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Ask HN: Can you code on a Chromebook?

3 points| bnzelener | 11 years ago

The battery life on a Chromebook Pixel sounds really intriguing. But I'm not sure that I'd be able to give up Sublime Text and the rest of the amenities of my MacBook Pro and OS X.

Have you tried programming with a Chromebook? How did it go and what did you use?

4 comments

kidlogic|10 years ago

Absolutely. I current have the Acer 720p (4g RAM) w/ Codestarter's Ubuntu (https://github.com/codestarterorg/ubuntu-chromebook-installe...).

I added my own ~230 GB SSD because the default SSD is a bit small for programming.

Great form-factor. Great Battery. Perfect for leisurely coding. Definitely one of the best computers/laptops I've used.

dhemmerling|10 years ago

If you use crouton [1] to manage chroots, you can easily run Sublime and everything else in Linux land. You should be aware of what developer mode is on Chrome OS, though, and all of the negatives that comes with it. The xiwi crouton target allows you to connect to the chroot in a popup window. You can also now launch individual applications giving an integrated experience, including copy/paste.

I ordered the LS pixel, and it was by far the nicest computer I've ever used. I used IntelliJ IDEA in a popup window with zero lag for Java development. After enabling a kernel flag, VirtualBox worked too (with several networking caveats), and thereby Docker.

Ultimately I returned it and got the entry level MBP retina for the same price. Relying on crouton for functionality, meant small stuff would break here or there, much like running Arch Linux. For example, the home, end, page up/page down shortcuts broke in xiwi windows after an update. VirtualBox would cold cut the power to the machine if I enabled bridged networking. 64 GB is exactly half the minimum hd space I need. Developer mode is not a first class citizen within the OS, so I was constantly fighting the machine to get a stable work environment. Etc.

I really really miss it though. Especially the touch screen. It felt like using my future computer today. I needed a dev machine that I could rely on, and my current situation could not justify a $1300 toy. The ecosystem is rapidly evolving, and I am certain I will eventually be using something very much like the Pixel within a couple years. Hope that helps.

[1] https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton

sjs382|11 years ago

I used one for a few weeks when I got a free Cr-48 during the trial program. It was never my only device, though my main machine at the time was a netbook. :)

It's possible, depending what you're building. Be prepared to make a lot of adjustments to the way you work, though. Spend a few weeks to a month using ONLY Chrome on your Macbook, then if you don't run into any hiccups, and the Pixel still seems attractive to you, make the plunge!

I didn't use any WebIDE or anything like that, because I don't think there were any available at the time. Rather, I used SSH and did all my work on a remote machine.

opless|11 years ago

I was going to buy a cheapish chromebook to go on holiday with, because I'm not going to take my MB Air abroad. Especially on the off chance I may get rained in or bored enough to do a spot of programming. So I had a budget of £200ish to do this with.

I ended up buying a lowish spec Lenovo 50-30 (celeron) instead. Turns out it's rather heavier (but still quite slim) and it's 15". Allegedly 4 hours battery life too. Only problem ... windows 8.1 Should be okay when I install my dev environment up on it though.