"Why Chromebook Pundits Are Out of Touch"

[kacir]

Originally Posted by sl42

Hah, no. I run Linux.

Then something is wrong.
I just took a few memory modules from my old rig and the behaviour you describe is consistent with 512MB of memory.
With 1GB the system is *much* snappier.
This is Pentium 4 with hyperthreading, .5, 1, 2GB RAM (I actually tested all those configurations). I have Mint Linux Maya installed here - the main version with Gnome.
I started Firefox - that I use at this moment, with a few tabs, one of them Google Maps, - and I started Calibre with huge texts, books and documents database.

I suggest you run:
sudo lshw -html > ~/lshw.html
and then inspect the lshw.html document in your home directory using a browser. Do check how much memory your system can see.
You might have to install lshw first:
apt get install lshw
It happened to me in the past that a stick of memory became loose in my computer and the system couldn't see it. This is how I found out that you *can* use Firefox and Calibre in a reasonable manner even with 1GB ;-)

[sl42]

Originally Posted by kacir

Then something is wrong.
I just took a few memory modules from my old rig and the behaviour you describe is consistent with 512MB of memory.
With 1GB the system is *much* snappier.
This is Pentium 4 with hyperthreading, .5, 1, 2GB RAM (I actually tested all those configurations). I have Mint Linux Maya installed here - the main version with Gnome.
I started Firefox - that I use at this moment, with a few tabs, one of them Google Maps, - and I started Calibre with huge texts, books and documents database.

I suggest you run:
sudo lshw -html > ~/lshw.html
and then inspect the lshw.html document in your home directory using a browser. Do check how much memory your system can see.
You might have to install lshw first:
apt get install lshw
It happened to me in the past that a stick of memory became loose in my computer and the system couldn't see it. This is how I found out that you *can* use Firefox and Calibre in a reasonable manner even with 1GB ;-)

Nope, it's got 1 Gig. And only one memory slot.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I only dual-boot into my XP SP3 partition when I need to use ADE (rare). Simply because I don't like it. But it does run fine now that I upgraded from the original 256 MB RAM. (It mostly runs away from me. )

I guess if I upgraded to 2 Gigs Windows XP SP3 would run fine, but I haven't run Windows regularly on any of my own computers in about five years. I have to take care of my kids' computers (XP) and my wife's work computers (laptop and desktop, both now on Windows 7) -- otherwise I would never have to look at Windows. I even got ADE working on Linux Mint (with Wine).

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I guess if I upgraded to 2 Gigs Windows XP SP3 would run fine, but I haven't run Windows regularly on any of my own computers in about five years. I have to take care of my kids' computers (XP) and my wife's work computers (laptop and desktop, both now on Windows 7) -- otherwise I would never have to look at Windows. I even got ADE working on Linux Mint (with Wine).

Yep, WinXP has somewhat of a reputation for requiring RAM upgrades.

Wish I could get ADE working well, it may be a side effect of running bleeding-edge Arch Linux -- WINE is supposed to be kind of finicky and it would help to have everything as formulaic as most distros handle it.

ADE 1.7 works perfectly, but I can't get the tools to work. Also, dotnet35sp1 returns a bunch of weird errors and generally WINE seems to be acting unpredictable recently.

Anyway, it is my fault for using archlinux.

[Billi]

sl42, how big is your swap partition? Maybe it's too small set.

And you could try something like CrunchBang or WattOs instead of Xubuntu and see if they need less memory.

[Graham]

Discussions of Linux swap partitions and XP service packs do underline one of the main reasons why Chromebook Pundits are Out Of Touch...

Seriously, though, I do get the impression that there's less emphasis now on 'buy a Chromebook and you can dual-boot into a traditional Linux distro' than there was when we started this thread.

I think Chromebooks are increasingly being accepted for what they are, rather than what they're not.

Graham

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Graham

I think Chromebooks are increasingly being accepted for what they are, rather than what they're not.

Chrome OS is not very book friendly. It still lacks support for:

• ADE
• Audible
• Calibre
• OverDrive

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Chrome OS is not very book friendly. It still lacks support for:

• ADE
• Audible
• Calibre
• OverDrive

I doubt ADE and calibre will ever happen although Audible may perform miracles and become reasonable.

How does OverDrive not support ChromeOS?

There is OverDrive Read for most books -- that pretty much defines the spirit of ChromeOS. Kindle books are fully supported as well, as are Open EPUB. Even ADE books are supported -- you can download the acsm... It is ADE itself that doesn't support ChromeOS. But ADE doesn't define OverDrive.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I doubt ADE and calibre will ever happen although Audible may perform miracles and become reasonable.

How does OverDrive not support ChromeOS?

There is OverDrive Read for most books -- that pretty much defines the spirit of ChromeOS. Kindle books are fully supported as well, as are Open EPUB. Even ADE books are supported -- you can download the acsm... It is ADE itself that doesn't support ChromeOS. But ADE doesn't define OverDrive.

How do you get OverDrive Media Console onto a Chromebook?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

How do you get OverDrive Media Console onto a Chromebook?

It's in the web browser.

OverDrive Media Console is not the only way to access OverDrive. It would be like saying Amazon doesn't support e-ink because Kindle for PC doesn't run on a KPW.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

It's in the web browser.

OverDrive Media Console is not the only way to access OverDrive. It would be like saying Amazon doesn't support e-ink because Kindle for PC doesn't run on a KPW.

Browser doesn't work for library books.

You need OMC installed on your PC in order to transfer ePub and MP3 library books to ereaders and MP3 players. Kindle doesn't require it, because Amazon fulfills the checkout. WMA audiobooks require a Windows PC.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Browser doesn't work for library books.

You need OMC installed on your PC in order to transfer ePub and MP3 library books to ereaders and MP3 players. Kindle doesn't require it, because Amazon fulfills the checkout. WMA audiobooks require a Windows PC.

Oh, you mean to transfer it to a reader.

(I really do think it is the responsibility of ereader makers to make sure you can download library books directly via the device, but that probably isn't helpful or germane to the discussion.)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Oh, you mean to transfer it to a reader.

(I really do think it is the responsibility of ereader makers to make sure you can download library books directly via the device, but that probably isn't helpful or germane to the discussion.)

The OverDrive app partially answers that. It allows downloads of Kindle, ePub, and MP3 books directly to your device. WMA books are not supported. The big catch here is that you need a smart device; other devices will require a PC.

[conan50]

With Crouton a simple script can have Ubuntu or Debian running on a Chromebook. I have both Debian and Ubuntu on mine. I mostly use ChromeOS, but it's nice to know I have those options when needed. Chromebooks have really taken off this year with Enterprise and schools adopting them, sales increasing, and more powerful Chromebooks arriving. I think there is no question Chromebooks are here to stay.

[sl42]

Originally Posted by Billi

sl42, how big is your swap partition? Maybe it's too small set.

And you could try something like CrunchBang or WattOs instead of Xubuntu and see if they need less memory.

1Gb swap. Things are just as bad under Crunchbang, which I've had running on this thing before. Currently I don't have access to wired Ethernet, only wifi which leaves me limited to Ubuntu derivatives since my wireless card works out of the box with *untu but I need an Internet connection to install the driver for anything else (catch-22 there).