

Ask HN: Can you code on a Chromebook? - bnzelener

The battery life on a Chromebook Pixel sounds really intriguing.  But I&#x27;m not sure that I&#x27;d be able to give up Sublime Text and the rest of the amenities of my MacBook Pro and OS X.<p>Have you tried programming with a Chromebook?  How did it go and what did you use?
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kidlogic
Absolutely. I current have the Acer 720p (4g RAM) w/ Codestarter's Ubuntu
([https://github.com/codestarterorg/ubuntu-chromebook-
installe...](https://github.com/codestarterorg/ubuntu-chromebook-installer)).

I added my own ~230 GB SSD because the default SSD is a bit small for
programming.

Great form-factor. Great Battery. Perfect for leisurely coding. Definitely one
of the best computers/laptops I've used.

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dhemmerling
If you use crouton [1] to manage chroots, you can easily run Sublime and
everything else in Linux land. You should be aware of what developer mode is
on Chrome OS, though, and all of the negatives that comes with it. The xiwi
crouton target allows you to connect to the chroot in a popup window. You can
also now launch individual applications giving an integrated experience,
including copy/paste.

I ordered the LS pixel, and it was by far the nicest computer I've ever used.
I used IntelliJ IDEA in a popup window with zero lag for Java development.
After enabling a kernel flag, VirtualBox worked too (with several networking
caveats), and thereby Docker.

Ultimately I returned it and got the entry level MBP retina for the same
price. Relying on crouton for functionality, meant small stuff would break
here or there, much like running Arch Linux. For example, the home, end, page
up/page down shortcuts broke in xiwi windows after an update. VirtualBox would
cold cut the power to the machine if I enabled bridged networking. 64 GB is
exactly half the minimum hd space I need. Developer mode is not a first class
citizen within the OS, so I was constantly fighting the machine to get a
stable work environment. Etc.

I really really miss it though. Especially the touch screen. It felt like
using my future computer today. I needed a dev machine that I could rely on,
and my current situation could not justify a $1300 toy. The ecosystem is
rapidly evolving, and I am certain I will eventually be using something very
much like the Pixel within a couple years. Hope that helps.

[1]
[https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton](https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton)

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sjs382
I used one for a few weeks when I got a free Cr-48 during the trial program.
It was never my only device, though my main machine at the time was a netbook.
:)

It's possible, depending what you're building. Be prepared to make a lot of
adjustments to the way you work, though. Spend a few weeks to a month using
ONLY Chrome on your Macbook, then if you don't run into any hiccups, and the
Pixel still seems attractive to you, make the plunge!

I didn't use any WebIDE or anything like that, because I don't think there
were any available at the time. Rather, I used SSH and did all my work on a
remote machine.

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opless
I was going to buy a cheapish chromebook to go on holiday with, because I'm
not going to take my MB Air abroad. Especially on the off chance I may get
rained in or bored enough to do a spot of programming. So I had a budget of
£200ish to do this with.

I ended up buying a lowish spec Lenovo 50-30 (celeron) instead. Turns out it's
rather heavier (but still quite slim) and it's 15". Allegedly 4 hours battery
life too. Only problem ... windows 8.1 Should be okay when I install my dev
environment up on it though.

