• Linux
• Windows (Programming)

Chromebooks

Chromebook Pixel LS

• 2015.05.04 - betanews - Chromebook Pixel LS is nearly perfect
• It was also rec'd by typicalprog:
  •  Click here to expand...

    
    typicalprog [10:41 AM]
    had to bring my mac out of storage to use image converter. i don't do graphics, and i can't even do simple stuff on my chromebook.

    [10:41]
    macbook air screen looks like a damned amiga now that i have this nice screen. can't believe i used an mba for four years.

    [10:42]
    pays the bills

    [10:43]
    last time they sent TIFF and Illustrator files so I guess getting a PNG is an improvement

    chris_mcclellan [10:43 AM]
    Get a MacBook?

    typicalprog [10:43 AM]
    no i got a chromebook pixel ls

    chris_mcclellan [10:43 AM]
    Retina screen w/ air size

    [10:43]
    How is it deving?

    typicalprog [10:43 AM]
    one year now. better than retina quality display.

    [10:44]
    works fine for me. i am ssh'd into remote servers anyway, with chrome looking at web pages. perfect for that.

    chris_mcclellan [10:44 AM]
    I do too much UI design to not have graphics editing capabilities

    typicalprog [10:44 AM]
    it's not a designer machine for sure

    chris_mcclellan [10:44 AM]
    Werd

    typicalprog [10:45 AM]
    blazing fast, stable, can run real full linux in a secured chroot in a browser tab, no malware, starts in 3 seconds. great build quality. battery lasts 9-12 hours.

    [10:45]
    but no photoshop

    [10:46]
    i don't do graphics anyway but i do get huge files from clients that need scaling and conversion to better formats. that's possible on a chromebook but i already have mac tools for that

    chris_mcclellan [10:46 AM]
    Yeah Ps batch actions… must have

    typicalprog [10:47 AM]
    i should have asked you to help with that graphic but i was up against a deadline and they don't care if the graphic is big.

    [10:48]
    doesn't adobe have their creative suite on the web?

    [10:48]
    there are web-based photoshop-like things but i'm not a photoshop user so i don't know how they rate.

    chris_mcclellan [10:55 AM]
    Can you run Gimp on it?

    [10:55]
    Or Sketch?

    typicalprog [10:55 AM]
    if you install a desktop ubuntu, yes

    chris_mcclellan [10:55 AM]
    ah - thats a way forward

    typicalprog [10:56 AM]
    you can run full ubuntu linux, either a GUI or CLI version. it runs natively alongside chromeos because chromeos is actually a stripped-down secured linux. so the kernel is there and can be shared.

    [10:56]
    there's a tool called crouton that makes the whole thing really easy

    chris_mcclellan [10:57 AM]
    I never could pull the trigger on the Chromebook due to storage restrictions

    [10:58]
    but I do have a macbook pro and still have external storage i travel with

    [10:58]
    have to back up to somewhere

    typicalprog [10:59 AM]
    sd card slot and usb c

    chris_mcclellan [10:59 AM]
    Maybe i’ll get a cheap chromebook to see what all the hype is about

    [10:59]
    recommendations?

    typicalprog [10:59 AM]
    the problem is the cheap ones are aimed at students and low-end users

    chris_mcclellan [10:59 AM]
    the pixel is expensive

    typicalprog [10:59 AM]
    yes

    chris_mcclellan [11:00 AM]
    prob worth what you pay though

    typicalprog [11:00 AM]
    less than a macbook pro, more than a macbook air. but i think it's worth it. has been a workhorse for me. having a battery that lasts all day is worth it to me.

    [11:00]
    there are other nice chromebooks but nothing like the pixel.

    chris_mcclellan [11:04 AM]
    oh the price has come down a lot since the first pixel actually

    typicalprog [11:06 AM]
    i've seen rumors about a 2016 update to the pixel

    chris_mcclellan [11:07 AM]
    idk i can’t. that would be a luxury right now

    [11:07]
    plus traveling with extra hardware is a deal breaker

    [11:07]
    mbp is it for me

    typicalprog [11:16 AM]
    sounds like that's a better laptop for the work you do

    [11:17]
    using browser-based tools for some tasks is a pain. doesn't happen often in my work -- my laptop is just a web browser and an ssh shell.

FreeBSD

• FreeBSD.org
  
  • "FreeBSD is an advanced computer operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms."
  • Resources for Newbies
    
• Wikipedia - FreeBSD

This was the OS that Jan Koum used for the WhatsApp servers.

macOS

Articles / Videos

• 2009.04.26 - Smashing Magazine - Five Reasons Why <del>Designers</del> Developers are Switching to Mac

Criticisms

John

• My hatred for it is based on the little things, and it might not even be fair
  
  • Like the dock. What does pc have? The tray? No, the task bar?
    I like for it to be the bottom of my screen: the start at the bottom left corner; my pinned apps; then the open windows; then all the clock, battery, sound info in the bottom right. On a Mac, the “dock” is centered; and the clock, sound, WiFi info is in the top bar
    So it wastes screen space and spreads out info
    
• And then the keyboard: I want ctrl, Windows, alt. But noooooo, it has to be ctrl, option, command
  
  • NW: He goes on to explain that he needs to swap the use of his thumb and his pinky. For Alt-Tab he needs to use his pinky on macOS (thumb on Windows), and for Select All he needs to use his thumb on macOS (pinky on Windows). This seems like a minor problem to me.
• And there’s no delete. They call backspace delete, and there’s no delete. Like can I erase in both directions please?
  
  • NW: it looks like you can do a forward delete by doing Fn + delete. I can understand them doing this to reduce the number of keys on the keyboard and thereby make the remaining keys easier to identify / find.
• And when installing apps, you don’t get an app. You get a disc image, and it unpacks itself or whatever it does. Like damn, can I just get an exe?
  
  • NW: Meh, this doesn't seem annoying to me.
• Besides that they’re the same thing. You run apps and save files
  
• I can’t tell if my hate for those small differences is genuine, or if it’s just a deep seated preference based on repetition