Chromebook Laptop, apps for sailing, chartplotter, gps?

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

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My Windows laptop packed-up so I decided to buy a Chromebook (Acer C720) laptop which is google based. To my surprise Chrome does not accept Android apps despite that they are both google driven systems. Has anyone used a Chromebook as a chartplotter, are there any suitable apps? does it have an integrated gps?
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
My Windows laptop packed-up so I decided to buy a Chromebook (Acer C720) laptop which is google based. To my surprise Chrome does not accept Android apps despite that they are both google driven systems. Has anyone used a Chromebook as a chartplotter, are there any suitable apps? does it have an integrated gps?
Click to expand...

A Chromebook runs a Linux-derived operating system called ChromeOS which in turn runs precisely one application: the Chrome browser. Everything else is done as web application: Google docs, Gmail and so on. This means that (a) it can do virtually nothing when not on line and (b) unless you can find a web-based chartplotter, which seems unlikely, you're stuffed.

Android phones and tablets use a completely different hardware (ARM as opposed to Intel) running a very different version of Linux which in turn runs a Java virtual machine which in turn runs applications.

Chromebooks are pretty good if you want a simple system, have connectivity and don't mind doing everything on line. Or, if you are feeling bold, you can install Linux on them instead of ChromeOS, which gives you the possibility of running OpenCPN. Instructions for the Acer C720 at http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/764181-how-to-install-linux-on-an-acer-c720-chromebook
 
budgester said:
How well would OpenCpn run on the Linux'd chromebook ?
Click to expand...

A quick google suggests that the C720 has a Celeron @1.4GHz, 2GB RAM and a 16GB hard disk (flash, I presume). That's a bit puny for Windows nowadays, but should be absolutely fine for Ubuntu. I use an Asus EeePC 901 with a slightly faster processor and the same RAM and it works just fine. I also have OpenCPN running fine on a Beaglebone Black, which is an American equivalent of the Raspberry PI - a tiny computer with 512MB RAM and 2GM storage.

So ... I think a Linuxed chromebook could make an ideal OpenCPN platform.
 
JumbleDuck said:
A Chromebook runs a Linux-derived operating system called ChromeOS which in turn runs precisely one application: the Chrome browser. Everything else is done as web application: Google docs, Gmail and so on. This means that (a) it can do virtually nothing when not on line and (b) unless you can find a web-based chartplotter, which seems unlikely, you're stuffed.

Android phones and tablets use a completely different hardware (ARM as opposed to Intel) running a very different version of Linux which in turn runs a Java virtual machine which in turn runs applications.

Chromebooks are pretty good if you want a simple system, have connectivity and don't mind doing everything on line. Or, if you are feeling bold, you can install Linux on them instead of ChromeOS, which gives you the possibility of running OpenCPN. Instructions for the Acer C720 at http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/764181-how-to-install-linux-on-an-acer-c720-chromebook
Click to expand...

Beaten to it!!
 
JumbleDuck said:
A quick google suggests that the C720 has a Celeron @1.4GHz, 2GB RAM and a 16GB hard disk (flash, I presume). That's a bit puny for Windows nowadays, but should be absolutely fine for Ubuntu. I use an Asus EeePC 901 with a slightly faster processor and the same RAM and it works just fine. I also have OpenCPN running fine on a Beaglebone Black, which is an American equivalent of the Raspberry PI - a tiny computer with 512MB RAM and 2GM storage.

So ... I think a Linuxed chromebook could make an ideal OpenCPN platform.
Click to expand...

I therefore presume that the Acer C720 has a GPS
 
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