Saturday, September 9, 2017

Chromebooks and Assumptions


Hey guys!  Long time no see, I've been holed up working on a book or seven, forever distracted by real life.  The dogs are good, the cat is getting old and grumpy but is doing well, and the kids are firmly in the tween/teen zone.  Life is busy!

The teen at my house earned the money to purchase a Chromebook for writing (apple, tree), and we got it all set up yesterday.  And I liked how it worked, overall, but I'm deeply in love with my writing program, Scrivener, and we cannot be parted.  So if I'm going to really use one of these things myself, it needs to be able to handle Scrivener so I can work away from my desk.

Looking it up, I discovered several things that will make the Chromebook super useful with a little extra work.  I started off on DOS programs at school, I've learned some basic HTML for funsies, and definitely feel up to the task, I ain't skurred!  So I grabbed an on-coupon version at Costco that comes with a wireless mouse and runs $259.99 through end of day Saturday!  I love a good deal!  Anyway...

So I'm standing in line to buy my Shiny Chromebook and some delicious salt and pepper pistachios, behind a gentleman who asked if I was getting the computer for the kids.  I said no, this one will be for me to use as a writing tool, assuming I can get it to work like I want.  Another gentleman got in line behind me and chuckled at my purchase, offering to give me his old computer.  I chuckled, haha, yeah, it's a really basic machine.  It will do what I need, it's fine.

The cashier chimed in as the first man ran his card, and asked if it was for my kids, not having heard the earlier waiting-in-line Midwestern chatter.  I answered her honestly, "I'm planning on either stripping off the Operating System and using Linux instead, or trying to use both together.  I need it to access some of the programs I need, especially my writing one."

Both of the guys just shut up.  Ah, silly young thing, buying the crap computer.  Oh, shit, sorry, you're going to hack it?  I'll leave you to it.  *LOL*

Now to make this machine do its thing!  Having another writing tool will hopefully help me get things done and ready to go faster!