpfulio at jdpfu.com
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','djpfulio at jdpfu.com');>> wrote:
>>
>> > TL;DR - I travel. Been through a few different devices. A $200-300 Dell
>> > 11in
>> > laptop would be my choice today.
>> >
>> > How I got there ...
>> >
>> > I traveled for a year using only a Nokia N800 and BT keyboard.  Found
>> the
>> > screen
>> > size an issue. The BT keyboard was the type that folded in half to
>> reduce
>> > size.
>> > No number run, no top row F1-F12 either. To get to those is a chord of
>> > Fn+alt or
>> > something like that.  Together, both those devices weigh under 2 lbs.
>> > Battery
>> > life sucked - perhaps 4 hrs with after market batteries. Swapping
>> > batteries was
>> > a reboot of the Debian-based OS. Had to carry a charger, extra
>> batteries,
>> > separate GPS device, pretty soon it would have been better to have a
>> > laptop.
>> >
>> > When tablets came out, I got everything setup and attempted a 3 week
>> trip
>> > across
>> > Europe with a 10in Acer and USB keyboard portfolio.  In about 40% of the
>> > locations, I was unable to connect back to my servers. At the time,
>> Android
>> > didn't have enough tools for me to figure out why that happened.  I was
>> > addicted
>> > to the small size.  Some of the hotels didn't have wifi - only wired
>> > ethernet in
>> > the rooms. This usually happened at the nicer hotels.
>> >
>> > After that trip, I started looking for a netbook ... acquired one for
>> free
>> > - an
>> > Asus Eee that a relative had been using. He had claimed an iPad was all
>> he
>> > needed on travel and I took advantage to get the Eee.  Traveled for
>> about
>> > 3 yrs
>> > with that device. Always hated the low resolution - felt like I was
>> > missing more
>> > than half the pixels - which was true compared to 1200p home system.  I
>> > started
>> > noticing it was getting slower - not really - XUbuntu had just become so
>> > bloated
>> > so I felt the GUI as getting slower. the 2G of RAM was never an issue.
>> Did
>> > 5
>> > continents with the Asus, It is small, clunky, yet capable.
>> >
>> > Eventually, the C720 was released and there were step-by-step
>> instructions
>> > to
>> > blow away ChromeOS (ran it here for 5 min before wiping). The CPU inside
>> > should
>> > be as fast as a C2D from a few years earlier and have 8hrs of battery
>> and
>> > screen
>> > was 768p. I could live with that.  Those are the good things. My travel
>> > since
>> > getting the C720 has been mostly USA and only 1 overseas trip, but
>> enough
>> > to
>> > know it works.  The weight, size, battery life have me addicted to 11in
>> > netbooks. Still, for me the keyboard is a real issue - knowing I could
>> have
>> > gotten a dell with the same CPU, more RAM, nicer keyboard for about the
>> > same
>> > price after all the mandatory upgrade really bothers me - even today.
>> The
>> > 2G of
>> > RAM was an issue until I figured out to double the swap partition size
>> > from 2G
>> > to 4G. Since doing that, the system lockups have completely ended. I
>> blame
>> > firefox bloat on that. I only run 5 programs on the machine (basically).
>> > * firefox
>> > * thunderbird
>> > * xterm (yes, the pure xterm)
>> > * KeePassX
>> > * x2go client
>> > Sure, there are hundreds of other things on the laptop for convenience
>> > when at
>> > home, but outside the house, I use x2go to remote back home and surf
>> from
>> > there
>> > almost always. Never trust a foreign network, folks.  Plus, I don't
>> want to
>> > confuse the NSA by having my traffic come from strange places. ;)
>> >
>> > I was like you and didn't get a laptop until very late. I didn't see the
>> > point
>> > when I had a POWERFUL desktop available to me from anywhere in the world
>> > that
>> > cost 1/3rd what a crappy laptop cost AND the desktop was 2-3x faster.
>> For
>> > my
>> > needs, the portable device is just a remote access thing - not needed to
>> > compile
>> > (or run) java.
>> >
>> > BTW - I've had a 15in Dell laptop since about 2006 - on the 3rd one now.
>> > The
>> > current Core i5 (1st gen) hasn't left the house much the last 4 yrs -
>> > since I
>> > got the Asus Eee. It is a boat that I simply don't want to carry. There
>> > isn't
>> > any need these days - a chromebook can handle everything now - including
>> > recording presentations.  I use it daily to run (2) 24in monitors which
>> > connect
>> > into my normal desktop - a VM running inside a private cloud under KVM.
>> > That
>> > desktop is available to me from anywhere in the world over x2go. Of
>> > course, the
>> > 1200p resolution has to be reset to 768p when accessed from the
>> > chromebook. It
>> > is a slight hassle, but not too bad.
>> >
>> > Get the Dell, dude. ;)
>> >
>> > I've been noticing lots of cheap lenovos with respectable specs
>> recently.
>> > Guess
>> > people really do care if you screw over your customers with NSA-like
>> > software.
>> > Who knew?
>> >
>> >
>> > On 08/21/2015 07:08 PM, Scott Plante wrote:
>> > > Thanks for sharing your experience DJ--and thank you too Johnny!
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > I guess I'm coming from the other direction--I'm currently using an
>> iPad
>> > 2 I
>> > > won with a bluetooth keyboard case, which while much better than the
>> > onscreen
>> > > keyboard, is still a long way from a proper keyboard. It had no
>> function
>> > > keys, no escape key (kills me in vi or bash over ssh), and no delete
>> > key. It
>> > > also has no network port, but can't even use a USB NIC. Normally
>> that's
>> > not
>> > > an issue, but it would be handy (as a small portable device) for
>> setting
>> > up a
>> > > router or bringing into the server room to diagnose problems.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > I always preferred desktops to laptops for my daily work. I tend to
>> just
>> > stay
>> > > at work late rather than work from home much. I mostly use it at lunch
>> > for
>> > > reading the paper--we like to read and discuss the news while we eat.
>> I
>> > also
>> > > bring it to the pub for those important questions about who was in
>> what
>> > 1983
>> > > movie or who sang in what year the currently playing song. The
>> smartphone
>> > > could work, but the iPad w/ keyboard is easier. It is available for
>> > > occasional emails and to VPN/ssh into systems at work in case of
>> > emergency
>> > > and I've used it to monitor a process running on the weekend while
>> > watching
>> > > TV, but I don't do a great deal of work on it. I'll also watch a movie
>> > on it
>> > > when stuck in the airport for a long layover. So while the power of a
>> > full
>> > > laptop would occasionally be nice, if it gets big and clunky enough I
>> > don't
>> > > take it with me (a low bar), then it's lost it's purpose.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > I would happily accept another new free iPad! But they're pretty
>> > expensive
>> > > for what you get if you're paying out of pocket. The lack of Flash
>> > support,
>> > > and hence the dependence on devoted apps is sometimes an issue.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > I think the lack of memory is an issue with all of these devices these
>> > days.
>> > > It seems like a lot of websites are expecting a lot of memory these
>> days.
>> > > Some of it may be the browser, but I think it's more the Javascript
>> > > programming sucking up more and more memory. But then I tend to keep
>> too
>> > many
>> > > tabs open. This one SD Times article titled "The future of Javascript
>> is
>> > > Now", which I happen to have open at the moment, is taking up 109 MB
>> of
>> > > memory!!! It displays in several pages, but the one I have open taking
>> > 109mb
>> > > contains 4335 BYTES of actual article text. Some of the difference
>> comes
>> > from
>> > > the ad graphics, but I'd say a lot comes from whatever Javascript
>> > framework
>> > > they're using allocating a ton of memory it doesn't need.
>> > >
>> > > Dell has a new Chromebook coming out in Sept that might be a
>> possibility.
>> > > Escape, but no delete or function keys. The memory goes up to 8GB
>> though.
>> > > It's hard for me to tell about the form factor until I see it in real
>> > life.
>> > >
>> > > ----- Original Message -----
>> > >
>> > > From: "DJ-Pfulio" <DJPfulio at jdpfu.com
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','DJPfulio at jdpfu.com');>> To: ale at ale.org
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','ale at ale.org');> Sent: Friday,
>> > August
>> > > 21, 2015 3:23:49 PM Subject: Re: [ale] Ot: chromebook
>> > >
>> > > Been running Ubuntu Server + openbox on a C720 for 18 months. I would
>> > NOT buy
>> > > this machine again.
>> > >
>> > > You can find real laptops, refurb for $140 with normal keyboards. The
>> > funky
>> > > chromebook keyboard layout sucks. The missing keys suck. F11, F12,
>> > DELETE are
>> > > the ones I miss the most, but there isn't any pgup/dn, home/end
>> either.
>> > >
>> > > None of the F1-F10 keys are labeled. I touch type, but sometimes miss
>> > those.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Don't bother with any chromebook is my advice. Took me $140+ to
>> > "upgrade" the
>> > > chromebook to make it useful. Out of all those upgrades, the missing
>> > DELETE
>> > > key and the 2G of soldered-on RAM were the biggest.
>> > >
>> > > There are work-arounds for the limited m2-SSD (violate the warranty)
>> and
>> > lack
>> > > of ethernet port (USB3 adapter).
>> > >
>> > > Wish I'd have bought the $280 Dell with the same CPU, 4G of RAM, 500G
>> > HDD,
>> > > ethernet port AND normal keyboard, dude.
>> > >
>> > > Did I mention how much I hate the chromebook keyboard?!!!!!!
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > On 08/21/2015 01:38 PM, Scott Plante wrote:
>> > >> I guess that would be this Acer. Also available online at that price
>> > till
>> > >> tomorrow (8/22).
>> > >>
>> >
>> http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/814044/Acer-Chromebook-11-With-116-HD/
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> Have any of you had good luck loading regular Linux distros like
>> Ubuntu,
>> > >> Fedora, or openSUSE, on these things?
>> > >>
>> > >> Scott
>> > >>
>> > >> ----- Original Message -----
>> > >>
>> > >> From: "Boris Borisov" <bugyatl at gmail.com
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','bugyatl at gmail.com');>> To: "Atlanta Linux
>> > Enthusiasts"
>> > >> <ale at ale.org <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','ale at ale.org');>> Sent:
>> Friday, August 21, 2015 1:21:43 PM Subject: [ale]
>> > Ot:
>> > >> chromebook
>> > >>
>> > >> I'm in Office Depot on N druid hills and noticed they have
>> chromebooks
>> > for
>> > >> $129. Is not on the shelf probably has gone fast. Check your local
>> > store.
>> > >>
>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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-- 
.!# BrunoBronosky #!.
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