[…] few months ago I wrote about my desire to get a Chromebook. Well, I finally broke down and got one. At first I wasn’t really sure if it was worth the […]

If you want to keep playing with ChromiumOS it is fairly easy to copy in the missing bits from a Linux Chrome browser to magically give you a pdf viewer and Flash. If you look on the ChromiumOS forums there are scripts to do it for you. However, it is a while since I played with ChromiumOS so I am a bit out of date. Now I have an Acer C710 Chromebook. I replaced the 320Gb HDD with a 256Gb SSD and added 4Gb Ram to take it to six. I had the extra bits anyway, upgrading a new Chromebook like that is not economically sensible IMHO. As a secondary device to my desktop it serves me well. I have an HP printer that I connected to Google cloud print and HP ePrint. It all works together without any effort. I also use AirDroid to wirelessly move photos and music to/from my Android phone. And a SD card reader to backup DSLR photos to the SSD. Chromebooks are not for everyone, and I could never survive with just a Chromebook, but as a secondary device it serves me well and requires no maintenance (on my part).

I’d be interested in a chromebook for a fairly different reason from you, it’s the perfect portable air gap device!

Cheap enough to carry with you and drop if the situation calls for it, strange enough hardware wise to avoid the mainstream of cracks, and I should be able to load a stateless os like tails onto it while keeping all personal files in an encrypted usb drive.

Almost the perfect storm apart from the fact it probably comes loaded down with proprietary blobs for hardware but even that could be ignored as long as a decent air gap is maintained!

You mean, Windows 8.1? lol @ Luke Maciak:

@ Shrutarshi Basu:

Did you take a closer look at the way local file handling worked?

I think the file manager gives you access to a “Downloads” folder which is in like /home/chronos/user/Downloads/. I think I saw a disclaimer that if ChromeOS is running out of HD space it reserves the right to reclaim some of that storage so they recommend saving to GDrive or external storage.

When I booted it on a PC I had full access to the actual NTFS HD both via the file manager and the shell. The external filesystems seem to be auto-mounted as subfolders under /media or something like that.

Were you able to open local files? an mp3? ogg? m4a? Can you copy, cut and paste files?

I have not tried, but the docs say that mp3 and ogg files are fully supported. I was able to create folters and rename and delete files using the file manager. I haven’t tried copying.

Can the local terminal do more than just chroot or ssh? Managing Files on a USB stick, rsync or maybe execute binaries that are stored on a USB stick?

Haven’t really played around with it much but I was able to browse the local file system. Stuff like cd and ls worked as expected. I seemed to be bash, but I haven’t checked. But if it is bash, then stuff like cp and mv should also be available. Did not think to try anything more complicated. I honestly looked like it would execute shell scripts as normal. That said you probably might expect it to have a very basic set of commands.

@ MrJones2015:

Cool. Don’t have windows 8 though. I’m hoping to skip it, and get on the next one maybe. :P

Which Chromebook are you thinking of getting? I’m getting down to one working machine at home and I’m in the market for a similar machine as you’re looking for. But most of the reviews for Chromebooks I’ve read suggest they’re mediocre at best. The Chromebook Pixel looks fancy, but it’s so extravagant and expensive that it’s kinda ridiculous.

I heard the latest chrome browser has a chrome os like windows8 app integrated. It may not be the real os, but you can play with it

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/06/google-testing-chrome-os-like-brows er-interface-for-windows-8/

Very interesting post! I am keeping an eye on Chromebooks as well and ask myself every half year or so “wouldn’t that be a nice addition ….” but can’t justify to buy one without trying it first. Did you take a closer look at the way local file handling worked?
Were you able to open local files? an mp3? ogg? m4a? Can you copy, cut and paste files ? Last time i checked a build (1,5 years ago) that was not possible at all.

Can the local terminal do more than just chroot or ssh? Managing Files on a USB stick, rsync or maybe execute binaries that are stored on a USB stick? (That last one would be particularly useful)
I know about the developer mode and chroot but by activating it you loose the added security benefit of the OS.
And i think (am not sure) that if you activate the developer mode and boot the machine, you get to see a warning sign. Hitting the space key at this point restores the OS -> Your local installation is gone. So anyone booting up your laptop can potentially delete your chroot environment. (As I said, I am not sure about that one).

Either way, if you buy one – or not – let us know; your reasoning will be interesting to read.