ChromeBook?

[Dylan_Barton]

So all last year, I carried around my 17.5in HP Pavilion g7 laptop to school for our meetings. I am totally fine with using it in the pre/post seasons, with meetings once, rarely twice, a week. However, I don't like lugging it to and from school during the season, because then its every day. I was looking at my local pawn shop and found a ChromeBook (HP Pavilion 14-c050) 14in laptop for $99 from their back-to-school sale, and was almost immediately sold on it. My only concern is, because its running ChromeOS, a version of Linux, can I run LabVIEW on it? If not, is it possible to install windows 7 and run labview from there?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
Specs are as follows:
14 inch display
4GB RAM
16GB SSD
Intel Celeron 847

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Dylan_Barton

My only concern is, because its running ChromeOS, a version of Linux, can I run LabVIEW on it?

In short, no. NI drivers and software only supports RedHat, Scientific Linux and OpenSUSE.

If not, is it possible to install windows 7 and run labview from there?

Not as far as I can tell.

[orangemoore]

To simply put it Look Somewhere Else

The processor is not great and the size of the hard drive will be a problem for the additional operating system.

Chromebooks were designed to be on the web and use Google tools. (In my opinion)

I wouldn't use it as a replacement.

[Dylan_Barton]

Originally Posted by orangemoore

The processor is not great and the size of the hard drive will be a problem for the additional operating system.

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that I have a spare HDD (250BGB) that I was planning on throwing in there, as well as a few spare RAM sticks I have lying around, assuming they fit. If not, I'll probably end up salvaging from my old Dell. Does that seem plausible?

Originally Posted by cgmv123

In short, no. NI drivers and software only supports RedHat, Scientific Linux and OpenSUSE.

I was also not going to dual boot this hardware, I was going to run Windows 7 Premium BIOS by itself, unless I can somehow get a Linux self-installation right, in which case I'd use RedHat.

[alextried]

I'm actually writing this from my Chromebook right now, and the short answer is no. This version of ChromsOS makes installing literally any software basically impossible. I would 0/10 recommend it for LabView (I used mine last year for scouting) or anything robotics, honestly. You really can't modify it much, so adding your spare HDD and RAM is realllllly unlikely. You can't use anything Windows with it either; it will only let you use Google apps. Good for browsing and writing papers... that's pretty much it!

[pastelpony]

Not a chance. LabVIEW wouldn't even run smoothly on a Windows 7 netbook of the same caliber. Not to mention, NI's software and drivers are all unsupported on ChromeOS (not that they would all fit on a 16GB SSD anyway.) The locked bootloader and BIOS also prevent you from doing much with the computer's OS. You're best off getting an Ultrabook or anything thin that has at least 4GB of RAM, a Core i3/AMD A6 or above, and most importantly, has Windows. LabVIEW is VERY resource intensive. I remember having to lug around my 17.3in Acer Aspire 7741G until I got my Asus K55N.

I do recommend the Asus X401A though. It has a zippy Celeron 1000M that can handle LabVIEW well, a very small form factor, a decent 320GB HDD, a healthy 4GB of RAM, and most importantly, a very agreeable pricepoint. I think it was $200 the last time I checked.

[Greg McKaskle]

While I agree with the advice of getting a more capable laptop that runs windows. I think that LV and its drivers can be installed on a 16GB machine, and running smoothly depends on what you are running. For educational products such as WeDo, we targeted gen1 netbooks and even had it running on the gen2 OLPC laptops. They aren't fast, for any program, and the simulator requires a good video chip, but the requirements aren't that high, IMO.

Greg McKaskle

[guniv]

Chromebooks CAN NOT, period, run any other operating system and can not run any complicated programs other than what you can find on the Chrome App Store. I don't recommend them for anyone other than students and older adults who need something cheap that they can write and store documents on without having to type on a tablet sized screen or keyboard.

[timytamy]

Originally Posted by guniv

Chromebooks CAN NOT, period, run any other operating system and can not run any complicated programs other than what you can find on the Chrome App Store.

On the contrary, there are people that roam the world searching for devices to run Linux on. ChromeOS is just a extremely limited version of Linux, making it quite easy to install a full Linux OS.

Particularly interesting is "Crouton" which allows you to essentially install the Linux desktop that uses existing ChromeOS Kernal. Allowing you to have both without needing to reboot. There is also the standard dual boot and completely replace options.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with LabView's tools under Linux. But for C++/Java, GCC/Eclipse/Netbeans are just an apt-get away!

[pyroslev]

The only practical use of a Chromebook I've seen for FRC has been as a Driver's Station. They were using the Sasquatch as their Robot Controller with the RobotOpen DS and a Logitech F310 Gamepad. It was a demonstration event and worked very well. They also used Arduino IDE in Chrome to code as well. I believe it was the smaller Acer model.

Though now with the Android and iOS Driver Station apps, you can skip the Chromebook. You can do non-LabVIEW development on it. But overall, I'd go with a proper Windows laptop.

[dmaciel10123]

You actually can install a full Linux OS on the Chromebook and from there you could try running a Virtual Windows system in VirtualBox. I've seen teams with Macs run a virtual windows OS to use the driver station and LabVIEW, and though it takes a bit of tinkering it does work very well. I don't know the specifics of how to install a Linux OS on a Chromebook, but I'm sure there are plenty of guides on the Internet.

[pastelpony]

Originally Posted by dmaciel10123

You actually can install a full Linux OS on the Chromebook and from there you could try running a Virtual Windows system in VirtualBox. I've seen teams with Macs run a virtual windows OS to use the driver station and LabVIEW, and though it takes a bit of tinkering it does work very well. I don't know the specifics of how to install a Linux OS on a Chromebook, but I'm sure there are plenty of guides on the Internet.

I really like how this idea sounds. I'm not sure if he'd have enough disk space for Ubuntu, a Windows disk image, and NI software on a 16 gig SSD. If OP has a 16GB flash drive lying around, he should be good with storage. I'm also not sure how well a low-power CPU and 4GB RAM would hold up running Ubuntu on top of ChromeOS (which is the method I'm familiar with) and then running a VM with Windows, then running the heavy NI software. Then again, if the only thing he's running is LabVIEW then he should be fine as long as he's not trying to use it as a drive station or install or run anything else overtaxing.

I like this idea though, so if OP wants to try the running-Windows-inside-full-Linux-over-ChromeOS method, there's this cool program called Crouton I've heard of from people using Chromeboxes as a cheaper alternative to a full desktop. I don't really know the specifics, but I do know it uses ChromeOS drivers to let Ubuntu run over it rather than a traditional dual-boot.

[Dylan_Barton]

Hey Guys, just posting to say thanks for all the help you've been! I decided to give up on my Chromebook idea, because, as much as I love Google, it wasn't going to work as efficiently as I was looking for. I did however, find a Acer Aspire One laptop, with a 250GB HDD, and 1GB of DDR3 Ram (which I will upgrade when I receive the system.) at just a little smaller than a Chromebook (10.6in) for only a few dollars more than the used Chromebook I was looking at.

Anyway, thanks again for all your help!

Dylan