Impression of the Google Chrome OS on the Acer C7 Chromebook

This post I am writing for those who, like me, lick their lips on the cheap and light Acer C7. I must say right away - this post is more focused on users who work at the computer, and do not use it as a multi-media device. I spend at least 10 hours behind my chromebook (depending on the length of the working day) and therefore the convenience of working at the computer is critical for me. When I found out about the fairly cheap model from Acer, I decided to try it out. For those who are too lazy to read further - I was satisfied. The rest should read further.

Small digression

This post is precisely the impressions of use, thoughts on how to use this machine. Delivery post, where I ordered, how I placed the order, etc. (in photos) will be later. Now I want to express my thoughts in a somewhat dry form.

What came before ...

Before talking about the acquisition, it is necessary to mention the tasks performed by me:

• work with email (five mailboxes on average);
• work with documents of all conceivable formats (.doc, .rtf, .txt, .docx, .odt,. xsl, etc.);
• modeling of business processes, preparation and management of projects;
• work with the regulatory framework, the search for regulatory documents;
• negotiations on the means of various messengers (icq, jabber, gtalk, skype, irc, etc.);
• work with tools for analyzing site traffic (Yandex.metrics, google.analytics, etc.);
• graphics editing;
• work with company sites, site engines;
• software testing.

Also "for myself" I work with php, css, html, tcl, python, erlang. Now I started to learn Io (offtopic: a chic language, I don’t understand why it is so poorly distributed), I am waiting for official GUI support in Rebol3 (it has been drunk from the official assembly, but there are simply no unofficial collected under * nix).
It turns out a fairly extensive list of tasks that need to be grouped in one convenient workplace. Initially, I tried to cram it all on Windows 7, it became not convenient to use it, if something needed to be assembled from the sources, Hell began. Therefore, I switched to Linux as a working system (I previously picked it for myself). I tried Arch, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS. As a result, I settled on OpenSuse as a more stable and less ancient distribution of software versions (IMHO!).
Over time, it became necessary to transfer large files to people geographically located over several thousand kilometers. Started using git, dropbox, box, etc.
Due to the fact that often our compatriots crookedly layout documents (you should have seen some reports - this is horrible), but you had to correctly display them - I started using Microsoft Skydrive and their cloud office. And Evernote, which I was very used to while studying at the university.
Dry result: a large number of programs, many cloud services, a bunch of software, a large number of constantly transmitted files.
I’ll explain right away that I work on my machine, because I need access to working documents 24 hours a day.

Acer C7 & Google Chrome OS

When the laptop came to me, the first thing I did was scold myself that I did not immediately order an adapter from an American plug to a domestic one for 1 bucks. It was lucky that the Packarge Bell multimedia laptop had a similar charge (now they were bought by Acer). Therefore, the problem can be considered temporarily solved (I completely solved it when I bought this adapter in the nearest home appliance store).
The OS booted up quickly, asked for a login and password from Google Mail, as well as a key to the WiFi network and language. The first start took a couple of minutes, after which I immediately got to the desktop, on which there were no shortcuts, or the usual start button. Only the panel at the bottom of the screen (transparent) with buttons - Google Chrome, Gmail, YouTube, Google and the application menu (of which Google Office, the file manager and a couple more applications are installed).
The rest had to be put from the application store ...

The clouds

The first thing you had to get used to and understand was that most of the applications in the system were cloud-based. The first thing I decided was office applications. Google Office and Microsift SkyDrive have completely resolved this issue.

Evernote - as a web client, no need to explain.
Messenger - IM +. I previously sat on IMO, but I liked IM + more.
For e-mail - Gmail Offline (my mailboxes are Gulov’s, not Google’s ones - they send them).
For simple calculations (on the knee) - Numerics Calculator (programmable, cloud).

For SSH - Secure Shell.
Sometimes I need to write something quickly that doesn’t get into a notebook or calendar. A mark that will be required for some couple of hours. For these purposes, I liked Writer - a simple text editor such as a notepad that binds to a Google account and saves everything written to files.

Graphics editing? I had enough written on flash - Pixlr Editor. This is not Photoshop or even Gimp. But for the purposes of trimming the background, pasting it into the site, it will do.
Viewing graphics izakrobki, video and audio, in principle, too.

Modeling? The draw.io service I liked the most.
Next came the hobby that I do during the rare hours of rest ^ _ ^.
Choosing an IDE is still in the process. The main candidates:

• Cloud9 is a powerful IDE, supports one closed project and three open projects, can synchronize with GitHub and DropBox. It supports the syntax of many languages, has a terminal emulator (with the ability to call the main scripting languages).
• Koding is a fresh product, while in the open beta stage on invites. I registered, a month later an invite came (if anyone needs it - write in a personal, there are 2 free ones). While in a half-working condition. It is attractive due to the ability to immediately send there frameworks like Ruby on Rails and a faster terminal emulator (which I mostly need tclsh from). The impressions of working in it are more pleasant, more responsive in work, more convenient in the interface (a hybrid of IDE and social programs).
• FriendCode - IDE for teamwork, that’s it. I don’t know how convenient it is, I didn’t have time to try it. Later I’ll say what I chose and why, then I’ll supplement the description of this environment.

Code compilation? It is carried out mainly at home on a "working" (intended for development), a separate laptop with OpenSuse. Accordingly, project files are downloaded via the interface of the same IDE.
Well, as a last resort - there is a wonderful service that can compile 40 programming languages.
Music? Everything is also very interesting here.

Firstly, there is an excellent Grooveshark service that allows you to listen to music in the cloud and create your own playlists. Moreover, the missing can always be downloaded from the local machine and music will always be available.

The second is the completely freaky Achshar Player, which is even worse than tkabber. Written in HTML5 + JS offline music player with playlists, libraries and more. At the same time - when you open the folder - it immediately copies to the hard contents of this folder (i.e., they opened the folder from the hard one, all the contents were copied to your library, tired of it - deleted from the player and from the library immediately).

Extensions

Since Google Chrome OS is primarily an OS browser, it’s especially important for ease of use - “add-ons” to the browser. So I have a simple clock (so that I don’t even have to look at the stump), a save button in Google Drive and a plugin for Gmail that allows you to read and write without going to the service page. I have not used the rest yet.

Native client

The most delicious and interesting. Google has provided a technology that allows you to make “offline” applications that run in a browser window. Those I’ve submitted are Google Docs, GFort, Gmail Offline and a remake of the great StarControl 2 - The Ur-Quan Masters. Everything works with a bang, without an Internet connection.

So far, there are very few applications written in this way, but I think everything is ahead. Technology, as far as I know, is not yet a year old.

Teamwork

Here comes the fun part. Firstly, Google donated 100 GB on their Google Drive to everyone who bought Chromebooks. Total we have - 420 GB of space (if you count the hard drive of the machine itself). Plus all cloud services. As a result, we have places - 320 on the local machine and more than 130 GB in the clouds. It’s necessary to somehow connect everything. Copying to Google Drive is easy with the built-in File manager. But what to do when you need to throw something with Box or DropBox, say on GitHub? To do this, there is an excellent service - openera, which can link all the above clouds into a single interface through a Google account and help to prescribe the rules for sending files (for example, use Box for pictures). Need to transfer a file to your colleagues? I’m sharing it in a Google disk or throwing it on GitHub (depending on what kind of file).

Impressions of the OS

Just awesome. It loads quickly, it works smartly, it has never hung. It is updated more or less regularly, but not constantly, like Windows. The first OS in which I just work , and do not play the OS setup before work. At first, it “broke” from the lack of the terminal, but now I understand that I actually do not need it for the tasks that are performed.

Ergonomics Acer C7

Photo - then, in another article. Now I’m only impressed - I didn’t have a more convenient car (and I worked for HP, Acer, Fujitsu SImens, Dell, Sony, Asus). I hardly touch the stationary Packarge Bell with Win7 and the working HP Pavilion dm3 with OpenSuse. 60% is the merit of the OS, but 40 is ergonomics. A comfortable keyboard, a large understanding of the gestures of the touchpad, nothing more.

What's left overboard

Actually a lot. So, for example, Google Chrome OS is a full-fledged Linux. Yes, initially it does not have make, gcc, mc, etc. But there is almost all the GNU environment, including tar and full-fledged bash. True, for this you need to switch to developer mode (which was done by my friend on the third day of use), after which the crosh terminal (called in the browser tab) can be driven in by the shell command, which really cuts the full bash in the browser tab. And that means we can improve the system to infinity. It turns out - we have a system that is equally suitable for both the user and the geek: from a housewife to an economist-analyst and programmer. I found the perfect Unix for myself. Which I wish you too. Thanks to everyone who read this heap of thoughts!