Tag Archives: chromebook

Burning Chromebook: Day 5

24 May, 2013Internet, Internet Marketing, MobileChrome, chromebook, google, Horde, RoundCube, SFTP, SquirrelMail, SSH, TweetDeckJames Moore

Chromebook and MacBook Air

I doubt if I will have a huge need to use SFTP/SSH on the Chromebook, but I did spend some time taking a look. At the moment I believe there are two options available to me:

There is also a Chrome Extension (FTP Client), but based upon the reviews this is not something I will pursue.

No issues with Chrome so far. I imported my old Safari bookmarks and plan to test Desire2Learn access over the weekend. This is where I think I might see some quirks, but D2L indicates that the browser is supported.

TweetDeck worked well. Unlike some of the early versions this version has spell check.

I don’t plan to integrate my work and home email accounts into Gmail. The webmail options are functional, albeit a little clunky. With home email I will have to decide which of the three options are best for me:

MacBook Air	Chromebook	Notes
Office Word	Google Docs	No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.
Office Excel	Google Sheets	No issues so far.
Office PowerPoint	Google Slides	Some formatting issues with imported files. “Present” not an option unless using native slide format.
iWork Keynote	Google Slides Files	Considerable formatting issues with imported slides. Downloaded QuickTime mov, m4v, and mp4 files playable in Files.
iBooks Author	No equivalent.	Was not expecting to find an equivalent.
Dreamweaver	ShiftEdit.	Works well. Did not see spell check as an option.
Photoshop	pixlr	Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.
Cyberduck	Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client. ShiftEdit.	No issues so far.
Safari	Chrome	No issues so far.
Twitter	TweetDeck	No issues so far.
Email	Gmail and Webmail	No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.
Screenflow	Google Hangouts Screenr Screencastle	Have not tested.
iTunes	Google Play Music	Working well. Music Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.
Evernote	Evernote Web	No issues so far.
Dropbox	Dropbox	No issues so far.

Burning Chromebook: Day 4

23 May, 2013Gadgets, Internet, MobileChrome, chromebook, cloud9, dreamweaver, epub, google, shifteditJames Moore

I had not expected to find an equivalent to iBooks Author, but have installed a couple of epub readers. I don’t really anticipate having a great need for these, as I will be reading ebook predominantly on the smartphone.

Epub Readers

Today I concentrated on finding a Chromebook alternative to Dreamweaver. I had assumed that there might be a version of Amaya or KompoZer, but that was not the case within the Chrome Web Store. The best alternatives that I found were:

ShiftEdit

ShiftEdit looks like it will work for me. There is a Chromebook app which connects to the web service. The only thing that I did not find during my cursory testing was spell check, so I will have to use Google Docs to work around this.

MacBook Air	Chromebook	Notes
Office Word	Google Docs	No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.
Office Excel	Google Sheets	No issues so far.
Office PowerPoint	Google Slides	Some formatting issues with imported files. “Present” not an option unless using native slide format.
iWork Keynote	Google Slides Files	Considerable formatting issues with imported slides. Downloaded QuickTime mov, m4v, and mp4 files playable in Files.
iBooks Author	No equivalent.	Was not expecting to find an equivalent.
Dreamweaver	ShiftEdit.	Works well. Did not see spell check as an option.
Photoshop	pixlr	Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.
Cyberduck	Have not found solution yet. I might be able just using Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.	Have not tested.
Safari	Chrome	No issues so far.
Twitter	TweetDeck	No issues so far.
Email	Gmail and Webmail	No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.
Screenflow	Google Hangouts Screenr Screencastle	Have not tested.
iTunes	Google Play Music	Working well. MUsic Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.
Evernote	Evernote Web	No issues so far.
Dropbox	Dropbox	No issues so far.

Burning Chromebook: Day 3

22 May, 2013Gadgets, Internet, MobileChrome, chromebook, google, Google Slides, Keynote, PowerPointJames Moore

Native PowerPoint files don’t “Present”

Day 3 of testing moved onto using Google Slides. I was able to open up existing PowerPoint presentations, and was impressed that Chrome discreetly placed a link to other apps that would interact with the file. However, Google Slides did not allow me to present the slideshow (although it would for presentations created in Google Slides). The way round this was to import the existing PowerPoint presentation into a new Google Slide file. Importing created some formatting issues which were not there when I opened up the original PowerPoint file, so in future I would have to factor in time to make minor adjustments.

Imported PowerPoint files will “Present”

Unsurprisingly the Chromebook did not like native Keynote files. My options here would be to export from Keynote to PowerPoint and then display using Google Slides (or a cloud service like SlideRocket). Here, the export process created more formatting errors (and the rather nifty transitions and visual effects are lost). Sadly using iWork.com to present is no longer an option, with the service being shut down in 2012, but if I wanted to preserve all the features of the original Keynote file then playing an exported QuickTime file might be an aceptable workaround (providing I did not need to see presenter notes).

MacBook Air	Chromebook	Notes
Office Word	Google Docs	No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.
Office Excel	Google Sheets	No issues so far.
Office PowerPoint	Google Slides	Some formatting issues with imported files. “Present” not an option unless using native slide format.
iWork Keynote	Google Slides Files	Considerable formatting issues with imported slides. Downloaded QuickTime mov, m4v, and mp4 files playable in Files.
iBooks Author	No equivalent.	Was not expecting to find an equivalent.
Dreamweaver	ShiftEdit (Cloud9 IDE might be an option too)	Have not tested.
Photoshop	pixlr	Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.
Cyberduck	Have not found solution yet. I might be able just using Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.	Have not tested.
Safari	Chrome	No issues so far.
Twitter	TweetDeck	No issues so far.
Email	Gmail and Webmail	No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.
Screenflow	Google Hangouts Screenr Screencastle	Have not tested.
iTunes	Google Play Music	Working well. MUsic Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.
Evernote	Evernote Web	No issues so far.
Dropbox	Dropbox	No issues so far.

Burning Chromebook: Day 2

21 May, 2013Gadgets, Internet, Mobileapplications, chromebook, google, laptopJames Moore

Day 2 of the my adhoc testing of the Chromebook. I still like the keyboard, but the clicking on the trackpad feels uncomfortable – whilst at a desk using a regular mouse is a much more pleasant experience. Coming from the MacBook Air I have tendency to click on “Alt” rather than “Ctrl” when I copy and paste. These though are minor issues.

What I wanted to do was to find ways that I could match 80% of what I do on the MacBook Air. Here is what I have found so far:

MacBook Air	Chromebook	Notes
Office Word	Google Docs	No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.
Office Excel	Google Sheets	No issues so far.
Office PowerPoint	Google Slides	Have not tested.
iWork Keynote	Google Slides	Have not tested.
iBooks Author	No equivalent.	Was not expecting to find an equivalent.
Dreamweaver	ShiftEdit (Cloud9 IDE might be an option too)	Have not tested.
Photoshop	pixlr	Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.
Cyberduck	Have not found solution yet. I might be able just using Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.	Have not tested.
Safari	Chrome	No issues so far.
Twitter	TweetDeck	No issues so far.
Email	Gmail and Webmail	No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.
Screenflow	Google Hangouts Screenr Screencastle	Have not tested.
iTunes	Google Play Music	Working well. Music Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.
Evernote	Evernote Web	No issues so far.
Dropbox	Dropbox	No issues so far.

Burning Chromebook: Day 1

20 May, 2013Gadgets, Internet, Mobilechromebook, laptop, samsungJames Moore

This week I am testing a Chromebook, one of the very reasonably priced Samsung Chromebooks. I have only been using the laptop for a day or two, but so far I am impressed. The device is well constructed, even though it is plastic. I noticed some rough edges along the lid of the laptop, but nothing that particularly worried me. The matte screen is decent, the keyboard is a pleasure to type on.

The concept of a machine that needed a constant and consistent connection to the Internet was a little scary – my home Internet connection is not particularly reliable, and I commute regularly. However, certain programs (such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides) work to a certain extent offline. At the moment I am bashing this out in Google Docs offline as I travel on the train to work.

I would not have thought that the Chromebook could work as a replacement for my MacBook Air, but there is some potential. The Chromebook feels as lightweight as the Air, and has a larger matte screen (like many, I despise the reflective screens). The trackpad isn’t as good as the Air’s, but at the moment it appears I can do much of what I use the Air for on the Chromebook. The laptop won’t work as a complete replacement, but should be able to complement my desktop computing.

Spell Check does not seem to be available to me offline, which is a bit of a pain. This will be something I investigate later.

The critical applications I need to use (or find a decent alternative) on the Chromebook are:

Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides should suffice here
iWork Keynote
iBooks Author
Dreamweaver
Photoshop
- Started experimenting with pixlr.
Cyberduck
Safari
- Chrome is the obvious replacement here. I have encountered some issues using Chrome on some work websites, so will have to investigate using Firefox as well.
Twitter
- TweetDeck is already installed and working well.
Email (work and home)
- My Gmail client is already installed, but I think I will rely on webmail for my work and home email accounts. To be honest, I probably use these more on my ‘phone.
Screenflow
iTunes
- The inelegantly named “Google Play Music” is installed and working well.
Evernote
- Does not seem to be an offline version available, so Evernote Web is the way forward.
Dropbox
- The browser-based version seems to be working well. May use Google Drive as well.

This week I will fully investigate how well the alternatives work out for me.

My train travelling into Chicago was delayed at a station for a few minutes, so I took the opportunity to see how well I could use my iPhone’s hotspot to connect the Chromebook to the Internet. It took a while to get this working, and Bluetooth was a little problematic, but I eventually got online.

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