OMG, Google chromebook spaffy-goo moment!

Took delivery of A Samsung Series 3 Chromebook this morning.

Im a bit of a google fanboi – all my work, contacts, calendar, music, pictures is in there, in the cloud wherever I need it, whenever.

But since Chrome browser is so good, I hadnt got around to getting a chromebook until my netbook (dual boot XP/Lubuntu) started having HDD problems and was due for retirement (I do have a Nexus phone though).

Was nervous about committing to a new netbook that couldnt run Excel for my work. However, out of the box, sync’d and everything at my fingertips in seconds.

BUT…spaffy-goo moment was when I installed Chrome Remote Desktop on my Main home W7 PC and on the chromebook and clicked “Connect”.

Works. First. ****. Time. Perfectly.

I can access my mahoosive Excel models anywhere if I need to make hefty changes that google spreadsheets cant handle. Or in fact I can open windows media centre and tell it to record something.

No twiddling with the router. Just one PIN needed to access. And I can do it from any chrome browser in the world with RDP installed.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp?hl=en

All that excitement, I need to go and lie down.

If only I knew what you were on about 😉

And wipe off the sticky stuff from the keyboard.

If only I knew what you were on about

If you did, the excitement would literally kill you stone. dead.
You’re a lot safer in your ignorance 🙂

If only I knew what you were on about

Something about chrome, spaffing, and mahoosive models.

I think it’s a remake of Barbarella.

Doesn’t handle full stops well, does it ? 😉

Can you install citrix receiver on this? Very tempted if you can…

oh, wow. really happy for you. great.

just going to have a go!

I think it’s a remake of Barbarella.

Stoner? In a metallic bikini?

*Voms*

c’mon flash – not like you haven’t seen a chap in metallic undies before

stimpy, no idea, but have you seen this?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/citrix-receiver/haiffjcadagjlijoggckpgfnoeiflnem?hl=en

Sounds promising but relies heavily on you having internet access to a reasonable speed all of the time.

I often find that’s not the case which is why I’m out.

Will certainly take off when 4G is a lot more reliable and built in to the Chromebook though.

Cheers Stoner. Now quiet, I’m hunting my credit card…

all of the time.

Actually, for me, it only requires that I have a 3G connection or higher for those moments when a client needs something tweaking. Never too far from a WIFI hotspot to do it. Its not something I need to always have on, but its something I need when I need it.

When you do the remote desktop, does it do that annoying thing that some RDs do and resize/change the resolution of the target computer (in this instance to match that of the chromebook) and then leave it wrong when you disconnect?

Must admit that with my laptop on its last legs, I’m tempted by a chromebook, particularly if we can then remote to the media PC we have for if we really need to use excel, etc or even to remote onto my work laptop via VPN.

I bet the NSA love the cloud.

No, left my main PC unmolested.

It does mean that the rendering of my PC display on my chromebook doesnt take up the whole screen (ratio differences) at shrink to fit, but it does mean I can use the scroll bars. If I wanted to get the same resolution I can turn off shrink to fit and scroll around instead.

I don’t get it Stoner.

What is Chrome/Chromebook doing differently to all the other remote desktop solutions that has you so impressed?

(I currently work every day on a PC via Remote Desktop so interested to hear of improvements)

We borrowed a bunch of Chromebooks to have a play around with at work and I was really impressed with them.

I opened the same document on my Win7 PC, the Chromebook and my phone and was editing on one device with the text appearing on all three 🙂

Google are starting to do some very clever stuff via the Chrome browser, like using your phone as a controller for a game on the PC.

graham, Ive not needed to do anything like play with port forwarding on the router, set up a dynamic DNS account, install a standalone client etc etc.

Out of the box working.
That is ace.
And also makes it easy to set up for family too.

Gotcha. Cool. What is it like security-wise?

You mention just one PIN needed? That sounds a bit scary.

I take it you also need the Google account credentials or something?

Did you buy from PCW/Currys and opt for their warranty? Only asking because if it goes back to base then you can expect to be without it for over 50 days! They won’t necessarily tell you that in-store but will admit when you read the Ts&Cs and question them.

That was one of the reasons I took mine back as I found out about issues that even the Chrome product manager was allegedly oblivious too.

two ways of doing it, Ive only tried one so far.

You have chrome running on your home PC, logged in with your google id.

On another PC with another copy of chrome running also logged in. RDP needs to be a preinstalled extension on both browsers. You then just launch RDP from a new tab page, it will show you which computers you’ve enabled for RDP, click and connect, then enter a pre defined PIN (the PIN, I think is account specific, although if you had more than 2 computers it may be PC specific?)

At the moment I dont think I can RDP into my chromebook from my PC – probably a chromium security issue that hasnt been sorted yet.

TBH this is a chrome thing more than a chromebook thing.

There seems to be the option of being able to “Share” a computer with another user too. I guess you need to give out a PIN and give permission to specific google id to be able to let it in. So probably kind of safe, ish.

spacemonkey – no, mine was a grade a return to an commercial ebay reseller with a manufacturer’s warranty. I got mine for £190.

Coolio. Hopefully you’ll be sorted then.

You may continue your spaffage 😯

BTW, one of the coolest things about Chrome (for anyone who doesn’t know) is the ability to access all your devices’ browser sessions from any logged in device. E.g. be on your laptop > pull up a tab from the iPad you were using last night > trawl back through that tab’s history to find that page were looking for … etc.

Tis an infinitely better experience that IE and FF et al.

Still not convinced by the chromebooks.

Why not just have a laptop with Chrome browser on it?

Chromebooks don’t support remote assistance INTO the chromebook which is a shame. I’d get one for my Mum if it did. Apparently you can use google hangouts or whatever it’s called to share the Chromebook screen with a remote user but that’s a bit of a faff.

Interesting – thanks for the explanation Stoner.

7s boot.
SSD
no need for expensive hardware – this is 11.6″, weights 3/5 of F.A. and costs a fraction of an ultrabook.

Google drive now supports offline doc editing too.

Stoner,

Does this work wth Chrome for Linux? (is that even available yet?)

Does this work wth Chrome for Linux? (is that even available yet?)

Chrome (or Chromium, at least) is certainly available for linux, not sure about the advanced stuff stoner’s spaffing over.

Tempted by a Chromebook as you get 100GB Google Drive free for 2 years. This is worth just over £90 and I am reaching the limit of what I get for free.

Stoner are there any more returns available from where you got yours and did you get the free Drive space?

cletus – no more returns at that seller ATM

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/micro-p/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

It did come with 100Gb of space (the offer is linked to the hardwawre not the google id) but since I have a google managed business domain/account I dont need it or want to use it.

Im pretty certain RDP does work with chromium (which is what runs on linux), but I can test and confirm later on my Lubunut netbook.

But now, Ive wasted too much time fiddling, and must get on with the house work or mrs stoner will beat me with the hosepipe again.

…….No darling, not the elctrodes!!!!

BTW, one of the coolest things about Chrome (for anyone who doesn’t know) is the ability to access all your devices’ browser sessions from any logged in device. E.g. be on your laptop > pull up a tab from the iPad you were using last night > trawl back through that tab’s history to find that page were looking for … etc.

Tis an infinitely better experience that IE and FF et al.

So like Safari on the Mac/iOS, then? 😉

(though no idea who came up with it first)

So like Safari on the Mac/iOS, then?

Don’t know … Safari is barely any better than IE so I avoid it.

I use my Chromebook a lot. I like the docs on there.

The music playing program is pants. I uploaded my music collection and it plays but tends to stop for some reason.

I’ve played about with different things but I tend to have a small calendar and calculator open then hook into the websites I want.

Though Google may have to up its game with regards to docs if the new web-based iWork is any good. I’d also love to see a type of MS Access/Bento derivative on iWork/Google drive too.

It’s interesting stuff and if any of the SB family express an urge for a laptop then this is propably the route I’ll be taking.
I’m fully converted to Chrome on my work PC, the home Macs and my phone (although the latter could be better) but what does Chrome Remote Desktop offer that Teamviewer doesn’t? The latter is free, cross platform (inc iOS) and ‘just works’ with no setting up required.

How good are the chromebooks at managing multiple google ids? For example, I’ve one for my business (paid), and me and mrs blobby both have personal ones too. Is it easy to have multiple ones set up and to switch between them?