Wow. Given that this works with ChromeOS, this appears to give me what I've been looking for for a long time: something that makes a Chromebook a usable developer laptop.
Now time to buy a Chromebook and try it out.
Now time to buy a Chromebook and try it out.
In the end you're way better off with a beater $50 eBay thinkpad like my favorite x201. Which supports LibreBoot, is a repairable real computer.
Thick is the new thin.
If not cheaper, they're sometimes lacking AC adapter and/or drive caddy but that's maybe another $20.
X201 (not the tablet x201s) is i5/i7 12", enough pep for my needs, also you can get DisplayPort and modular UltraBay for optical with the optional dock thing.
The "dock" actually latches on and can even charge a standby battery with the most awkward external connector ever, if you desire extra thickness in your laptop, and frankly who doesn't.
Owning my computer, as opposed to paying for it to be controlled by Our Benevolent Overlords.
Hence "run Debian on it". The whole reason to run a Linux distribution is that the maintainers do most the sysadmin work for you, and Debian maintainers are among the most skilled sysadmins you can find.
You have to keep your filesystems from being full, but apart from that things will Just Work as long as you stay within the Debian tooling.
Easier said than done, Chromebooks aren't "computers" in the sense that you could easily or natively install Windows/Linux.
ChromeBooks run ChromeOS and often don't even have a BIOS, thus to shoehorn a different OS requires installing SeaBIOS when it isn't present.
They're more like an appliance, though GalliumOS[0] works on (most?) x86 Chromebooks.