Why you should buy a chromebook
I’m tired of people calling chromebooks a pile of ewaste. While this is true for the really old chromebook, new ones can be repurposed easily.
All you need is a little bit of technical knowhow and patience. So while a stock chromebook is useful enough for accessing web based thingys and other stuff, it is basically useless if you want to use any REAL app.
To actually make this thing work, you will need to install Linux on the chromebook. You may have heard of Linux before, it is an operating system like Windows and MacOS.
Most modern chromebooks nowadays ships with a version of ChromeOS that you can install linux on in the settings.
- open the Settings on your chromebook
2.Click on the search bar and search Linux and click on the first one.
3. Click on the enable Linux button and follow through with the process.
4. For the disk size, you can set a decent amount. I would recommend about 10–15 gigs.
5. Tada, you now have linux.
OK, now you have linux. Your wondering how to use it now.
Option 1:
Command-line.
If you see here, if you search terminal and click on it.
You can get to this page, where can can access your command line terminal. This is the place where you can run linux commands. These are some command commands that you can use.
The linux that ships with your chromebook is Debian. Therefore, you can use something called the apt package manger to install and manage apps.
Essentially this will give you more control over installing of apps.
Option 2:
So since Debian is a very popular distribution(or flavor) of linux, you can commonly find(.deb) downloads on most of the popular apps. For example, Obsidian, a popular note taking app.
You can just download the deb file. And double-click and press install, just like you would on like Windows and MacOS.
Other things you can do with Linux on a chromebook,
So, if you are a 3d printing enthusiast, you may want a raspberry pi to download Klipper on your 3d printer. However, if you realise, that you can get a chromebook for basically nothing. You can get a screen with touchscreen, a keyboard and significantly more powerful for so much less than a raspberry pi. You can probably get a 2nd hand chromebook for like 20–40 bucks. I am working on instructions to install Klipper on a chromebook. It will be out soon.
