Is a chromebook enough for 3 weeks?

I'm planning to go to Guatemala around Jan 7 for a 2 week vacation. I
was last there 53 years ago, and I want to see if it has changed. (after
a week visiting my brother)

I'm cautious, and other than that, normally I don't worry about crime.
But there is it seems a lot of crime in Guatemala.

Even though or because my laptop is old, it has lots of my stuff in it.
I've backed up its data to an external HDD, and I've installed the AEOI
F11 Backup to an external HDD, and I could image the hard drive again,
but won't there still be a lot of tedious work along with burdensome
needed concentration to do to reload a new laptop if this one is
stolen????

Assuming the answer above is Yes, I don't want my current laptop to be
stolen so I thought I should just get a cheap one for the trip, just in
case.

I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
chromebook?

Reconditioned, as cheap as $87 for 2Gigs of RaM and iirc 128??? Gigs
storage.
Or 159 for 4GB Ram 32 GB storage. Just two examples.

IIUC, I've needed more RAM at home because I open so many tabs, but
since I'll be starting from scratch, and even my bookmarks will be
empty, I won't need much ram. Right?

If I buy one of these lightweight things will it have mini-usb ports or
type c so that, BEFORE I LEAVE, I'll have to buy a usb hub to connect my
type-A USB flashdrives and my type-A usb speakers and mouse and full
size keyboard. Are there other accessories I'll have to buy? A
type-c cable to charge my phone?

I have a universal** automobile power supply. Will that still work with
the input jacks on modern thin laptops? This matters because on other
trips I have spent a lot of time in the rentacar on the computer, in the
middle of the day for example, things I didn't get straight while in my
room the night before. **If I can find the spare tips.

On Thu, 23 Nov 2023 02:32:29 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com>
wrote:

>I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
>to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
>Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
>chromebook?

You cannot run Windows programs on a Chromebook. Leave your
Windows-Laptop at home, running/always on. Setup Chrome Remote Desktop
on your Windows machine and on the Chromebook, which is easy. Use all
your software remotely from your Chromebook. Test before you travel.

Regards

M.

On 11/23/2023 2:32 AM, micky wrote:
> Is a chromebook enough for 3 weeks?
>
> I'm planning to go to Guatemala around Jan 7 for a 2 week vacation. I
> was last there 53 years ago, and I want to see if it has changed. (after
> a week visiting my brother)
>
> I'm cautious, and other than that, normally I don't worry about crime.
> But there is it seems a lot of crime in Guatemala.
>
> Even though or because my laptop is old, it has lots of my stuff in it.
> I've backed up its data to an external HDD, and I've installed the AEOI
> F11 Backup to an external HDD, and I could image the hard drive again,
> but won't there still be a lot of tedious work along with burdensome
> needed concentration to do to reload a new laptop if this one is
> stolen????
>
> Assuming the answer above is Yes, I don't want my current laptop to be
> stolen so I thought I should just get a cheap one for the trip, just in
> case.
>
> I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
> to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
> Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
> chromebook?
>
> Reconditioned, as cheap as $87 for 2Gigs of RaM and iirc 128??? Gigs
> storage.
> Or 159 for 4GB Ram 32 GB storage. Just two examples.
>
> IIUC, I've needed more RAM at home because I open so many tabs, but
> since I'll be starting from scratch, and even my bookmarks will be
> empty, I won't need much ram. Right?
>
> If I buy one of these lightweight things will it have mini-usb ports or
> type c so that, BEFORE I LEAVE, I'll have to buy a usb hub to connect my
> type-A USB flashdrives and my type-A usb speakers and mouse and full
> size keyboard. Are there other accessories I'll have to buy? A
> type-c cable to charge my phone?
>
> I have a universal** automobile power supply. Will that still work with
> the input jacks on modern thin laptops? This matters because on other
> trips I have spent a lot of time in the rentacar on the computer, in the
> middle of the day for example, things I didn't get straight while in my
> room the night before. **If I can find the spare tips.
>

Chromebooks are either "in-support" or "out-of-support".
That is why you may want to inspect the "cheap" item carefully.
Even so-called "brand-new" items on Amazon, have used up five years
of their six year support. We call that "fraud" where I come from.
This is different than other computer ecosystems, where an OS could
be "stretched" a lot further.

For RAM sizing, there's an article here.

https://www.androidpolice.com/chromebook-ram-requirements/

4GB # No DIMM slots for upgrades, is typical
8GB Power user
16GB Steam gaming # The GPU works, but it's not a 4090 600W device

They come with a variety of CPU types, so you'll have to extract what
the best "platform" is, here. It's like being in a foreign produce market
and trying to figure out what you use a Manoc root for (we learned about Manoc
roots in geography class in grade school, or at least, we pretended to be
politely interested in the topic). This article is like
being on another planet. Do you squeeze a Chromebook to see if it is
fresh ? Or knock on the shell with your knuckle and listen ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook

Usually, a government website will give a weather report. Yellow-band.

https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/guatemala

Paul

On 11/23/2023 2:32 AM, micky wrote:
> Is a chromebook enough for 3 weeks?
>
> I'm planning to go to Guatemala around Jan 7 for a 2 week vacation. I
> was last there 53 years ago, and I want to see if it has changed. (after
> a week visiting my brother)
>
> I'm cautious, and other than that, normally I don't worry about crime.
> But there is it seems a lot of crime in Guatemala.
>
> Even though or because my laptop is old, it has lots of my stuff in it.
> I've backed up its data to an external HDD, and I've installed the AEOI
> F11 Backup to an external HDD, and I could image the hard drive again,
> but won't there still be a lot of tedious work along with burdensome
> needed concentration to do to reload a new laptop if this one is
> stolen????
>
> Assuming the answer above is Yes, I don't want my current laptop to be
> stolen so I thought I should just get a cheap one for the trip, just in
> case.
>
> I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
> to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
> Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
> chromebook?
>
> Reconditioned, as cheap as $87 for 2Gigs of RaM and iirc 128??? Gigs
> storage.
> Or 159 for 4GB Ram 32 GB storage. Just two examples.
>
> IIUC, I've needed more RAM at home because I open so many tabs, but
> since I'll be starting from scratch, and even my bookmarks will be
> empty, I won't need much ram. Right?
>
> If I buy one of these lightweight things will it have mini-usb ports or
> type c so that, BEFORE I LEAVE, I'll have to buy a usb hub to connect my
> type-A USB flashdrives and my type-A usb speakers and mouse and full
> size keyboard. Are there other accessories I'll have to buy? A
> type-c cable to charge my phone?
>
> I have a universal** automobile power supply. Will that still work with
> the input jacks on modern thin laptops? This matters because on other
> trips I have spent a lot of time in the rentacar on the computer, in the
> middle of the day for example, things I didn't get straight while in my
> room the night before. **If I can find the spare tips.
If Storage space is a problem try using Thunderbird for both email and
newsgroups. Thunderbird has been my only program I use for these
function for decades.

Secondly; while it will take a little more space, I find that an
inverted works well. I then use the power cord for each battery item,
and plug it into the lighter out let in the car. (Politically incorrect,
but I don't know what the current term used for a cigarette lighter).

Doing with an inverter mean I only have to carry the invert and the
standard charging cord, a 120w and a 12w charging cable.

Another idea: You can take almost every old laptop (Mac, Windows) and
put Chrome OS Flex on it:
https://beebom.com/how-install-chrome-os-flex-windows-laptop-macbook/

And then follow the path described below:

On Thu, 23 Nov 2023 11:15:22 +0100, Michael Logies
<logies@t-online.de> wrote:

>On Thu, 23 Nov 2023 02:32:29 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com>
>wrote:
>
>>I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
>>to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
>>Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
>>chromebook?
>
>You cannot run Windows programs on a Chromebook. Leave your
>Windows-Laptop at home, running/always on. Setup Chrome Remote Desktop
>on your Windows machine and on the Chromebook, which is easy. Use all
>your software remotely from your Chromebook. Test before you travel.
>
>Regards
>
>M.

On 11/23/23 02:32 AM, this is what micky wrote:
> Is a chromebook enough for 3 weeks?
>
> I'm planning to go to Guatemala around Jan 7 for a 2 week vacation. I
> was last there 53 years ago, and I want to see if it has changed. (after
> a week visiting my brother)
>
> I'm cautious, and other than that, normally I don't worry about crime.
> But there is it seems a lot of crime in Guatemala.
>
> Even though or because my laptop is old, it has lots of my stuff in it.
> I've backed up its data to an external HDD, and I've installed the AEOI
> F11 Backup to an external HDD, and I could image the hard drive again,
> but won't there still be a lot of tedious work along with burdensome
> needed concentration to do to reload a new laptop if this one is
> stolen????
>
> Assuming the answer above is Yes, I don't want my current laptop to be
> stolen so I thought I should just get a cheap one for the trip, just in
> case.
>
> I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
> to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
> Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
> chromebook?
>
> Reconditioned, as cheap as $87 for 2Gigs of RaM and iirc 128??? Gigs
> storage.
> Or 159 for 4GB Ram 32 GB storage. Just two examples.
>
> IIUC, I've needed more RAM at home because I open so many tabs, but
> since I'll be starting from scratch, and even my bookmarks will be
> empty, I won't need much ram. Right?
>

Not really. You can turn on Firefox sync, and then on the chromebook Firefox you turn it on there and bingo, all
bookmarks. And if you change any on the chromebook, bingo, they're back on you laptop at home.

> If I buy one of these lightweight things will it have mini-usb ports or
> type c so that, BEFORE I LEAVE, I'll have to buy a usb hub to connect my
> type-A USB flashdrives and my type-A usb speakers and mouse and full
> size keyboard. Are there other accessories I'll have to buy? A
> type-c cable to charge my phone?
>
> I have a universal** automobile power supply. Will that still work with
> the input jacks on modern thin laptops? This matters because on other
> trips I have spent a lot of time in the rentacar on the computer, in the
> middle of the day for example, things I didn't get straight while in my
> room the night before. **If I can find the spare tips.

--
Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon
Al

Michael Logies wrote:

>>I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
>>to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
>>Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
>>chromebook?
>
>You cannot run Windows programs on a Chromebook.

This is not true. If you buy a Chromebook with an Intel- or AMD -CPU,
you can install Linux and run Forte Agent on Wine. It is working
perfectly well, I am writing this with Agent in Wine, although currently
not on my Chromebook, but the combination is installed on my Chromebook
as well. Eudora is very old, Thunderbird (Linux version) could be used
instead. So micky could buy the cheapest Intel- or AMD-Chromebook (~ 200
bucks, Dollar or Euro), the ARM-CPU-versions don't allow for Linux.

-jw-

--

And now for something completely different...

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 23 Nov 2023 02:32:29 -0500, micky
<NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

>Is a chromebook enough for 3 weeks?

Thanks for all the answers.

Michael explains that you cannot run windows programs on a chromebook.
His plan to leave my PC running at home 2000 miles away is pretty
complicated, and relies on very good internet connection when I'm not
sure some of the jungle locations I plan to go to will have internet at
all, especially on the roads between towns.

Another choice would be to go the opposite direction. Instead of cheap,
get something that is a real upgrade for my laptop. Since it's old and
doesn't have much RAM (and won't run Win11 if that matters), buy a nice
more modern but still reconditioned ~$500-700 laptop, don't add the
extra RAM I probably want until I get back from this trip, so if it's
stolen I won't lose $100+ in extra RAM and if it's stolen, which was
never that likely, I won't lose much data and I can just buy another
one. My email will still be on the server and I can dl it when I get
home.

Are there laptops designed to hold 16 or 32 Gigs of RAM?
Are they bigger or heavier than ones that have only 8?
Is there a heat problem with having that much RAM ad a faster CPU?

All the new thin ones use a USB-C port for the power supply is that
right?
I see there are hubs that allow charging current to pass through the
hub while still having several jacks for flashdrives, mice, keyboards,
SD cards. I need a hub like that, right?

Has the price of SSD's continue to go down in the last 3 years? That
is, can I get a lot bigger than 250GB for the same price I paid for 250
3 years ago?

>I'm planning to go to Guatemala around Jan 7 for a 2 week vacation. I
>was last there 53 years ago, and I want to see if it has changed. (after
>a week visiting my brother)
>
>I'm cautious, and other than that, normally I don't worry about crime.
>But there is it seems a lot of crime in Guatemala.
>
>Even though or because my laptop is old, it has lots of my stuff in it.
>I've backed up its data to an external HDD, and I've installed the AEOI
>F11 Backup to an external HDD, and I could image the hard drive again,
>but won't there still be a lot of tedious work along with burdensome
>needed concentration to do to reload a new laptop if this one is
>stolen????
>
>Assuming the answer above is Yes, I don't want my current laptop to be
>stolen so I thought I should just get a cheap one for the trip, just in
>case.
>
>I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
>to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
>Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
>chromebook?
>
>Reconditioned, as cheap as $87 for 2Gigs of RaM and iirc 128??? Gigs
>storage.
>Or 159 for 4GB Ram 32 GB storage. Just two examples.
>
>IIUC, I've needed more RAM at home because I open so many tabs, but
>since I'll be starting from scratch, and even my bookmarks will be
>empty, I won't need much ram. Right?
>
>If I buy one of these lightweight things will it have mini-usb ports or
>type c so that, BEFORE I LEAVE, I'll have to buy a usb hub to connect my
>type-A USB flashdrives and my type-A usb speakers and mouse and full
>size keyboard. Are there other accessories I'll have to buy? A
>type-c cable to charge my phone?
>
>I have a universal** automobile power supply. Will that still work with
>the input jacks on modern thin laptops? This matters because on other
>trips I have spent a lot of time in the rentacar on the computer, in the
>middle of the day for example, things I didn't get straight while in my
>room the night before. **If I can find the spare tips.

On Thu, 23 Nov 2023 16:24:32 +0100, Joerg Walther
<joerg.walther@gmail.com> wrote:

>Michael Logies wrote:
>
>>>I keep bumping into "chromebooks". Can I get by on that?? Mostly I want
>>>to run Firefox to plan my tourism, Eudora to read my email, and Forte
>>>Agent to read what you sages have to say. Can I run these on a
>>>chromebook?
>>
>>You cannot run Windows programs on a Chromebook.
>
>This is not true. If you buy a Chromebook with an Intel- or AMD -CPU,
>you can install Linux and run Forte Agent on Wine.

Technically you may be right, I`m using Crostini on several PCs with
Chrome OS Flex myself (but never tested Wine). But I don`t believe
that your answer helps "micky".

> the ARM-CPU-versions don't allow for Linux.

That`s wrong:
https://blog.crosexperts.com/a-linux-app-store-for-your-chromeos-tablet-67138d709efb

Regards

M.

On Thu, 23 Nov 2023 11:29:37 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com>
wrote:

>In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 23 Nov 2023 02:32:29 -0500, micky
><NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>
>>Is a chromebook enough for 3 weeks?
>
>Thanks for all the answers.
>
>Michael explains that you cannot run windows programs on a chromebook.
>His plan to leave my PC running at home 2000 miles away is pretty
>complicated, and relies on very good internet connection when I'm not
>sure some of the jungle locations I plan to go to will have internet at
>all, especially on the roads between towns.

If you don't have internet, you don't need Firefox or email, do you?

Even without an internet connection, you can write emails in Gmail and
texts in Google Docs (offline) or save files from a camera to your
Chromebook. When the internet connection is restored, Gmail and Google
Docs are synchronised again.

For me, the most expensive thing is my time. When I use my main
computer remotely, which I've been doing for about 15 years, I don't
have to set up another PC.

Chrome Remote Desktop doesn't need a lot of bandwidth. It's excellent,
free and easy. It's much easier than setting up a second PC and moving
existing data back and forth.

Regards

M.

On Thu, 23 Nov 2023 19:05:19 +0100, Michael Logies
<logies@t-online.de> wrote:

>Chrome Remote Desktop doesn't need a lot of bandwidth. It's excellent,
>free and easy.

You start here:
https://remotedesktop.google.com/

On 11/23/2023 11:29 AM, micky wrote:
> In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 23 Nov 2023 02:32:29 -0500, micky
> <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>
>> Is a chromebook enough for 3 weeks?
>
> Thanks for all the answers.
>
> Michael explains that you cannot run windows programs on a chromebook.
> His plan to leave my PC running at home 2000 miles away is pretty
> complicated, and relies on very good internet connection when I'm not
> sure some of the jungle locations I plan to go to will have internet at
> all, especially on the roads between towns.
>
> Another choice would be to go the opposite direction. Instead of cheap,
> get something that is a real upgrade for my laptop. Since it's old and
> doesn't have much RAM (and won't run Win11 if that matters), buy a nice
> more modern but still reconditioned ~$500-700 laptop, don't add the
> extra RAM I probably want until I get back from this trip, so if it's
> stolen I won't lose $100+ in extra RAM and if it's stolen, which was
> never that likely, I won't lose much data and I can just buy another
> one. My email will still be on the server and I can dl it when I get
> home.
>
> Are there laptops designed to hold 16 or 32 Gigs of RAM?
> Are they bigger or heavier than ones that have only 8?
> Is there a heat problem with having that much RAM ad a faster CPU?

Let's try a linear model for power. If I bought 64MB for my first
IBM PC compatible in year 2000 and it drew 1 watt, and today I bought
a 64GB RAM, would it be reasonable for the DIMM to draw 1000X watts?
That would make it into a toaster. Clearly this is not happening.
We know the power model is not linear. And the cooling on the DIMMs
hasn't changed in decades.

If you had an 8GB and a 16GB DIMM, they could be made with different
chips, the geometry could be 7nm on one and 5nm on the other, and the
toggle-power numbers could be different. Maybe the bigger DIMM draws
10% more power. I tried to Google this, to get a chart, but Google
gave me the usual random noise I have grown to love.

You compare DIMM power numbers, at the "industry standard cycle mix".
That ensures each DIMM is doing the same operations, when the lab guy
measured the power. Read and write cycles are heavy power users, but the
density of those commands is low. Most of the time, the bus command is NOOP.

The DIMM gets a little warmer, when Memtest is running.

I would not say that the RAM is a potential "blast furnace". The power
won't be the exact same. But the power won't be infinity either. The DDR5 have
lower voltage, and likely come from a different fab than the DDR4.

A fast CPU can cause a heat problem. They turbo until they hit their
power limiter, or their temperature limit. The area behind the hinge can be
extended ("caboose") to provide an air path for the hotter ones. Both CPUs
and GPUs use closed loop feedback, and they enter "states" such as
"power", "clock", "temperature" to indicate which aspect of control
currently controls the limitations. When my CPU rails on one core, the
fans make more noise than if the CPU rails on all cores. On one core it does
5GHz. On all cores, maybe 4GHz.

>
> All the new thin ones use a USB-C port for the power supply is that
> right?
> I see there are hubs that allow charging current to pass through the
> hub while still having several jacks for flashdrives, mice, keyboards,
> SD cards. I need a hub like that, right?
>
> Has the price of SSD's continue to go down in the last 3 years? That
> is, can I get a lot bigger than 250GB for the same price I paid for 250
> 3 years ago?
>

There are several standards versions of USB PD. These allow passing
a lot more power than in the old days. Without USB PD, you might have
an apple product drawing 5V @ 2A for example, from a desktop. The
computer you're buying, may make reference to what it needs for
charging. And then you buy infrastructure with the right name for the job.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#USB_Power_Delivery

Whether a wall adapter has a barrel jack on it for charging, or
there is USB PD charging, there still has to be a DC power source
(SMPS) to source the power. Nothing really magical has happened.
A "big device" might power a "smaller device" for charging, with PD.
The highest PD might be 48V @ 5A, and I don't think any of those
have been made yet. 48V is not a voltage inside a desktop computer
for example. It's all just a bit messy, in the name of jamming
oodles of power through a small connector. 48V is not a "healthy"
voltage to be running next to TX+, RX+ type pins.

A desktop might make 5V @ 2A (the ATX PSU doesn't have a lot more amps than
that to give on +5VSB). Whereas a USB PD might give 5V @ 3A, because that much
is convenient to do. A laptop wall adapter could be 65W (19V @ 3A kind of thing).
The adapter needs sufficient power to run the CPU, and put some charge
into the battery at the same time.

*******

SSDs won't be getting any cheaper. The fabs are cutting back flash
production, so that the price of flash chips will rise again.

And this is not Sparkle Pony stuff. A fab needs to run at 85% load,
to stay in business. If a fab is only 10% busy, you shut it down,
because it is losing bushels of money. If you reduce the amount of
flash going through the fab, something else must be added to the
fab to keep it busy.

The price right now is likely to be lower than three years ago, but
if you were expecting them to keep "giving away" SSDs for nothing,
that is going to stop. The charts show the price has "stiffened" a bit.
It's also the time of year that affects price, and January 15 may take
the "steam" out of the stiffening on price.

https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08QBJ2YMG 1TB $140 --> $60
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08QB93S6R 2TB $260 --> $120
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08QBL36GF 4TB $480 --> $230

I even made a post a couple months ago, telling people "now is the
time to buy a spare SSD". Even if you didn't need one, you should
have put one in the sock drawer. My sock drawer got a 1TB one, so
I didn't go crazy. The other option would have been a 4TB one.

For a trip somewhere, you can do the math concerning your digital camera. If
a JPG out of the thing is 3MB, you can do the math to work out how many
photos you might shoot in a couple weeks of travel. The higher the camera
res, the faster it chews up storage.

>
>> I'm planning to go to Guatemala around Jan 7 for a 2 week vacation. I
>> was last there 53 years ago, and I want to see if it has changed. (after
>> a week visiting my brother)
>>
>> I'm cautious, and other than that, normally I don't worry about crime.
>> But there is it seems a lot of crime in Guatemala.

A lot of crime is organized. You may think "Pedro was hungry and that's
why he stabbed me". Well, it's a gang with a hundred guys and they
have productivity quotas. If you round up the ring leader, it can
make quite an impact on a certain kind of crime. That's why for drugs
here, they hardly ever bother arresting low level dealers.

You should see how organized car theft is here. Or Fentanyl manufacturing.
(Canada exports Fentanyl)

Paul

Michael Logies used his keyboard to write :
> Leave your
> Windows-Laptop at home, running/always on. Setup Chrome Remote Desktop
> on your Windows machine and on the Chromebook, which is easy. Use all
> your software remotely from your Chromebook. Test before you travel.

+1

and DO NOT SAVE any password on the Chromebook (or anything else you'll
get)

--
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............ [ al lavoro ] ...........