July 18, 2011, 7:39 AM —
When I first agreed to write about a week working with nothing but a Samsung Series 5 Chromebook, I knew I was asking for trouble. Although I already knew and liked its Chrome Web-browser-based Linux operating system, ChromeOS, I also know how I work.
You see, on a normal day, I don't work on just any one computer, or even just one operating system. I usually work on at least three systems and one of those is always running Mint Linux, while another is usually running Ubuntu and one keeps flipping its little mind from Windows 7 to XP depending on what I'm doing to Windows that day. Me? Work on just one computer, and that a small laptop to boot? This wouldn't be easy.
For what I do -- email, surfing, music -- it's perfect. Instant on, and iPad battery life (the CR-48 anyways). And free wireless for 2 years? Even at a paltry 100 MB/month, perfect for when the bloodsuckers known as PEPCO or Comcast go down. Just enough Web use for emergency usage. And it tethers to my phone just peachy ... My CR-48 updates constantly (reboots faster than you can blink) and it's been neat to see it evolve -- rapidly -- over just 8 months.
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But, brave soul that I am, I decided to give it a try. This is what I found. I warn you now, it's a tale of both triumph and tragedy. Well, OK, so it's really a story of what worked and what didn't work, but you get the idea.
Sunday: All is well with the world
It's Sunday, so how much work am I really going to get done in the afternoon? The answer is "not much." So all I tried to do with the Chromebook was the bare basics of cruising around the Web and reading e-mail. It was with this last that I ran into my first 'hitch' with the Chromebook.
I use Gmailall the time, but I only use it for about 10% of my mail. The vast majority of my e-mail goes through my own Vaughan-Nichols & Associates domain. So, to get to that mail, I had to set up Gmail so that I could use it to get to my vna1.com Post Office Protocol (POP) server.
Now setting up a POP client, like Outlook or Thunderbird, to get mail from Gmail is pretty straightforward. Using Gmail as a client to a POP server, that's a bit more complicated.
To do this, you need to go to the Gmail's Gear icon on the upper right and go to Settings/Accounts and Import. On this tab, select "Add POP3 Account." You'll then be asked several questions about your POP account such as what port to use and whether your server uses Secure-Socket Layer (SSL) for the connection and so on.
So, while I was quickly reading all my e-mail from my Chromebook, if you use another system besides Gmail for your e-mail, I'd be sure to set this up when you have time to work on it and there's help available rather than setting out on a business trip and then finding out that you're in over your head as an e-mail admin.
Monday: So far, so good
I very rarely print anything. I think that if God had wanted us to still put marks on paper he wouldn't have given us a computer display. So, of course, today I had to print out a PDF form for a contract I'm working on. Reading the PDF document wasn't a problem. ChromeOS, and thus the Chromebook, comes with Adobe Reader functionality baked in. Printing from a Chromebook, that's a little tricker.
