Christmas Arrives Early

A Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Laptop Under the Tree

After watching the Google Chrome Event on December 7th, I applied to join the pilot program and test drive a Google Chrome OS Cr-48 laptop by completing the form at http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html.

I also used the invitation that appeared along the top of each New Tab in my Chrome Browser that I currently use on top of Win7 and Ubuntu 10.10.

Third, I submitted a reply video to the Event Video posted on the Youtube Google Chrome Channel, explaining my trajectory as an early adopter and technology evangelist. After trying a few takes of me in person in front of the camera, I decided to use xtranormal in the cloud instead. My words, xtranormal actors.

I've been continuing my Journey into learning HTML5. I poked around at the University and also searched online to find out what tools real developers use for HTML, JavaScript and CSS development. It looks like most folks use some version of Eclipse (even though it may not be their personal favorite). Specifically, Eclipse IDE for JavaScript Web Developers. I've grabbed versions for my desktop Win7 system, Ubuntu 10.10 Laptop and my Eeepc Netbook running Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. That should cover my need for development systems.

And then I arrived home from work yesterday. As I passed in front of my house to pull into my driveway, I saw a plain brown UPS box on my porch -- about the size of a laptop. Without any advance notice, I was pretty sure what to expect in the package. It had been sitting outside all afternoon in 27 °F air and I needed a few moments to let the thing warm up before breaking into the package.

Inside the plain outer box was an inner cardboard box with a schematic diagram of a hamster-powered flame-throwing turbocharger. I placed it under our tree while it warmed up. The only identifying information on the box included a Model number of "LC0719AAA00Y", a few serial numbers and a "Product of China" designation. In addition to some standard recycling icons, the only other label was a caution sticker announcing the Lithium-ion Battery contained inside.

After things warmed up, the inner box contained the Cr-48 laptop, a large, thin Lithium-ion battery, charging adapter and three pieces of paper:

1) A business card stating "If you cracked this open, you'd find Intel."

2) A brown tag leaflet that explained how to install the battery, plug in the charger, turn on the computer and regulatory safety notices warning about repetitive stress syndrome while typing, etc.

3) A white card-stock sheet containing a description of the buttons, ports and devices on the unit and a few instructions of how to connect the Cr-48 to the web.
In a very few short moments, I was able to install the battery (which turned it on immediately) and charge it up. After the familiar "smile" to take a profile picture from the webcam and entering my GMail account credentials, I was launched into Google Chrome. I needed to click on the wireless network icon to enter the security key of my wireless network and we were off and running.

The system itself behaved a little quirky for a bit, until I realized that it was downloading the latest update to the Chrome OS software. After the update, everything looked very familiar to my Chrome experience on my other systems...apps, bookmarks and extensions... all synced up.

The first hard road block is using it here at work. Our University wireless system uses Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) for user authentication and that feature is not yet available in this early version of the Chrome OS. I activated the included Free 2-year 100MB per month Verizon 3G radio and got online to log the problem I was having with PEAP, but I don't wish to burn 3G data on casual surfing. Thankfully, the semester is coming to a close and I will be working from my home network until early next year.

Hopefully, the PEAP functionality will be available in early 2011!