I have just found out that in the month since I last tried to activate zRam (virtual memory) on my Samsung ARM Chromebook, it’s now been enabled for this platform. My last post on memory management was made before I discovered this. To turn it on, do this:
I’ll probably leave the “don’t discard” flag set for a while, but it’s really likely to be moot with the virtual memory working. Woohoo!
I’ve been running my Chromebook with the “don’t discard tabs” flag (chrome://flags) enabled for over a week, and I am much happier. I have the memory monitor enabled (also in chrome://flags), and it lets me decide when I need to close some tabs or restart to free up memory, rather than having Chrome decide for me when to discard tabs, and tossing ones I don’t want to toss. I highly recommend both enabling the memory monitor and turning on “don’t discard tabs” for anyone with an ARM Samsung Chromebook…
I’ve not experienced any “he’s dead Jim” tab crashes, so the stability has been good (but I do restart when memory drops below 100MB free usually). Just saw that the beta channel is updated to 25.0.1364.87 today, so we’ll see if things continue their improvement…
I first thought I’d stumbled upon a way to turn on the virtual memory on my ChromeBook, but as I’ve looked at it and read about it, this does not yet work on the ARM version of ChromeOS on my ChromeBook. However, it’s been a useful exercise, as I’ve read up on a number of things. This trick does work on non-ARM ChromeOS, and may be useful on a CR-48! I’ll have to wait on mine. A useful thing in tracking memory utilization and page discards (the main symptom of low memory) is found on the chrome://discards URL. It will show you basic memory stats plus the count of discards since the last reboot. My initial euphoria about memory was caused by rebooting after making the attempt at the swap setting. I’d not realized how much difference rebooting made in reducing the page discard rate.
So, those with Samsung ARM ChromeBooks will have to wait, but if you start seeing a lot of page discards (and confirmed with the discard URL), just reboot (only a few seconds on Chrome!) and it will be much better…
I’ve been enjoying my Chromebook, but one issue that’s been a bit frustrating has been the way it discards (& reloads) tabs when you have several tabs open. This isn’t an issue on the 4GB ChromeOS devices like the ChromeBox or the Samsung 5 550. However, on a 2GB ChromeOS device, it’s been a bit of a pain. More than 4 or 5 tabs would mean a reload, particularly with memory-intensive AJAX pages like Gmail. It looks like I’ve found a way around it. I’ve been spending a bit of time on the ChromeBook Central Google Group, and ran across this thread on enabling zRam (swap file). So far, I’m quite impressed with the results. Right now, I’ve got 10 tabs open, and still have ~240MB free per top in crosh. I’m not sure what the downside is, and why this is not enabled in the build for 2GB devices. I’m running on the beta channel with R23. Time will tell if there’s any problem, but I sure wonder why Google doesn’t put this in as a default on 2GB ChromeOS devices.
I just received my new ChromeBook today (see my earlier thoughts about this). I love the quick setup of Chrome! I have two ChromeOS devices at the office (a Samsung ChromeBook 5 550, and a ChromeBox; see my earlier posts) so I’m familiar with ChromeOS as a user. I just popped it out of the box this afternoon, logged in, and it downloaded an update, my “Chromeness” 😉 , and then I was good to go. Have just used it a couple of hours, but I’m quite impressed so far. The keyboard feels very nice, the display is clear and bright and it’s a pleasure to use. I’ve used it to make a Google phone call and a Google videoconference. It’s carrying 1/2 the memory and has a slower processor than the ChromeBook 5 550, but I’ve not seen a performance difference so far. Have not tried streaming video yet, nor graphically intense web sites, but I do have 12 browser tabs open now.
Overall, it has a build “feel” that’s just as good as the 5 550, and $200 less. For $249, it’s hard to beat for most of what I need to do that’s not handled by my iPad and iPhone ;-). I’m happy to have personally bought this one for myself. I’ll pass the 5 550 on to someone else at the office to evaluate.
Today, Google introduced a new Chromebook. I’m quite interested in this development, as I think they’ve finally hit a price point that may help this to get traction in the market. In July, I wrote about my foray into using ChromeOS devices. I’ve been using both the Chromebook and Chromebox regularly since then. I’m typing this on the Samsung Chromebook 5 550, which has proved itself a very useful device.
My primary reaction to the Chromebook 5 550 was that while it was a great device, its price point of $449 made it pricey for the functionality restrictions of the Chromebook. Take this last statement with a grain of salt. Most things we do today are browser-based, and there are not many things I need to do regularly that I can’t do with the Chromebook. However, at a price point of $249, one begins to wonder if the added complexity of a regular laptop is compensated by the added functionality. Again, the key is to think about what you do, not what you might do.
I’ll be interested to read some hands-on evaluations…it’s kinda big for my Christmas stocking, but…
With the beginning of the new fiscal year, I decided to evaluate a couple of Chrome OS devices, a Samsung 5 550 Chromebook and a Chromebox. Part of my portfolio at UNCG are the IT Compliance Office and the IT Security Office, and devices like these may be a good alternative for us. Given that UNCG is a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) school, tight integration to the “Googleverse” is a big plus.
I’m really quite favorably impressed with both the Chromebook and the Chromebox. If you think about our use cases, you’ll likely find that most of what you do is web-oriented, and that’s the niche for Chrome. Nearly instant boot and restart, tight OS security that’s very difficult to compromise, “desktop” browser experience rather than mobile. Synchronizes with the Chrome ecosystem. Lots of applets. Will is do everything a Windows, Linux or OSX computer will do? No. Will it do most of what I do? Actually, yes, and will do it well. It’s simple and inexpensive. $449 for the WiFi Chromebook, and $329 for the Chromebox.
What about a home device? Will it replace my iPhone? No, of course not. My iPad? No, the touch tablet is a great content consuming device (tho I’m doing this blog post on the iPad, so you can create). My iMac? Hmmm. Well, I can’t run full Turbotax on Chrome, I can’t run Xcode on Chrome, I can’t rip and reformat a DVD…but my set of use cases for the full desktop or laptop is small and getting smaller when I add a Chrome OS device to the mix.
Can it be used for most of what folks do at UNCG? Almost! There is a glitch with the way the 1.0 Citrix Receiver on Chrome interacts with UNCG’s Citrix infrastructure. I hope we can resolve it, because if we can, we’re very close to replacing the basic office machine. Again, the value proposition to UNCG is enhanced since we’re a Google school.
Take a look at Chrome OS; you’ll be pleasantly surprised.