Ewaste or usable – week 5

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Previous posts:  Week 1 here,  Week 2 here Week 3 here Week 4 here I’m on my final installment of “Ewaste or usable” and this final week is about Chro
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Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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jburk07

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My first Chromebook was a Samsung 2014 edition Chromebook 2; I have a Samsung Chromebook 4 Plus now. I like the Chromebooks, because they are inexpensive, reliable, and serve the purpose of allowing me to access all my favorite news and information websites over my home wireless network without having to boot up one of my Windows computers. They are convenient and give me a keyboard and much larger screen than my smartphone, have a relatively long lasting battery, and are pretty secure as well. I use mine for about an hour every morning while I have my first mug of coffee to catch up on the day’s news, events and weather. The Chromebook 2 still works just fine but has become useless to me. I stopped receiving any updates, even to the browser, two years ago; so it really is no longer safe to use. If I can’t trust it to sign into my Google account and have access to all my passwords and bookmarked websites, then there is no point in using it at all. It’s a shame to have to abandon a device that is still in excellent working condition except for the outdated browser and OS.

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jburk07

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>except for the outdated browser and OS

Isn’t that enough?

 

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Google still updates the chrome browser on Windows 7 machines, at least for another year anyway. There was and is no legitimate reason to not continue to update the chrome browser on my Samsung Chromebook 2. They ceased the browser updates over two years ago on the Chromebook but continued updating the chrome browser on both of my Windows 7 desktop PC’s as well as an old 2nd generation Intel Core i5 laptop running Windows 7 and will continue to do so at least for another year. Why not the Chromebook?

 

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We’re not talking about the Chrome Browser. We’re talking about ChromeOS on a Chromebook. The Operating System, not the Web Browser. Not getting updates leaves you less secure.

-- rc primak

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Spare parts.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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And how do you open a Chromebook to swap out parts?

No, Chromebooks have few/no interchangeable parts under the hood.

-- rc primak

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I have the same Acer Chromebook running Debian that I gave to me wife to use. Check out Mr Chromebox for details for updating the firmware and installing Linux. I replaced the original drive with a higher capacity SSD many years ago and recommend replacing it. The only gotcha is that the drive is about 1mm thinner than standard.

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rc primak, jburk07

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And if you still have updates, you can use the CHRX scripts to install Gallium OS or your favorite Linux alongside of ChromeOS on Intel-based Chromebooks. My ASUS Flip c302 Chromebook (Skylake/Cave) is running Xubuntu 22.04 (latest LTS version of Xubuntu). Developer Mode is a lot easier to enable than removing the internal write protect screw to enable full ROM replacement and installation of Linux to replace ChromeOS in a Chromebook.

Remember, these tricks only work on Intel-based Chromebooks. The cheaper ARM-based Chromebooks turn into insecure obsolete Chromebooks or just bricks when they no longer get updates. Fit only for recycling. This may change for Linux someday, but no current Linux really does a good job of converting these ARM Chromebooks.

-- rc primak

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“for those that don’t like the idea of big brother Google”

(raising my hand)
My question is at least tangentially relevant because of the name “Chrome”, so, please pardon my ignorance.
Please tell me whether I am in the clutches of Google as consequence of using Edge browser.

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You are “in the clutches” of all the data gathering mechanisms used by all the suppliers / sites you use / visit.
Get over your paranoia and accept that you are part of surveillance capitalism. It’s the price we pay for the convenience of modern life.

cheers, Paul

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The answer is that even though Edge now uses the Chromium Engine as the core of the web browser, there is no connection with Google’s tracking or telemetry. It’s all Microsoft in there now and for the future. So you can relax about that. And worry about Microsoft’s tracking, ads and telemetry.  As usual.

Chromium is an open-source project left over from the days when the original founders of Google still held to their motto of “Don’t Be Evil”. Nearly all Linux users who use any Chromium based browser consider this to be free from most of Google’s proprietary APIs, tracking and telemetry. There is even an “un-Googled” version of  Chromium Browser for those who really want to make sure.

You do lose hardware graphics acceleration and the WebRTC API used by Zoom and other teleconferencing applications if you go for “un-Googled” Chromium.

Google still sort-of “owns” the Chromium code base, and hosts the Chromium Project, but other than that, it’s independent from Google’s direct control.

-- rc primak

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Cybertooth

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