All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward

Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by djsumdog on Thursday May 09, 2019 @01:18PM (#19870157)

There is no reason you shouldn't be able to use this hardware 10~15 years from now. People use old Apple IIs and C64s from decades ago. The trouble is the locked bootloaders, secure boot and all the binary blob drivers.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by kllrnohj on Thursday May 09, 2019 @05:09PM (#19872446)

> There is no reason you shouldn't be able to use this hardware 10~15 years from now. People use old Apple IIs and C64s from decades ago.

And you still can, you just won't be getting updates. Just like Apple IIs and C64s from decades ago don't get any updates.

It's not like 6.5 years after release it just immediately refuses to power on anymore, it still works

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by userbinator on Thursday May 09, 2019 @09:44PM (#19874343)

It's not a matter of "updates", but the fact that stuff like secure boot means you don't actually own the hardware anymore.

You can "update" a C64 long after its manufacturer is gone, but these devices are literally designed to lock you out.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by solarkraft on Thursday May 09, 2019 @05:46PM (#19872752)

It still works, but potentially insecurely so - which I'd consider a bit of a problem for daily use.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by skybrian on Thursday May 09, 2019 @02:23PM (#19870773)

I don't know about Apple II's but some C64's died due to bad power supplies. You can still find working ones, but that doesn't mean you can count on any particular device to last. They weren't designed for that any more than today's computers.

Chromebooks are designed to preserve data. The hardware is presumed vulnerable to failure.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by sireat on Thursday May 09, 2019 @02:58PM (#19871113)

How are Chromebooks designed to preserve data?

They are basically modern version of a dumb/dumbed down network terminal. Chromebook experience is tailored for doing everything in the browser.

For fsck's sake you have to print through the "cloud": https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/how-to-set-up-google-prin...

You have to trust that Google will preserve your data in its cloud.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by skybrian on Thursday May 09, 2019 @03:27PM (#19871413)

Yes, exactly. There are vulnerabilities to be aware of (primarily, losing control of your account, which would be catastrophic), but at least replacing the hardware is just a shopping trip.

This is much better than getting an elderly relative off Windows XP.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by afandian on Thursday May 09, 2019 @05:29PM (#19872627)

Arguably it's much harder to get an elderly relative off Google than XP.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by skybrian on Friday May 10, 2019 @12:11AM (#19874989)

I don't see a similar situation happening where I'd have to do that. I can buy a new Chromebook easily, so no need to worry about hardware obsolescence, and ChromeOS auto-updates.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by saagarjha on Thursday May 09, 2019 @03:44PM (#19871586)

Many Chromebooks have a reasonable amount of storage in them: it’s possible to use them without relying on the “cloud”.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by ewoodrich on Thursday May 09, 2019 @11:23PM (#19874794)

ChromeOS has supported CUPS for a while now.

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Re:All Chromebooks will also be Linux laptops going forward by reaperducer on Thursday May 09, 2019 @03:51PM (#19871666)

some C64's died due to bad power supplies.

There are several companies currently making new (more stable, more reliable) power supplies for C-64's.

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