One of the most insane (and surely breakable) designs I saw on some ancient tank of a thing back in 2000–and it was old then. I can’t find any information about it now, but it basically was a very fat 90’s era laptop that when you hit the CD drive eject button:
The keyboard slowly raised to about a 45 degree angle from the chassis
The CD drive tilted inside tilted slightly upward
The CD tray slowly protruded, extending out from underneath the keyboard
All accomplished with a highly satisfying mechanical grind and whine. Wish I knew what the heck make/model it was–would be a neat collector’s item. Surely has to be a one of a kind laptop design.
You can run Linux on that Chromebook if you want to. Side-by-side. I’ve done it. As best I know at this point it will have to be Ubuntu, but still…[I am more of a Mint person]
I realize that., thing will have its fans but the free write always struck me as a device for people wanting to be seen writing as opposed to people who actually write.
I have my original cr48 which still gets fourish hours of battery life. If I bothered to start writing again I’d pull it out and either focus writer (green text black screen typewriter noises) or open gedit up. I do wish I could swap the keyboard out, getting a new ssd probably also wouldn’t be a bad idea but getting a keyboard that isn’t chicklett would be pretty swank. I mean it works fine but I have literally worn dents in the thing.
Waitaminute…
Are laptop keyboards standardized between manufacturers? It’s a standard 12inch form factor. I should be able to just source a different keyboard. Already pulled the thing apart a few times so not like I can’t do the job.
Edit: Why not vi/emacs?
While I Linux I’ve been spoiled by GUI tools since the mid 90s with windows. I do not want to retreats back into command line. That said I’d end up going nano anyway. Emacs is complete overkill. Vi is alien to me.
It’s quite possible that you could find a new keyboard for it - iirc a lot of laptops, particularly lower end systems, source parts used in other devices. Check the serial number on the keyboard and look it up online - you’ll probably be able to find the part on eBay.
Cr48 Chromebook. As in the prototype google sent out as a publicity stunt. Single core hard limit on ram so getting increasingly meh to go online with, but as an offline device pretty swank still. I just want to get a new keyboard and I am unsure if I can just dump an, example, Acer Chromebook keyboard in or not.
You’re going to have to check the part number. For the most part I think the interface is standard but the dimensions aren’t. It being a “prototype” tho, who knows.
Noticed a lot of Chromebooks have the keyboard and trackpad assembly sonic welded to the housing at least according to what google is telling me.
As for OP?
It’s interesting but I would have to pass. If it wasn’t free I wouldn’t have bought the cr48 due to only having one USB port. That one has more but it has the same issues other netbooks have: cramped writing and a screen too small for my eyes for how far away from my face it has to be (I hate enlarging text that large.) About the smallest I can go is 12’.
