Anyone using Kubuntu on a Chromebook?

[GreyGeek]

I wasn't really "roped in". I've known Ned for over 30 years and he is a good friend. I just jokingly suggested that he buy that $1,800 Gateway mpr-655 laptop (IIRC) and I was shocked when he said yes. I would have programmed the tractor anyway because it was using a Programmable Logic Controller and I wanted some experience in that field. I was a very enjoyable project. Watching that software control his tractor was satisfying. He initially asked that I program to steer it with a joy stick, a.k.a. "fighter" control. I told him using a wheel would much easier. He used a joy stick for about 10 minutes and switched to the classic steering wheel. He could hold his implements to within an inch of the previous pass.

[SteveRiley]

@DYK: I have gone through two HP laptops. Both croaked literally from heat exhaustion. The lousy, flimsy copper tube that stands in for a heatsink is woefully inadequate for the job. Both machines burned up from the inadequately cooled nVidia chips.

I suppose if they didn't have discrete GPUs, they'd still be alive. My Intel-only Mini 2140 is, but even that sucker singes my little swimmers, so it sits unused in the junk gadget box.

[DoYouKubuntu]

That's just so weird, Steve. And it mirrors what I've heard from other people, too. Yet, as I've said, *MY* experience couldn't be more opposite--and positive.

You probably don't recall (heck, I can't even recall what I wore yesterday!), but a couple years back I added a new HP laptop to my lineup. In doing so, I tried out some lightweight Linux distros on my then-older HP laptop, and settled on Bodhi. That was an HP dv6000 and it ran like crazy until just a few weeks ago when it conked out. At SEVEN years old. Instead of truly troubleshooting it to figure out what was wrong (it wasn't its hard drive), I decided to just go ahead and replace it with a Chromebook. I have some HP desktops that are pushing 10 years old and they have never had a single issue. They just crank away day in and day out. So, for me, buying HP is a sure fire way to not have problems. But I KNOW that does not mirror some other people's experience!

[GreyGeek]

I've encountered over half a dozen folks who wanted me to install Linux on the HPs. They were alway running hot, sometimes the fan or battery power didn't work, and every one of them that had a webcam presented an upside down image. Setting in a lap they certainly could disable "little swimmers"! I checked into that and found that the webcam was wired wrong and MS "fixed" it by flipping the image in their driver. I never found a Linux webcam app which allowed vertical flipping of the image. I always advise against buying HP.

[SteveRiley]

I checked into that and found that the webcam was wired wrong and MS "fixed" it by flipping the image in their driver.

You would be astonished (or maybe not) at the sheer volume of code in Windows that exists purely to work around stupid hardware crap. It is staggering. Not that Linux is completely free of such stuff; witness, for example, libkwinnvidiahack4. But Windows can be fairly characterized as a pile of patches to lousy and sloppy hardware.

[DoYouKubuntu]

You would be astonished (or maybe not) at the sheer volume of code in Windows that exists purely to work around stupid hardware crap. It is staggering. Not that Linux is completely free of such stuff; witness, for example, libkwinnvidiahack4. But Windows can be fairly characterized as a pile of patches to lousy and sloppy hardware.

Reminds me of an old quote I found floating around on the Interwebs some years ago:

"Microsoft Windows:

A 32-bit extension of a 16-bit patch to an 8-bit OS written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company that doesn't tolerate 1-bit of competition."

Nuff said.

[GreyGeek]

Just about every HP I put Linux on had the upside down image problem. It was common with their lower end laptops. A more recent one, purchased about a year ago and a slightly more expensive model, didn't have the problem.

It's bad enough when the hardware is faulty. It is demonic when the firmware deliberately blocks Linux, as the foxconn firmware did a few years ago. The guy who found it politely called it a "bug", but when he reverse engineered the firmware and moved the Linux code out of the "else" section and put it under the Win3006 section and used the same call parameters the computer worked perfectly.