ChromeBook Satori

Well I’m not sure what did it (I suspect installing a GNOME application which fixed some XWindows configuration) but I got Opera working, as well as some other graphical based software that wasn’t working properly. I’m not sure what I did but I did keep trying fixing things until I got somewhere.

These helped:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

To get snap working (something with a problem with the file system) I had to configure, build and install some software, as per here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Crostini/comments/apvcj8/snap_working_with_added_fuse_support_in_m73/

While Chrome is a reasonably good browser (and it’s in the name of the ChromeBook so we can expect it to be pretty well integrated), and the version on the ChromeBook seems well enough suited to the laptop I’ve bought, being free of Google and on a full featured Linux browser seemed one of the first things I’d like to achieve.

While I initially thought of Opera, after battling with a seeming incompatibility with the Linux version provided for the ChromeBook I decided to see if Firefox would be easier. While there is no firefox package a quick Google discovered thet firefox-esr is the standard I should install and

# sudo aptitude install firefox-esr

(using the aptitude manager installed via: # sudo apt-get install aptitude )

and I was able to launch firefox from the command line ( # firefox & ) and see it in my ChromeBook launcher!

After many years growing more and more frustrated with the declining quality of laptops available on the market (Mac or PC), with the new local VM and container based and Cloud computing possibilities the solution seemed simple: a stable, stripped down OS running locally, and all other resources run via Vagrant or Dockers or on the cloud.

It seemed there was little in off the shelf solutions that were ready for the task, but upon closer inspection of a newer ChromeBook I discovered an option to install Linux with a single click. Was this the solution?

Some research into the higher end ChromeBook models later and a “ChromeBook” laptop (with no touchscreen and a trackpad) selected at the store and it’s off to the races. The Android apps are not designed for the laptop interface but the Linux that runs, runs fine. Some issues in getting a proper browser running but I was able to install some simple XWindows apps and the Eclipse IDE and all seems to be running well…though with little hard inspection yet can’t pass any true judgement.

Outlook: hopeful!