A new-to-me laptop

I've decided to start blogging again and figured this would be a great subject to start with.

So, I've recently got my hands on a used Acer 514 Chromebook. As far as laptops go, this is a very underpowered computer with limited (4GB) ram, a nice keyboard and a great screen!

Before going any further, I should probably explain a few things... As a webdev, I've always prefered working on somewhat limited hardware (usually CPU). This is one way I can make sure the applications I build can also run on limited hardware because not everyone owns a developer laptop. I do most of my work on a desktop but last year I had to upgrade its CPU to something much beefyier than what I would usually use just to be able to run some web apps a client was using. As far as laptops go, I mostly use one when going to conference so I only have a few requiments; it should:

• be lightweight
• have great battery life
• fit in my purse
• run a browser, python and postgres
• preferrably a non-glossy screen

I've have quite a good experience using an Asus C200-A Chromebook from 2012 up until a couple years ago. I'm actually still using it every once in a while but it has now become quite sluggish when it comes to browsing. In the mean-time I've also experimented and got mixed success running AnLinux on a couple Android tablets and using those with an attached keyboard in place of a laptop. To summarize, this was much more enjoyable on Android 8 as what it has become with later versions of Android.

So, useless to say that, when someone offered I take that 2018 chromebook off of their hands I was deligthed!

Unfortunately, over the years, Google restricted more and more what you are allowed to run on ChromeOS, the same way it has been restricted on Android. Running a console and installing Linux software on recent ChromeOS has become cumbersome and complex, maybe even impossible on some Chromebook models. Out of the box, Chromebooks can only run ChromeOS. But thanks to the work gathered and available on MrChromebox.tech, it is not too complicated to turn a lot of Chromebooks into regular laptops where you can install Windows or Linux.

And this is exactly what I did with this recued e-waste!

I've been running XFCE on top of various Ubuntu-based distros. I like XFCE because it is lightweight and compatible with GTK. But this time, I'm trying something different: Cinnamon on top of LMDE. Cinnamon is enjoyable to use but I am not sure I will stick with it. I have yet to find anything in Cinnamon that XFCE doesn't offer and I believe XFCE might be a bit leaner as far as resources are concerned.

As this is already getting quite long for a first post, I guess I'll now be off with my new laptop!