Chrome OS Flex

I'm experimenting with Chrome OS Flex on my 2013 Mac Book Pro having booted it off a USB drive. The operating system has been heavily touted lately as a way of breathing new life into old computers by replacing resource-hungry operating systems like Windows and Mac OS with a light-weight alternative.

While my Mac Book still works fine, it does labour when using web-based applications like Airtable. The fan starts up and the laptop starts to get quite hot. That's why I thought I'd give Chrome OS Flex a workout. If I like it, I can install it permanently on my laptop, replacing the Mac OS Sierra that's currently on it. Most of my work I do is done in the Chrome browser and most the apps I use are Google-based.

It's early days yet and problems are bound to arise. I've already found the trackpad rather sluggish and have resorted to using a mouse again. Whether this will remain a problem or resolve itself after a proper installation, I don't know. Another problem that has arisen involves the use of Command + Shift + F4 that I regularly use to capture part of the screen. That keyboard combination doesn't work anymore.

Figure 1: source

Figure 1 shows that I've surmounted that problem, so all is well. One program that I use is Calibre, that keeps track of my ebook collection. I'm interested to see if I can get that up and running on Flex. It should be possible because there is a Linux version of Calibre but first Linux needs to be installed and this is a 450Mb download. I'll download it overnight and test things out tomorrow. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

The other program that I frequently run of course is Astrolog and downloading Linux should enable me to run this program because there is a Linux version. In the meantime, I need to remember that Flex is currently in Beta release and more improvements are on the way. Google senses a business opportunity in Flex and is not likely to lose interest in improving it. Flex may even be able to run Android apps in the future.

The YouTube video above gives a pretty good account of what Google's strategy is, moving ahead. 

One advantage of Flex is that it has eliminated my WiFi problem that causes an IP conflict alert whenever I connect to a repeater. Whenever I'm in the bedroom, where a repeater has been setup to boost the weak WiFi signal from the router, I need to connect my laptop to the Internet via an Ethernet cable. So far I've encountered no such alerts.

A final problem of course is to get my VPN to work on Flex. This is something I need to keep working on but I'm sure that it's possible, even if it may require some troubleshooting from the VPN's technicians.