Acer C7 Chromebook

[Kirk Pepperdine]

What is the deal on the Chromebooks.
Are they picking up traction?
What do they really look like? Linux?
are they worth exploring?

Regards,
Kirk

[Rakesh]

Not used on myself but I did read a favourable article about the new Samsung range:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/378565/samsung-chromebook

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[Fabrizio Giudici]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:30:17 +0100, Rakesh <rakesh.m...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Not used on myself but I did read a favourable article about the new
> Samsung range:
>
> http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/378565/samsung-chromebook

Apart from a series of other questions, they are ARM powered, right?
Doesn't this mean that they are almost useless for a Java developer?


--
Fabrizio Giudici - Java Architect @ Tidalwave s.a.s.
"We make Java work. Everywhere."
http://tidalwave.it/fabrizio/blog - fabrizio...@tidalwave.it

[Kevin Wright]

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion… http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/samsung-chromebook-runs-ubuntu-20121121/

[Fabrizio Giudici]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:05:21 +0100, Kevin Wright
<kev.lee...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I wouldn't jump to that conclusion…
> http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/samsung-chromebook-runs-ubuntu-20121121/

I know that there's Ubuntu, but what about JDK 7 for Ubuntu-ARM?

[Casper Bang]

Doesn't this mean that they are almost useless for a Java developer?

Java runs* on my NAS, smartphone and tablet; all ARM devices. So I would disagree that ARM is almost useless for a Java developer. Although I've usually used pre-compiled cacao ipkg JRE on my NAS, you can download various compatible OpenJDK versions from Oracle:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/embedded/resources/se-embeddocs/index.html

*Admittedly I usually resort to Mono or C instead, since working with signed bytes in Java makes you angry and depressed - not necessarily in that order.

[Rakesh]

Guys, 

I think you're missing the point - Chromebooks are meant to be a 'gateway' to the cloud. Running Java apps locally defeats the point of the device.

[Fabrizio Giudici]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:17:49 +0100, Rakesh <rakesh.m...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Guys,
>
> I think you're missing the point - Chromebooks are meant to be a
> 'gateway'
> to the cloud. Running Java apps locally defeats the point of the device.

Absolutely right. But I think that Kirk's question was about "misusing"
:-) the device, I mean, it sounds as a reasonably good hardware product
and it's relatively cheap. I presume Kirk is also interested in the
lightweight aspects and the alternatives are usually much more expensive.

[Kirk Pepperdine]

I've admittedly been absent. I was off having fun tuning ScalaBuild so I'm just catching up.

You know as hardware platforms are becoming ungluded from MS we're seeing a huge amount of fragmentation out there. We've got tons of phones, tablets, ultra-light notebooks, CES demonstrated a number of new windows devices, I was just looking at Apple sales breakdowns and phones and tablets are responsible for an insane amount of their revenues. The iTouch has been almost completely squished out of the picture as have laptops and desktops. The 17" laptop is gone and I'll admit, it's all pretty confusing trying to sort out just what's really happening.

I've always said that desktops and laptops are devices that escaped from the lab and some how made it back into the hands of everyday people. Phones and tablets are pushing them back into the labs where they belong. Yeah, they're not quite there yet but I'm looking at how my kids are using all the tech that we have hanging around the house. They move pretty fluidly between laptop, tablets and phones. They use windows, OSX, and used to use Linux.. but mostly they use a browser or an app that is a browser in disguise which is why all of those os'es don't matter.

In all cases there are intended uses and then unintended uses or abuses ;-). I was interested in how Chrome fit in as I've neither touched nor seen one and of course, how far can it be pushed. I had fun with Raspberry Pi at Devoxx. The ARM JVM ran on it quite nicely so I suspect that it would run on this notebook also. I also see that things like Raspberry Pi being very disruptive to those that markets that don't need full powered laptops or desktops. So, is the Chromebook part of that disruption?

-- Kirk

[Rakesh]

nope, I don't think so.

Chromebooks are Google's attempt at getting you to use its online services. Thats it! Nothing to do with Raspberry Pi.

The initial launch wanted to target education IIRC.

http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/chromebooks-for-classrooms-99-for_10.html

I think the landscape has changed dramatically in the last two years with the rise of the smartphone and especially tablets.

Have to see what happens now.

[Oscar Hsieh]

Chromebook runs on ChromeOS which basically a Chrome browser with some extensions.  Google recently make some changes to ChromeOS to give it more "OS" look but essentially it is still running in sandboxed browser.

Chromebook is Google's attack to Microsoft Windows.  Initially Google targeted it to small businesses and 2nd computer for regular Joe but no one bite since it was underpowered and overpriced. 

I am not sure how a Java Developers can use Chromebook unless you use Cloud-based IDE.  Personally I would rather use a cheap linux netbook than a chromebook.

By the way, this Acer C7 has Intel celeron processor.  You can find the review here

http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/29/3702668/acer-c7-chromebook-review-199-laptop

[Cédric Beust ♔]

Maybe I'm overly cynical but I can't help but notice that with the ChromeBooks, Google is making the very same stupid mistake that Sun did with its network computers ten years ago. However, I think the ChromeBooks will fail for different reasons.

-- 

Cédric

-- 

Cédric

[Fabrizio Giudici]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:11:39 +0100, Cédric Beust ♔ <ced...@beust.com>
wrote:

> Maybe I'm overly cynical but I can't help but notice that with the
> ChromeBooks, Google is making the very same stupid mistake that Sun did
> with its network computers ten years ago.

It's true, it's that old idea just a bit refreshed, but every time is
different. For instance, the old Apple Newton failed, while the iPhone was
successful. We have to wait and see.

[Fabrizio Giudici]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:42:06 +0100, Oscar Hsieh <zen...@gmail.com> wrote:


> I am not sure how a Java Developers can use Chromebook unless you use
> Cloud-based IDE. Personally I would rather use a cheap linux netbook
> than a chromebook.

Since a Chromebook can run Linux, it's also a sort of cheap linux netbook.
I'm still puzzled about Java: ok, I learned we have a good JDK 7 running
on ARM. But both NetBeans and Eclipse rely on native libraries and AFAIK
there's not an ARM version for them. So no NetBeans and Eclipse on an
ARM-based netbook. Perhaps IDEA?