Tricking out my Chromebook

If you remember, a few months ago, I posted about my Acer C7 Chromebook.   I am still in love with it.  Although, I have modified it a bit to meet my desktop software needs.  Now this may seem a little geeky to many of you, but bear with me.  None of what I have done was at all difficult and there are YouTube videos to walk you through the process.

One of the things that I like about this particular Chromebook is that it has a 330 GB hard drive.  The Samsung version has a 16 GB solid state drive, which would be fine for a pure Chromebook usage, but I wanted to be able to do a little more.

Like I mentioned before, the Chrome OS is nice for web related activities and the Google Drive does give you plenty of storage and allows you to read/edit and even create Microsoft documents.  But the one limitation that I found, at is was big to me, you can only create/edit the spreadsheet application when connected to the internet.  I use spreadsheets all of the time, so it was a bit frustrating when I ride the bus to work and want to work on my budget or organize my ideas.

So, if I wanted to run full versions of a spreadsheet when offline or some other nice-to-have applications, I would need some sort of operating system that could handle that.  But remember, this was all about SAVING MONEY.  I was not about to pay money for Windows or any operating system.

I did find an answer.  I had, on the sidelines, considered Linux and particularly the Ubuntu distribution as it was most like the desktop operating systems that I and most people are used to.

 Now, I know what you are thinking.  "There is NO WAY am I about to take on installing an operating system on my laptop.  I mean, what if SOMETHING GOES WRONG?"  I don't blame you a bit.  But remember, this whole laptop is less than $200 and with a couple of clicks, you can restore your Chrome OS and since you are linked to the cloud with Google Drive, all of your data is backed up and the risk is nearly inconsequential.

My recommendation would be to watch some You Tube videos of what Ubuntu 12.04 or 12.10 can do.  It is pretty awesome.  Then go to this video to watch the installation instructions.  A big shout out to "Johnny the Geek" for this.  Now, there are a couple of commands that you have to type, but not much and you are guided keystroke by keystroke as you go along.  After you are done, you have a machine that boots up as a Ubuntu (actually Crubuntu as it is especially designed for the Chrome book).

So what do you get with Ubuntu?  For one, you get a very simple interface (kind of a blend between Windows and Apple)  But it unique.  In fact The Apple OS is just another type of Linux itself.  Ubuntu comes pre-loaded with Libre Office which is very compatible with  MS Office.  So, you have Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation and Database software (did I mention that it is all FREE?)

Another incredible feature of the Chromebook Ubuntu combination, it is true 64 bit, with means that it can handle up to 16 GB of ram.  (Just a note, the Windows 8 home edition will only work with 4 GB of ram).  So, I ordered 8 GB of ram on line (about $60) and installed it in about 2 seconds.  This (along with the original 2 GB installed pushed my Chromebook up to 10 GB of ram making it a screaming machine that is WAY faster and more powerful than any Windows 8 laptop.

One important thing that Ubuntu comes with is a free cloud service called Ubuntu One for backing up your files.  I highly recommend doing this.  I was tinkering with setups on my operating system and did lose it.  But since I had everything backed up, I had the OS and all of the data restored within one hour.

So, if you are looking for an awesome free alternative operating system, I highly recommend this.  I am hoping that more people will try this and put pressure on the big guys (Microsoft and Apple) to stop charging for operating systems.

One last thing, because of the tight and secure structure of Linux, you DO NOT need anti-virus software.  That saves about $50/year per PC (for Norton)

I have not tried the other flavors Linux (such as Mint, Red Hat or Debian).  Mint is much like Ubuntu and has a very simple interface.  There are too many to really go into here, but they all have their own raving fans.  I just picked the one that was easiest for me to access, install and use.

Enough of the geekdom.  I promise to talk more about traveling next time, because we have reached another milestone in our journey and am excited to talk about it.

Happy Trails,

Kit

Minimalist Replacements

Sometimes, it can't be helped. Items that you need wear out or break at inopportune times. This week, my desktop PC died. It had managed to survive a lightning strike about a year ago. But, finally, the power supply stopped working. Now, I do have my work laptop, but it really isn't mine. So, if I still want to continue writing and researching, I would need some sort of replacement device. But, I will be damned if I am going to put out $700 to $1,000 for a new laptop. So what is the solution? Well, I decided to go with the Acer Chromebook C7. I bought one brand new for $200. So far, it has worked out fairly well. I can use Google Docs/Drive to create/edit documents. (I wish the Sheet application worked offline, but that functionality isn't far off). I have been able to find plenty of apps available to keep me busy.



No, it cannot run programs like Photoshop or Microsoft Office, but those are really money holes anyway. Shauna still has a traditional Windows 8 (don't get me started on Windows 8) laptop. She has her photo editing software and the capability to download traditional software, if needed. I suspect that I may need a different laptop to perform Business Intelligence tasks one day, but usually my vendor would provide that anyway.

So $200 compared to $700 does seem to fit in with my minimalist mindset. So, we will see how this experiment goes. I really like the fact that the OS will self update as needed, so I won't need to worry about getting the latest overpriced OS when Microsoft is looking for more revenue.

One thing that I thought was funny. I showed a co-worker my Chromebook and she said that she could not wait until her current laptop died.

Another co-worker thought it would be a perfect first computer for his 7 year old son. I would agree. It does have a Linux OS under the hood, so it really can do more than it is configuration is setup for.


On another front, we spent more money to reduce cost. We acquired a ROKU HD for $53 dollars and cancelled our cable and telephone service. So, all we have now (from AT&T) is high speed internet. Obviously, the cable companies are really feeling the pinch. They offered 3 free months of cable. But, we declined. We just are not watching standard broadcast TV anymore. In fact, as I write this, I am listening to Pandora on my Roku/TV. Shauna and I have found plenty of free entertainment and some subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime that are very portable. So, overall, we have saved about $100/month by making this cut. This is but another step in reducing our monthly expenses to the absolute minimum, without sacrificing quality of life.



In a future post, I will talk about reducing food costs dramatically.

Until next time ...