I didn't have the idea for writing about this experience until a few minutes ago. But, I thought it might help to keep this experienced documented. You know. Something I can go back and laugh at with my grandchildren years from now. The idea here is to use a Chromebook as a gateway to give me a better understanding of all things command line and an overall better understanding of computers.
I've always been a Macintosh user. My first was a Mac SE. And my current one is a Mac Mini. I've had a various assortment of Macs over the years. But, I think the beauty of the GUI has dulled me into a not so false sense of stupidity. I've always liked to take things apart and find how things work. Which makes me even more embarrassed that I don't know what I don't know. So, this little experiment, I hope, will give me a better understanding of the Unix/Linux environments that I won't touch in the terminal on my Mac.
What this experiment will entail is me buying a Chromebook and using it to install Crouton and using the heck out of it to learn the ins and outs of Linux and the command line.
I'm currently waiting for my Chromebook C720 to arrive from Amazon. According to UPS, it should be here tomorrow. I chose the C720, mainly because it seems to have the most bang for the buck. When it comes to specs, it's quite impressive for a Chromebook. USB 3, 4GB of RAM, and a Haswell tricked out processor to name the specs that stand out. And for only $249 at that! It should have enough power to stay relevant for a couple of years. Also, I don't seem to be the only one with this in mind. It was hard to land a copy. Best Buy doesn't carry it. In fact, you can't even order it from their website as I write this. And supplies seemed very constrained on Amazon. I just happened to check in and notice that they had 5 available. I couldn't hit "Add to Cart" quick enough.
I plan on writing anonymously. That's because I don't want my friends to find out I am just now learning about these relatively simple command line tools. I'll check in when the box gets here. Keeping my fingers crossed UPS isn't lying to me. See you tomorrow!
