[TriLUG] laptop shopping

[Aaron Joyner]

Re: the pixel, I use it exactly as I do every other laptop, as a web
browser and shell to connect to real computers with data I care about on
reliable persistent storage.  The advantage to the chromebook is that I
don't have to futz with the linux underneath to use the things I really
want to use, they just work.

Until recently, my one remaining large use case for native apps on a laptop
was VLC and local storage to watch movies on an airplane.  Plex on my Nexus
tablet has that covered.  All that's left are rare use cases, eg. tinkering
with some personal code or open source project I'm working on, while on a
plane.  Gogo Inflight Internet is available on almost all flights now, but
it's not quite good enough (the latency's still pretty tedious).  I would
like to tinker with trying to use vim and friends inside crouton the next
time that use case pops up.  It requires developer mode, which I'd prefer
to avoid, but popping in and out of developer mode for the flight, seems
reasonable enough.  I'd also happily settle for a native app which bundled
not much more than bash, vim, git, python and golang packages with some
semi-permanent file storage space... but I'm not aware of such a thing.
 There are a<https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vim/dhhoacdlegcbdglbfnhgnlchpkdlofkb>
few<https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tailor/mfakmogheanjhlgjhpijkhdjegllgenf>
promising<https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/python-shell/gdiimmpmdoofmahingpgabiikimjgcia>
options<https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/python/nodpmmidbgeganfponihbgmfcoiibffi>,
which get part way there?  It would probably have to drop all the running
state when the app wasn't active, but I don't know enough about the Chrome
app model to speak intelligently about what's possible.

Building on that to answer William's question about requirement #2
("supports suspend-to-disk under Linux"), it doesn't matter.  :)  With a boot
time of <8 seconds <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeXv2EVjdGY>, and
basically no allowance for persistent state on the device beyond which tabs
were open, just let it suspend and turn itself off as it sees fit.  It'll
get you back to a working state faster than resuming a giant dump of memory
from disk (assuming that it's version of "state" is sufficient for your
needs).  That's not to say the Pixel has great battery life for
extended/continuous use, 5 hours pales in comparison to some of the broader
competition, but for a Linux laptop it's not too shabby.  For the
particular point you seem to be concerned about (standby life) it should be
meaningfully better, with better return-to-use times, and lower effort on
your part.

Aaron S. Joyner

In the interest of full disclosure, there are a couple even more rare use
cases (think: oncall disaster recovery) which mean I haven't replaced my
daily carry Macbook Air with the Pixel, yet.  There are plans afoot to fix
those last niggling concerns, but they depend on forces outside my control.
 Thus, though I haven't fully switched, I stand by my original (only
somewhat trolling and narrow) statement that it's "By far the best Linux
laptop I've ever used".


On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 8:23 AM, Michael Rothwell <michael at rothwell.us>wrote:

> Do you actually use it as a Linux machine, by installing Ubuntu - or at
> least crouton - on it?
> On Feb 5, 2014 12:09 AM, "Aaron Joyner" <aaron at joyner.ws> wrote:
>
> > By far the best Linux laptop I've ever used:
> >
> > https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/chrome/devices/chromebook-pixel/
>