this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
59 points (84.7% liked)

Technology

59414 readers
3731 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Don’t throw away your out-of-date Chromebook just yet as newly found evidence suggests Google may expand the availability of ChromeOS Flex to the old laptops.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s a potential solution but the problem is that IT departments in schools are replacing them when they reach EOL in regards to security patches (since testing software isn’t supported). While there may be people interested, I can’t see many wanting to buy chromebooks that won’t be getting security patches and are sluggish.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The batteries are usually trash on these too because they're constantly cycling the battery. Sometimes multiple times a day. Anything that potentially keeps them out of a landfill is a win in my book.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed. This and Googles announcement last month of supporting new chromebooks for 10 years is a step in the right direction.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My Chromebook went EOL this summer. I can't decide if I want to get another Chromebook or a Windows laptop. Chromebooks are not as cheap as they used to be but I've been hearing Windows is considering a subscription model. In the vein of Adobe's subscription suite I imagine. 10 years of updates plus some kind of post-EOL Linux path might push me over the edge.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

what about Linux? you get a real OS plus security updates until your hardware lasts

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In another comment I said that I tried putting Linux on a different EOL Chromebook and something went wrong, it's entirely possible I did something wrong, but it won't work now. I don't want to take the chance of killing this Chromebook too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

well you were considering buying a windows laptop. just do that and put Linux on it. better and more varied hardware than Chromebooks, a OS with no EOL, no spyware, and if you've been using Chromebook you probably don't need nothing windows specific so it's a win.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not a Linux aficionado. I've been using Windows machines for a long time and I feel confident doing basic things like navigating control panel and updating drivers but I've never used a fully functional Linux OS. I wouldn't know how to do anything and while I might consider trying it on a backup netbook or something I don't want to spend money on something with a learning curve. Years ago I put OS/2 Warp on my machine and it was a nightmare trying to figure out how to do anything. I'm not interested in doing that all over again.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Okay if you want to dip your feet into Linux and see how you feel consider a live USB. It is a whole operating system on a flash drive. At this point you need a flash drive to install it anyway so you can play with it first and see how you like it. I would recommend Linux Mint. It is one of the most user friendly flavors out there. It comes with most of not all proprietary drives ready to go. Its goal is to make Linux the most user friendly experience. It can be installed with a few different desktop environments. If you are trying a light weight machine go for Xfce. Really at this point the difference between the user experience between mint and windows is almost zero. It is entirely possible that you could never open up a command line terminal.