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Comment by dunnevens | Hacker News Reader

This doesn't help your 6 year old Chromebook, but going forward Google is going to update Chrome independently of Chrome OS.

I understand your frustration though. I love ten inch laptops. That's about the perfect size for my use. I've got a 5.5 year old 10 inch Asus Flip Chromebook that still runs perfectly, but hasn't received updates since last Spring / Summer. There's really nothing else on the market, short of a iPad Pro 11 in a laptop-hinged case, that could replace it.

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>I love ten inch laptops

You might like the Lenovo Duet: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/student-chromebo...

End of life 2028. Comes sooner than you think.

I thought of the Duet after writing my comment. I actually bought one when it was super cheap at Best Buy. I like it. The size is perfect. But I wish there was an optional hinged keyboard for it to turn it into a semi-proper laptop. Hoping it's selling well enough for Lenovo, or some third party, to make that accessory.

I got the kid a Chromebook for school. Now Google Meet says that the browser is too old to use most of the features. Netflix puts up a notice that the browser is too old. Etc.

Once the school year is over and she doesn't need it all the time I plan on replacing ChromeOS with Linux of some flavor.

> Netflix puts up a notice that the browser is too old.

Whoa. I guess some DRM scheme is forcing their hand?

I'm surprised because on Mac you can still use Netflix in Snow Leopard, if you install Silverlight and use the ancient built-in version of Safari. Netflix's support page seems to imply this will even work on Tiger, although I haven't tried it. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742

Netflix still seems to work perfectly fine in both Chromebooks I have (one dell that is perhaps 2 or 3 years old, and one HP that is about 6 months). Netflix experience is identical on each (but the Dell's screen sucks) - don't think DRM has anything to do here.

I think what he/she meant is that the Widevine DRM that Chrome uses likely has multiple versions, and Netflix may require the most recent versions to view its content.

Yes, that's what I was imagining must be going on, if it indeed doesn't work as SamBam said. I just can't see why else they'd support ten-year-old Macs but not a (presumably) much newer Chromebook.

You should check if your device can run a third party ChromeOS distribution that is still updated, like Cloudready. That's what I did with my Asus CN60 that would otherwise have become a doorstop without security patches and it runs perfectly.

This model uses ARM. There's only one alternative to the default ChromeOS on the Flip: Arch, which has an extensive writeup about this model on their wiki. Pity it's not Intel, or I'd have a wide variety of options.

Cloudready is great though. I've tried it on multiple machines and had great results every time. Still hoping for a Cloudready Pi port now that Google owns Cloudready.

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