cbusse 2014/03/23 19:49

It's a Chromebook.

I had the chance to grab one of these beautiful toys and took it. It was a great choice despite the fact that I just bought another notebook last autumn (which is still doing a great job) but ever since they were announced i always wanted to test a chromebook.

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Well its a chromebook, it comes with linux out of the box.

to get normal linux environment i suggest going the crouton path, as you can switch between chrome and ubuntu/(Your distro of choice) any time.

There is another way described here (http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.de/2013/10/chrubuntu-for-new-chromebooks-now-with.html). The script provides you an easy way to run any linux based OS native. (Note: if you want to useTouchpad & Touchscreen without any further hacks you need at least Kernel 3.17 or newer). Some additional fixes for Ubuntu come here (https://github.com/visionect/c720p).

For most of your work chromeos indeed will be more than enough but for some special use cases a full fledged environment will be good to have.

To prepare install you will need to enable development mode (This will wipe your device! just press <ESC> + Reload + Power, then <ctrl>-d)

Then follow instructions at http://www.howtogeek.com/162120/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-on-your-chromebook-with-crouton/.

Installation is quick easy and straightforward if you go the crouton route, but if you prefer a dual boot with a complete separation from chrome os, you should go that way, it is as easy as with crouton.

This a a small and cheap device which will be very nice for people on a small budget or web maniacs. With a native Linux you are even able to to some development (the CPU is fast enough and the RAM is sufficient to compile small projects in a appropiate time. Kernel compilation etc. are not so funny but it works).

It can be set up as a good media player this way and it has solid 3d basic capabilities for older games.

glmark2 results:

                                glmark2 Score: 91

glmark2-es2:

                                glmark2 Score: 83 

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT DRAM Controller (rev 09) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09) 00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 0a0c (rev 09) 00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP USB xHCI HC (rev 04) 00:15.0 DMA controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP Low Power Sub-System DMA (rev 04) 00:15.1 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP I2C Controller #0 (rev 04) 00:15.2 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP I2C Controller #1 (rev 04) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP HD Audio Controller (rev 04) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev e4) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 04) 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 04) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP SMBus Controller (rev 04) 00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point-LP Thermal (rev 04) 01:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1bcf:2c67 Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc. Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0489:e056 Foxconn / Hon Hai Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

chronos@localhost / $ cat /etc/*release CHROMEOS_AUSERVER=https://tools.google.com/service/update2 CHROMEOS_BOARD_APPID={E6710DFC-3EC0-42AE-8095-733FDEA6AF18} CHROMEOS_CANARY_APPID={90F229CE-83E2-4FAF-8479-E368A34938B1} CHROMEOS_DEVSERVER= CHROMEOS_RELEASE_APPID={E6710DFC-3EC0-42AE-8095-733FDEA6AF18} CHROMEOS_RELEASE_BOARD=peppy-signed-mp-v2keys CHROMEOS_RELEASE_DESCRIPTION=5116.115.4 (Official Build) stable-channel peppy CHROMEOS_RELEASE_NAME=Chrome OS CHROMEOS_RELEASE_TRACK=stable-channel CHROMEOS_RELEASE_VERSION=5116.115.4 GOOGLE_RELEASE=5116.115.4