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Comment by hebrox | Hacker News Reader

I did some actual work on an ASUS Chromebook C201P, running VS Code, Postgresql, pgAdmin and Node.js. It was a little bit slow, but not too bad.

I kind of expected/hoped this to be better than that old Chromebook, but reading this https://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/09/relative-performance... it looks like it has even worse performance (A17 vs A53)

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Do you have that running Linux via Crouton or have wiped the C201P? Or something else?

I just use mine for fun/learning. Have it flashed w/ Libreboot and running PrawnOS (Debian / Linux-libre based) which keeps seeing a nice amount of improvements. https://github.com/SolidHal/PrawnOS

I used Crouton. Support ended so I am looking for something to replace ChromeOS. Will take a look at PrawnOS, thanks!

While I wouldn't call it polished, at the very least, the PrawnOS image will give you a quick way to get a Debian-based distro onto the c201 to customize as you see fit.

I noted above it uses Linux-Libre, so the internal WiFi does NOT work with the distro "as is". EVERY other component is supported though. If you need internal WiFi instead of external USB WiFi, you can modify the build script to use the regular Linux kernel & add the non-free Debian repos to sources.list. I've done it before and it works fine.

The default image when you build or download it puts you at a command prompt where you can either use it "as is", run a script to install a pre-configured desktop environment(XFCE, GNOME, or LXQT), or custom install things yourself.

GNOME was just recently added. The RK3288 processor in the c201 is now supported by Panfrost for 2D/3D acceleration, but I think it still has a bit to go before GNOME is completely usable. If save the resources if you're doing development.

4k output should be available soon, just tested patches for that. Admittedly 2160p was much smoother. Eventually there will also be hardware video decoding. The RK3288 has a full Hantro G1 VPU and drivers for that were recently merged into the kernel.

For alternatives, there is a decent list here that might be better suited to your needs: https://github.com/nikolas-n/GNU-Linux-on-Asus-C201-Chromebo...

I still have an Acer C720, which cost $250 back in 2013. It's a lovely piece of equipment, once you remove ChromeOS. I've taken it apart more times than I can recall, lots of empty space inside. The only downside is 2GB of RAM, 4GB would have been better, otherwise it's a perfect device even today (for development and browsing the web).

I always meant to buy a couple more RAM chips and solder them down to the motherboard (there's a couple of unpopulated pads), but never got round to it.

Sadly the wifi chip is soldered down, that's one of my only grips (RAM I get, but typically wifi would be an m.2 slot unless you're really cheap).

So I imagine you could get a lot done with this, even with the terrible performance. If you're just programming and using a browser you really don't need much oomph.

I took my intro to databases course on a $160 (sale) Acer C670 in 2015. Fantastic battery life, Crouton was a breeze to get working, and was my first introduction to doing work in a unix environment. The only problem was that the larger tests would take more than 2GB of ram, and start swapping out to disk - so suites that took my classmates 5 minutes to run took me closer to an hour. I got very careful at thinking over the code in my head before hitting run.

Wonderful little system for a broke CS student, and nothing but fond memories.

Soldering everything down and limiting max memory for mobile chipsets have been my biggest gripes with chromebooks and newer computers in general.

I upped my C710 to 16GB for $50 a couple years ago (also swapped the 847 board for a 1007u, and dropped in an SSD), and it's been great. If and hopefully when 16GB DDR3 sodimms drop in price I'd like to bump it up to 32GB.

Fellow C720 owner here. Love the thing, have had it running Elementary on a new SSD for ages now. Have recently switched to a E111 (despite only 32GB EMMC) because I got it to take 8GB RAM: https://taoofmac.com/space/com/Acer/Aspire%20ES1-111M, but otherwise the experience is still largely the same: extremely lightweight, quiet, "disposable" laptop tha I can use to code anything, browse anything, fiddle with the electronics (this one has pads for a SATA connector... haven't traced the electronics yet to see if they are there at all...)

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