Is Programming on a Chromebook Possible?

[crashtech]

Cool thing about a Windows netbook is you can boot a live Linux distro from a USB stick, they have some pretty large capacity ones that are just little nubs that can be left in all the time.

 

[john5220]

^ this asus has a micro sd card slot.

Can I boot linux distro from that?

I have fast 16GB class 10 ADATA

 

[dave_the_nerd]

http://ark.intel.com/products/80275/Intel-Atom-Processor-Z3735G-2M-Cache-up-to-1_83-GHz

According to Intel, the Atom Z3735G addresses a maximum of 1GB of RAM.

Which is weird.

 

[Pikaboo]

Nope.

 

[crashtech]

^ this asus has a micro sd card slot.

Can I boot linux distro from that?

I have fast 16GB class 10 ADATA

I think it depends on the BIOS, but it is less likely to work than a USB port. I wonder how you would ever re-load Windows onto one of those things without an alternate means of booting, though.

Edit: Nevermind, the X205 DOES have USB ports, you just want not to have to use them.

 

[VirtualLarry]

1GB RAM? Are they kidding? Ugh. Forget that device.

 

[Cerb]

1GB RAM? Are they kidding? Ugh. Forget that device.

+1. It's the right direction to be looking, but a bit extreme. Look for one that either comes with 4GB, or 2GB and can be upgraded (has a SODIMM slot), and has USB 3.0. You may need to look at AMD-powered machines.

USB 3.0 will allow speedy storage to be attached. In the long run, that is likely to be more important than CPU speed or anything like that, for such computers, which are barely, if at all, upgradeable internally.

4GB would be enough to realistically use VMs, and/or modern IDEs, without becoming too slow.

I'm not fond of eMMC, but with USB 3.0 and decent amounts of RAM (or, at least, the capability for such), it could be an OK trade for getting a new computer on the cheap.

 

[john5220]

funny thing is Engadget says the asus has 2GB of ram but intel say it cannot address more than 1GB this is weird. Qualcomm and Samsung can address 3GB of RAM

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/03/asus-eeebook-x205/

 

[john5220]

http://ark.intel.com/products/80275/Intel-Atom-Processor-Z3735G-2M-Cache-up-to-1_83-GHz

According to Intel, the Atom Z3735G addresses a maximum of 1GB of RAM.

Which is weird.

I am sorry but you have the wrong CPU. The one in question is a refreshed version ending with the letter F. This refresh supports 2GB of RAM.

this is the correct one used in the new ASUS and it is 2GB RAM according to intel and asus

http://ark.intel.com/products/80274/Intel-Atom-Processor-Z3735F-2M-Cache-up-to-1_83-GHz

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-X205TA-X2...3735+Bay+Trail

ASUS X205TA-DH01 11.6" Laptop (Dark Blue), Intel Bay Trail-T Z3735F 1.33GHz (Turbo up to 1.83GHz), 2GB DDR3L (1333 MHz) on board, 32GB EMMC, 802.11AGN, Bluetooth, Windows 8.1

 

[john5220]

1GB RAM? Are they kidding? Ugh. Forget that device.

no its not

Its 2GB of ram. He had the wrong CPU in question, intel modified it to support 2GB now its just the model number looks almost the same.

This is excellent, its what I wanted a chromebook but with Windows for the same price of $199 and 2 pounds weight and 12 hours battery life.

http://ark.intel.com/products/80274/Intel-Atom-Processor-Z3735F-2M-Cache-up-to-1_83-GHz

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-X205TA-X2...3735+Bay+Trail

 

[Remobz]

When will the Asus Zenbook UX305 be available for sale?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

no its not

Its 2GB of ram. He had the wrong CPU in question, intel modified it to support 2GB now its just the model number looks almost the same.

This is excellent, its what I wanted a chromebook but with Windows for the same price of $199 and 2 pounds weight and 12 hours battery life.

http://ark.intel.com/products/80274/Intel-Atom-Processor-Z3735F-2M-Cache-up-to-1_83-GHz

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-X205TA-X2...3735+Bay+Trail

The screenshot you posted said 'G' - must have been an engineering/demo system.

 

[alkemyst]

The OS shouldn't matter unless you are also interested in learning *NIX. Windows can do C/C++ and JAVA just fine and their are tons of free apps for that if you want environments.

For many a text-editor on steroids is all they need and many prefer like Sublime Text.

 

[john5220]

I have this awesome text editor called Atom. I think github is maintaining it, the colors are really fantastic with syntax etc you should see it

.https://atom.io

Too bad it cannot compile, guess I will just use visual studio. Wish there was a way for it to run the written code soon as I was done typing it out. I have visual studio so it won't really matter but the colors in this thing looked really pretty. I am usually doing C and C++ programming.

 

[Gunbuster]

Sounds like you need to move the decimal point in your price point and get a Surface Pro 3.

 

[KWiklund]

Wrt the OP, I would say the answer is "it depends". I know people who do use the chromebook for programming, but they make use of cloud-based IDEs like Cloud 9. I haven't used it, or similar alternatives, so I can't comment too much on how viable they are as a development platform. The people I know who use it like it though; then again they mostly do web and mobile development.

That said, I suspect there are some pros and cons to such a system (such as the loss of overall control). If that's the case, some of the approaches described earlier in this thread might be possible or just buy a regular Windows / Linux laptop. For my part I don't use such systems for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they generally don't cover what I need (embedded DSP, etc). As a student, you will want to plan ahead a few years before you purchase your laptop. Figure out whether you actually will need any oddball or niche software in the years to come; you may not be able to install such on a chromebook.

 

[ultimatebob]

Here's a dumb idea... why don't you look at the Syllabuses or talk to the Professors and ask them what software is required for their classes?

Odds are you're going to run into at least one professor who will require an application that runs under Windows, AND at least one professor who wants you to use Linux for something. That's where VMWare comes in handy.