will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-03 19:41 (#6CBE) I read the linked article but it didn't answer my question. I have a nice older IBM ThinkPad T40 with a great keyboard, touchpoint (pointing device) and screen. The processor is slow and whatever has messed up the WinXP installation makes it even slower--to the point that it is effectively unusable.Will the Chromebit stick be able to "take over" and utilize the ThinkPad hardware? Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 2, Informative) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-04-03 20:40 (#6CDT) Nope. Not unless your laptop has HDMI inputs, and the rest of hardware (keyboard, mouse, etc), can be plugged-in to a USB hub... The Chromebit is designed to plug-in to HDTV & computer monitors, taking over for a tower PC.Besides, a Chromebook is only $50 more than the Chromebit... so if you want the laptop form-factor, you should spend the extra $50 and get the former, ready to go out-of-the-box. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 03:00 (#6EAF) Thanks for the answer, too bad this won't work. Economically, I agree that an extra $50 is not a problem. But I think there will be a *huge* difference in keyboard quality between my ThinkPad T40 and any low priced Chromebook. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 1) by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-04-05 08:22 (#6EMP) You've got to imagine a troop of 10 year old kids going down to the computer lab. Your school can now have a lab that consists of nothing but HDMI monitors. Each kid gets a stick from the teacher, and they do whatever they do using web services available through ChromeOS (which is basically just a bit more complex than a Chrome browser and a tiny bit of desktop).From the point of the school, the maintenance and systems admin burden of running a computer lab this way is hugely more efficient and inexpensive than a lab full of, say, Win10 desktops that need basically full-time administration. This hardware might put a dent in the futures of projects like Edubuntu, which reconfigs desktop hardware into thin clients. That's unfortunate. But it will have a powerful impact on schools that will stop buying Windows desktops, and that in turn will affect how many kids coming out of schools thinking that "computer = windows." As for keyboard quality you are absolutely right - these guys aren't focused on hardware quality. My HP Chromebook has a chiclet keyboard, and I'm not a fan of it (it's no worse than any other modern HP laptop though). If you want a good keyboard, buy a Chromebox and stick whatever USB you like into it - even a Model M! For me, despite the ubiquity of laptops, this is the advantage of a 'desktop computer' no matter which OS it happens to be running: the peripherals I want/need/love, from trackballs to fancy ergo keyboards etc. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 12:40 (#6ETS) I can see the advantages for schools, easy admin, so this seems like it is going to happen in a big way. Not so sure that I like the idea of kids getting used to the idea that "computer = browser + net connection". There are still many things that thin clients don't do, and being able to get closer to the hardware (at least for interested students) is the way to learn about being more than just a "computing service user".The analogy I'm thinking of is electric power before the grid. Small factories (and possibly schools?) had their own power source, either direct hydro (etc) or a generator that someone had to maintain. The kids that were interested in the machinery probably learned a lot more about electric power than we do these days. Plugging things into the wall is so easy that very few appreciate the infrastructure behind it...and the result is the sometimes-fragile grid that nearly all of us depend on. A likely side effect of taking the grid for granted, is that very few really talented and smart people are attracted to jobs in that industry, so at best it muddles along.
Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 2, Informative) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-04-03 20:40 (#6CDT) Nope. Not unless your laptop has HDMI inputs, and the rest of hardware (keyboard, mouse, etc), can be plugged-in to a USB hub... The Chromebit is designed to plug-in to HDTV & computer monitors, taking over for a tower PC.Besides, a Chromebook is only $50 more than the Chromebit... so if you want the laptop form-factor, you should spend the extra $50 and get the former, ready to go out-of-the-box. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 03:00 (#6EAF) Thanks for the answer, too bad this won't work. Economically, I agree that an extra $50 is not a problem. But I think there will be a *huge* difference in keyboard quality between my ThinkPad T40 and any low priced Chromebook. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 1) by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-04-05 08:22 (#6EMP) You've got to imagine a troop of 10 year old kids going down to the computer lab. Your school can now have a lab that consists of nothing but HDMI monitors. Each kid gets a stick from the teacher, and they do whatever they do using web services available through ChromeOS (which is basically just a bit more complex than a Chrome browser and a tiny bit of desktop).From the point of the school, the maintenance and systems admin burden of running a computer lab this way is hugely more efficient and inexpensive than a lab full of, say, Win10 desktops that need basically full-time administration. This hardware might put a dent in the futures of projects like Edubuntu, which reconfigs desktop hardware into thin clients. That's unfortunate. But it will have a powerful impact on schools that will stop buying Windows desktops, and that in turn will affect how many kids coming out of schools thinking that "computer = windows." As for keyboard quality you are absolutely right - these guys aren't focused on hardware quality. My HP Chromebook has a chiclet keyboard, and I'm not a fan of it (it's no worse than any other modern HP laptop though). If you want a good keyboard, buy a Chromebox and stick whatever USB you like into it - even a Model M! For me, despite the ubiquity of laptops, this is the advantage of a 'desktop computer' no matter which OS it happens to be running: the peripherals I want/need/love, from trackballs to fancy ergo keyboards etc. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 12:40 (#6ETS) I can see the advantages for schools, easy admin, so this seems like it is going to happen in a big way. Not so sure that I like the idea of kids getting used to the idea that "computer = browser + net connection". There are still many things that thin clients don't do, and being able to get closer to the hardware (at least for interested students) is the way to learn about being more than just a "computing service user".The analogy I'm thinking of is electric power before the grid. Small factories (and possibly schools?) had their own power source, either direct hydro (etc) or a generator that someone had to maintain. The kids that were interested in the machinery probably learned a lot more about electric power than we do these days. Plugging things into the wall is so easy that very few appreciate the infrastructure behind it...and the result is the sometimes-fragile grid that nearly all of us depend on. A likely side effect of taking the grid for granted, is that very few really talented and smart people are attracted to jobs in that industry, so at best it muddles along.
Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 03:00 (#6EAF) Thanks for the answer, too bad this won't work. Economically, I agree that an extra $50 is not a problem. But I think there will be a *huge* difference in keyboard quality between my ThinkPad T40 and any low priced Chromebook. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 1) by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-04-05 08:22 (#6EMP) You've got to imagine a troop of 10 year old kids going down to the computer lab. Your school can now have a lab that consists of nothing but HDMI monitors. Each kid gets a stick from the teacher, and they do whatever they do using web services available through ChromeOS (which is basically just a bit more complex than a Chrome browser and a tiny bit of desktop).From the point of the school, the maintenance and systems admin burden of running a computer lab this way is hugely more efficient and inexpensive than a lab full of, say, Win10 desktops that need basically full-time administration. This hardware might put a dent in the futures of projects like Edubuntu, which reconfigs desktop hardware into thin clients. That's unfortunate. But it will have a powerful impact on schools that will stop buying Windows desktops, and that in turn will affect how many kids coming out of schools thinking that "computer = windows." As for keyboard quality you are absolutely right - these guys aren't focused on hardware quality. My HP Chromebook has a chiclet keyboard, and I'm not a fan of it (it's no worse than any other modern HP laptop though). If you want a good keyboard, buy a Chromebox and stick whatever USB you like into it - even a Model M! For me, despite the ubiquity of laptops, this is the advantage of a 'desktop computer' no matter which OS it happens to be running: the peripherals I want/need/love, from trackballs to fancy ergo keyboards etc. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 12:40 (#6ETS) I can see the advantages for schools, easy admin, so this seems like it is going to happen in a big way. Not so sure that I like the idea of kids getting used to the idea that "computer = browser + net connection". There are still many things that thin clients don't do, and being able to get closer to the hardware (at least for interested students) is the way to learn about being more than just a "computing service user".The analogy I'm thinking of is electric power before the grid. Small factories (and possibly schools?) had their own power source, either direct hydro (etc) or a generator that someone had to maintain. The kids that were interested in the machinery probably learned a lot more about electric power than we do these days. Plugging things into the wall is so easy that very few appreciate the infrastructure behind it...and the result is the sometimes-fragile grid that nearly all of us depend on. A likely side effect of taking the grid for granted, is that very few really talented and smart people are attracted to jobs in that industry, so at best it muddles along.
Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 1) by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-04-05 08:22 (#6EMP) You've got to imagine a troop of 10 year old kids going down to the computer lab. Your school can now have a lab that consists of nothing but HDMI monitors. Each kid gets a stick from the teacher, and they do whatever they do using web services available through ChromeOS (which is basically just a bit more complex than a Chrome browser and a tiny bit of desktop).From the point of the school, the maintenance and systems admin burden of running a computer lab this way is hugely more efficient and inexpensive than a lab full of, say, Win10 desktops that need basically full-time administration. This hardware might put a dent in the futures of projects like Edubuntu, which reconfigs desktop hardware into thin clients. That's unfortunate. But it will have a powerful impact on schools that will stop buying Windows desktops, and that in turn will affect how many kids coming out of schools thinking that "computer = windows." As for keyboard quality you are absolutely right - these guys aren't focused on hardware quality. My HP Chromebook has a chiclet keyboard, and I'm not a fan of it (it's no worse than any other modern HP laptop though). If you want a good keyboard, buy a Chromebox and stick whatever USB you like into it - even a Model M! For me, despite the ubiquity of laptops, this is the advantage of a 'desktop computer' no matter which OS it happens to be running: the peripherals I want/need/love, from trackballs to fancy ergo keyboards etc. Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 12:40 (#6ETS) I can see the advantages for schools, easy admin, so this seems like it is going to happen in a big way. Not so sure that I like the idea of kids getting used to the idea that "computer = browser + net connection". There are still many things that thin clients don't do, and being able to get closer to the hardware (at least for interested students) is the way to learn about being more than just a "computing service user".The analogy I'm thinking of is electric power before the grid. Small factories (and possibly schools?) had their own power source, either direct hydro (etc) or a generator that someone had to maintain. The kids that were interested in the machinery probably learned a lot more about electric power than we do these days. Plugging things into the wall is so easy that very few appreciate the infrastructure behind it...and the result is the sometimes-fragile grid that nearly all of us depend on. A likely side effect of taking the grid for granted, is that very few really talented and smart people are attracted to jobs in that industry, so at best it muddles along.
Re: will the stick work with an old laptop? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 12:40 (#6ETS) I can see the advantages for schools, easy admin, so this seems like it is going to happen in a big way. Not so sure that I like the idea of kids getting used to the idea that "computer = browser + net connection". There are still many things that thin clients don't do, and being able to get closer to the hardware (at least for interested students) is the way to learn about being more than just a "computing service user".The analogy I'm thinking of is electric power before the grid. Small factories (and possibly schools?) had their own power source, either direct hydro (etc) or a generator that someone had to maintain. The kids that were interested in the machinery probably learned a lot more about electric power than we do these days. Plugging things into the wall is so easy that very few appreciate the infrastructure behind it...and the result is the sometimes-fragile grid that nearly all of us depend on. A likely side effect of taking the grid for granted, is that very few really talented and smart people are attracted to jobs in that industry, so at best it muddles along.