Chromebook

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al_yrpal
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by al_yrpal »

I am very lucky, my son, who just called in, is an IT Manager just set up Chrome Remote Desktop which was beyond me (I was using the BT hubs IP address instead of my Windows machine's). I now have my PC on the Chromebook. I tried Photoshop and Lightroom and they both work great. I can now get everything running on the Chromebook, amazing! I can now easily copy all my PC files and photos into Google Drive using the Chromebook, although this can be done from the PC easily enough.

The other thing bugging me was the Epson 370 photo scanner presently connected to my old Windows PC. There isn't a driver for Chrome so it couldn't be used. But, my HP 7500 printer/scanner is web enabled. I found its IP address and put it in the Chrome browser and Hey Presto, there was a remote control panel for the scanner on the Chromebooks screen. I am able to scan now from the Windows PC via Chrome Remote Desktop or via the printer scanner.

I must try my tablet and phone on remote desktop as you have suggested.

Chromebook looking better and better.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
ChrisF
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by ChrisF »

BeeKeeper wrote:
al_yrpal wrote:I am about to have a play with Chrome remote desktop which will give me access to my old PC and its software..


..used a huge amount of data as you were effectively watching a video of the PC screen.

I have used remote desktop programs extensively for work; the algorithms are very clever and only changed bits of the screen are sent. So unless you're watching a movie remotely, data use isn't too bad.
BTW if you're touring in France (and some other countries), 'Three' http://www.three.co.uk/ allow you to use your UK data allowance at no extra cost
Chris F, Cornwall
mrjemm
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by mrjemm »

I've only used remote access software within limited/local networks that are constantly in use, so am not sure about the fine print, but in order to use the home PC remotely, does it not need to be on all the time? Are you meaning to go touring and leave the PC running at home, and permanently connected to the internet? Hmmm. :?

Also...

al_yrpal wrote:If you have a poor internet connection at home forget the Chromebook it relies heavily on a good continuous internet connection.


But you're talking about using it for touring purposes, as well as remotely connecting to a home machine? Surely if a home connection needs to be solid, any connection 'on the road' is likely to compare poorly. This aspect suggests poor useability for touring. I'd also suggest 16gb is not huge... Pictures are bad enough, but you're a music buff; you'll need an external or at least a hefty micro SD to compensate surely?
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al_yrpal
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by al_yrpal »

Yes, if you want remote access then the other machine must be continually on. But, I wasn't talking about accessing the remote machine on tour, my usage relates to getting access to Photoshop, Lightroom and my scanner which currently only run on my PC. Hopefully they will eventually become available but there are viable free photo editing programs available for the Chromebook.

If you think about it any laptop, phone or tablet needs a wifi connection to do anything useful, but a phone can use the wireless data signal so its more useful, so can a data simm equipped tablet. You can use that as a hotspot to operate a Chromebook.

16Gb is absolutely huge particularly as its likely to be completely empty on a Chromebook. Just 1 Gb can hold up to 250 Music tracks. There is also an SD card slot which you can plug a massive SIMM into if you like. My camera has an 8Gb SIMM, I never use 1/4 of that. These days I think we forget how huge a Gb actually is.

I purchased the Chromebook as a probable replacement for my ageing PC. Personally I would probably never take a laptop on tour, certainly not camping, but possibly CC touring where I am sure Wifi would be readily available in European accommodation.

Personally I was unaware what Chromebooks were so I have tried to explore their limitations and possibilities for the benefit of my own knowledge and for others. I also hoped that other Chromebook users would chip in and give the benefit of their experiences and a couple have made positive comments. I hope this has helped in that respect.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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BeeKeeper
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by BeeKeeper »

quilkin wrote:I have used remote desktop programs extensively for work; the algorithms are very clever and only changed bits of the screen are sent. So unless you're watching a movie remotely, data use isn't too bad.
BTW if you're touring in France (and some other countries), 'Three' http://www.three.co.uk/ allow you to use your UK data allowance at no extra cost


I'm sure that is the case if you are using similar sized screens on both devices, but I was using a mobile phone to access a PC and this meant a lot of scrolling around - which made it near impossible to use but on say a tablet with a reasonably sized screen, say 7" or more, it should be workable and of course 3's package would help although I suspect there is a fair usage policy in the fine print somewhere which you might run foul of if you used it extensively.
mrjemm
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by mrjemm »

al_yrpal wrote:If you think about it any laptop, phone or tablet needs a wifi connection to do anything useful, but a phone can use the wireless data signal so its more useful, so can a data simm equipped tablet. You can use that as a hotspot to operate a Chromebook.


A lot more to computers than internet access... This is actually a major aspect of why I was never happy with Android (as I spend a lot of time away from wifi etc.)- I find it too dependent on internet connection, and very limited otherwise. Never had an iPad (just an iPhone), but suspect it's not super different, though a lot of colleagues use them. I currently don't have Office installed on my current tablet, but did on the previous, being a full PC though, I can install full programs of any variety. I think other OS' now can use Here Maps, but it was a big selling point to me also- offline maps that are very useable... though it's been a bit buggy lately, grrr. The maps are large downloads though, so...

16Gb is absolutely huge particularly as its likely to be completely empty on a Chromebook. Just 1 Gb can hold up to 250 Music tracks. There is also an SD card slot which you can plug a massive SIMM into if you like. My camera has an 8Gb SIMM, I never use 1/4 of that. These days I think we forget how huge a Gb actually is.


16gb runs out quickly when downloading map files. 32gb did on my last tablet even, once I'd installed office, a few games, and a load of other junk. Yup, got 64gb this time, but installing far less. Still glad I have the 64gb though. I do think Windows is more memory hungry though. Not sure putting a SIMM into an SD slot is much use though... Unless you've installed a mobile broadband card :wink: (SD cards go in SD slots, SIMMs go in phones). Was thinking about the size of memory the other day though; my 1st PC had a 3.1gb HD, and I think 0.5gb memory. My 1st computer had 48k and a cassette recorder. The Micro SD in my tablet is more than a million times bigger. That 1st PC though, had Windows 95, office, photoshop and autocad installed (1997); try working out how much space the current equivalents would take up!

Going back to the requirements of your machine, you talk about using your scanner. Do you mean using the Chromebook as a home machine to replace your primary computer then? Remotely controlling that won't help much... unless you only scan one thing that's always sitting on the bed, or you have a remote controlled subject transferring gizmo...
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al_yrpal
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by al_yrpal »

Yes, I was thinking of a laptop gradually taking the place of my Windows PC, taking up less space, simplifying things and freeing up some desk space in our house. I tried out Remote Desktop because its there. The Epson scanner I have only works with the PC. No real need to access it via the Chromebook at present, although I can. And I can access the scanner on my printer via Wifi directly from the Chromebook although that scanner is not as good as the Epson. A 128 Gb SD card is £35 if its needed. I shant be needing one 16Gb is more than enough for my modest usage. You can get Chromebooks with bigger SSDs. You just have to get out of the mindset that everythings on your HDD, mines in the cloud in several places. But as you say, thats not much good for large maps. Those go on my phone anyway. Getting a laptop out on the road would be somewhat inconvenient.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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Sweep
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by Sweep »

On a slightly less techie note, re access to wifi, wetherspoons are pretty handy if touring in the uk. They use The Cloud. Free. You can download a POI file of wspoons palaces for loading onto garmins. The beer is good as well.
Sweep
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al_yrpal
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by al_yrpal »

Sweep wrote:On a slightly less techie note, re access to wifi, wetherspoons are pretty handy if touring in the uk. They use The Cloud. Free. You can download a POI file of wspoons palaces for loading onto garmins. The beer is good as well.

Mmm.. Thursday is curry night, pretty decent curry and a pint for about 6 quid!.

Just investigated Google Play music. Surprisingly it imported my iTunes library, just like that! Amazing. I never buy any music from the web, its all on CDs then transferred to computer. Google Play sorted out all the album graphics too. The world of Google is pretty comprehensive.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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Sweep
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by Sweep »

I find their curries a bit small and slighty bland.

Though doubtless "fill a spot" as a yankee friend of mine used to say.

I can recomend the tuesday steak night, particularly if you pay the extra for the aberdeen angus.

This post comes to you by the way from my local spoons with typing lubed by a few pints of monkey wrench.
Sweep
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squeaker
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by squeaker »

al_yrpal wrote:For route planning I use Richard Fairhursts excellent cycle.travel (just type that in your browser).

Coo, that's good 8) Why had I not found that before - thanks :D
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Sweep
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by Sweep »

Yes it is. Doesn't seem to present you with a choice of routes but the pdf generation is very handy.

Thanks al
Sweep
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al_yrpal
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by al_yrpal »

Its a bit of thread drift but... I think cycle.travel works out the most direct traffic free route, thus it only offers one. You can drag any node on its route to do a 'via' if you wanted to for instance pass through a particular town village or place. It then recalculates making the best of that. I find it quite flexible.

And PC World have knocked 20 quid off the Chromebook making it £170!

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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squeaker
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by squeaker »

al_yrpal wrote:Its a bit of thread drift but... I think cycle.travel works out the most direct traffic free route, thus it only offers one. You can drag any node on its route to do a 'via' if you wanted to for instance pass through a particular town village or place. It then recalculates making the best of that. I find it quite flexible.

I was impressed 'cos it came up with a couple of my favourite commuting routes (using country lanes as far as possible) first time :)
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al_yrpal
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Re: Chromebook for touring?

Post by al_yrpal »

Still loving the Chromebook..
I started shopping in Aldi in 2008 and since then Aldi and Lidl have started a supermarket revolution. These so called discounters are stripped down businesses that provide practically everything the ordinary family really needs with a great sense of simplicity and real value for money. I get the same feeling about Chromebooks which do everything the ordinary person needs in an incredibly simple and straightforward way at a rockbottom price. I think we may be on the brink of a PC revolution as people begin to realise what Chromebooks and the simplicity of'the cloud' concept offer. Google presently dont offer a Chrome PC version supporting a very high res large monitor but I guess they might at some point.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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