6 l;!! a ae@technewsiit_com TeChNeWS | Tuesday, November 15th, 2016

Chromebooks become a valid cheap computing alternative for productivity

David Sobel
COPY EDITO R

Typically you would consider
a device around $400—600 to be a budget
purchase when it comes to laptops, but have
you ever considered going cheaper? A recent
solution to the cheap—but—functional laptop
need that I’ve personally experienced actually
involves Chromebooks. I know what you’ll tell
me next: Chromebooks are very limited and
require the internet to be useful. This is mostly
true, if you choose to run Chrome OS as it is.
There are essentially two options here, and it
can vary depending on your Chromebook
model. The first option is to install Linux in
a self—contained environment within Chrome
OS, referred to as crouton, the “Chromium
OS Universal Chroot Environment.” This is
in some ways the simpler method, and is as
easy as following a list of instructions, which is
explained in a wonderful guide on the project’s
GitHub page. The other option is to install a
custom BIOS such as SeaBIOS and then install
a Linux distribution from a flash drive. Yes, this
is a little more of a time commitment and often
will require you to open up the underside of
your Chromebook briefly, but it can be worth
it depending on your use case.

I figure at this point in time it
would be good to point out a few potential
use cases for a full Linux installation. One of
the downsides to using ChromeOS is being
sandboxed in essentially a giant version of
the Chrome browser, and while it makes for a
generally smooth experience, it’s also a rather
limited experience. For example, ChromeOS
is really not a development platform, meaning
if you want to do even basic Python or other
language development, you’re generally out
of luck. In response to this, you could either
try to find an online integrated development
environment (IDE) or buy a whole new laptop,
but why do that when you can just run a full
Linux environment? The answer is that you
wouldn’t, because running an OS like Ubuntu

on your existing laptop will save you money
and allow you to develop offline, which is not
a word you would often hear associated with
a usable Chromebook Of course, for all the
productivity benefits that are being suggested,
there are many entertainment and social
application benefits. One of the first things I
was able to do on my Chromebook running
Linux was install the Spotify desktop client,
which provides significantly more options

  

than the web client. Another benefit I had was
being able to install Pidgin, which is a great
messenger program that allows you to connect
multiple social media chat accounts, including
Facebook messenger. For the gamer in me, I
was able to install emulators for a multitude of
game systems. With these examples in mind, it
should be clear what sorts of benefits you can
gain by ditching ChromeOS. So what reason
should you have to run Linux alongside versus
replacing ChromeOS as a whole?

The simplest reason to use
something like crouton is to avoid opening up

 

 

 

your Chromebook and modifying the system,
simply adding the basic functionality of a full
Linux desktop right there in Chrome OS (to
be reached by a keyboard shortcut). That said,
I have encountered some problems in terms
of graphics acceleration and media playback
using crouton, so your mileage may vary with
it. Another thing of note with crouton is that
by default it will install Ubuntu 12.04, which is
notably old at this point in time. With this in

 

Photo by David Sobel

mind — as the guide will tell you — it’s possible to
change which Linux distribution and version
is installed with crouton. Essentially, if your
goal is to simply gain the freedom of running
Linux and its basic features and easily remove
it if need be, then give crouton a try. However,
if your goal is to take full advantage of all Linux
has to offer, I might suggest the modification
method, which I will detail a few options for.
From experience, if you want a bit
more consistent and stable functionality and
have a bit more technical know—how, you
should replace Chrome OS entirely. Chrome

OS, as it happens, is Linux—based, but the
amount of it that the user sees is very minor and
you could hardly call the whole thing a Linux
distribution. That said, there are a few options
here in terms of distributions. The first option
is to opt for the normal Linux experience and
run an OS like Ubuntu or, as I use, GalliumOS.
Ubuntu is a well—known Linux distribution,
with an amazing amount of hardware support
right "out—of—the—box." GalliumOS, which
runs on top of the same system as Ubuntu
(Debian), is noted as being highly optimized
for Chromebooks and, from my usage, has
been rather consistent with that statement.
Another, notably different, option is Remix
OS, which is a desktop—compatible version of
Android that, as expected, allows you to run
Android apps natively on your device yet also
have a full desktop experience. The last time I
tried the OS, it was in beta, but at this point
it’s apparently ready for prime time, so perhaps
it’ll be in your future. In the end, though, it
comes down to your personal preference,
because most features will generally work with
either crouton or a full install, but mileage may
vary.

A few words of warning: if you care
about your warranty, the mod method may not
be for you. In this case, go with crouton. If you
don’t care, then go with the full install, because
I’ve found that after replacing ChromeOS I
have had no reason to go back. It’s also a good
idea to have a Chromebook model with 4GB of
RAM and at least an Intel Celeron, such as the
Toshiba Chromebook 2, in order to get solid
performance. For more information on the
installation methods involved, either Google
them to find out for yourself or ask someone
else to help you out, because there’s nothing
better than getting the most out of your cheap
device. If for some reason you mess up, it’s a
simple process to restore your Chromebook
back to its factory state. So, what do you have
to lose?

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