The other day my work Dell XPS 13 which has been running Ubuntu 16.04.1 asked me to upgrade. This message has been coming up for a while but I decided it was time for a upgrade, 18.04 was running well on my server and well it was time.
However the upgrade broke and I was left with Ubuntu 18.04 with Busybox. I had backups but as it was a BBC R&D build of Ubuntu, I needed to go to work for them to reinstall it. All of this was just before I went away to Mydata 2018 in Helsinki. On top of that my ubuntu server also had a problem.
Ubuntu server down again, really need to switch to newer hardware 😣
— Ian Forrester (@cubicgarden) August 3, 2018
Double wammy!
It was clear I could reinstall Ubuntu quickly but I would need to do a bunch of configuration and that takes time. I have a task to create a live CD with a bunch of configurations just for me, incase similar happens again.
I’d been looking at Chromebooks since I bought one for my parents ages ago and seen how ChromeOS has matured. I’m not the only one. It was the ability to run Android and Linux apps which pushed to get one.
So I bought the Asus chromebook flip c302, and I’m quite impressed with it. The size is good and the performance is good. As a backup laptop its ideal. It also kinda a solution to my lack of a decent tablet now my Nexus 7 is pretty much dead. I was tempted with the Google Pixelbook but it seemed too close to what the Dell XPS 13 is for.
I did consider getting a second hand XPS and sticking ChromeOS on it myself actually.
An excellent choice. I’ve got a couple of Chromebooks: an Acer with a big screen that I use for presentations (always have a visual backup) and a new Asus C101P which I can carry around like a small tablet and use in Starbucks or Thameslink trains.
I must admit that the addition of the Play Store with it’s apps was perfect, but I do make considerable use of Microsoft Remote Desktop to RDP into development environments.
Looking forward to the Linux app support then I’ll be away 😀
I think you can get it now if you turn on the Beta channel…
…click About Chrome OS.
Click Detailed build information.
Next to ‘Channel’, click Change channel.
Pick a channel.
Click Change Channel.
When the Beta is loaded, go to settings and search for “Linux”
Yes, it comes up with
“Set up Linux (Beta) on your Chromebook.
Get tools for developing websites, Android apps and more. Installing Linux will download 300 MB of data”