Want a free Chromebook? All you have to do is take a Linux course offered by the Linux Foundation and its yours. The offer is from Sept first to the thirtieth so if you want a Dell Chromebook with a 1.4Ghz CPU and 4GB of RAM for free? Best grab one ASAP.
Keep in mind when siging up for these courses, while the Chromebooks are free, the courses most certainly are not. According to the Class Schedule posted on the Linux Foundation site, prices range from $0 (Introduction to Linux) to $2500 and up for most everything else.
Promotion Eligibility:
This promotion is available to anyone who purchases either a scheduled or elearning Linux Foundation training course between September 1, 2015 and September 30, 2015.
The following purchases are not eligible for this promotion:
- Free courses (such as the edX LFS101x course)
- The India-only LFS201/LFCS Bundle
- Corporate training
- Linux Foundation Events
- Discounted instances of LFS201 Essentials of System Administration and related bundles
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2015, @02:54AM
Eat C4, Chromebook! Fuck you, Linux!
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Sunday September 06 2015, @03:57AM
i dont know about the rest of you but i can't stand the small screens on these so-called computers. how can anyone be expected to do anything of significance on an eleven inch display and a cramped keyboard? did they learn nothing from the "netbooks" fiasco?
all i really want is a machine with a bigger display, bigger battery. nice keyboard and less power sucking x86.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2015, @04:16AM
There are plenty of netbooks in the 13" and 15" range with 1080 displays and build quality that rival traditional laptops.
I could get all of my non-work work done on a Chromebook (the beauty of my job is that work work doesn't follow me home). Only problem is, I already have a laptop, and I like Gnome 3. But everything else is already there: Chrome browser, Android phone, Android tablet, etc.
(Score: 2) by Katastic on Sunday September 06 2015, @05:06AM
You mean like ... taking notes? Diagnosing Wifi problems with simple terminal commands and so on?
I use my Chromebook C720 almost every day for work when I'm at a client. I used to dread having to lug around my P.O.S. HP laptop.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Sunday September 06 2015, @05:49AM
You mean like ... taking notes? Diagnosing Wifi problems with simple terminal commands and so on?
no, nothing like that at all. debugging code and browsing the internet works much better with a larger screen.
I use my Chromebook C720 almost every day for work when I'm at a client. I used to dread having to lug around my P.O.S. HP laptop.
in your case it seems like a handheld andoid device would be enough.
(Score: 5, Touché) by deimios on Sunday September 06 2015, @05:13AM
Yeah, nobody likes small screens. That's why mobile computing never took off. It's like you go online on a PC or not at all. Nothing like waiting to get home to my PC so I can SSH into my server to reboot some poorly written webapp, couldn't do that from a netbook on the road. That would be blasphemy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gravis on Sunday September 06 2015, @05:51AM
that can easily be done on a hand held device like a smartphone. why bother with a netbook when a phone could do what you need?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2015, @01:47PM
Because I don't want some shitty spyphone? Cell phones are mere tracking devices, which is why I don't use them.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday September 06 2015, @02:04PM
What would you call a chromebook then?
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Sunday September 06 2015, @07:46PM
Somebody else's problem?
I wouldn't use one.
I prefer a big screen and local data and so on... but sometimes in order to get paid, I can't rightly complain about what I have been given.
Fortunately, no one has handed me a chromebook. I am pretty clear their target audience is not for the one I am in, but clearly they fill a niche of computing that someone else needed answered. All the more (or less, as the case is) power to them.
(Score: 2, Informative) by SunTzuWarmaster on Sunday September 06 2015, @02:44PM
I have a chromebook and like it a lot. I'm a soylent techie, so my story may not be universal, but here are some things that I like about it:
1 - PRICE: You can get a chromebook for $129. ONE HUNDRED and TWENTY NINE dollars (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-11-6-chromebook-intel-celeron-2gb-memory-16gb-emmc-flash-memory-moonstone-white/8610161.p?id=1219351773817). To put this in perspective, I could re-buy my phone for $150. I tell people that "this price screws with your head". You start to think things like "disposable computer" at this price.
2 - Configuration. I use Chrome. Like, a lot. The fact that I have the chromebook set to automatically download all updates, all apps, and sync certain folders to be enabled offline is amazing. Less than an hour of total configuration and everything "just works".
3 - Chrome. Generally, a full Chrome browser is embarrassingly better than my smartphone. It can stream tabs to chromecast, ssh into computers, configure routers, etc. A notable test is the "putlocker video test". Phone can't quite pull it off, but Chromebook can.
4 - Battery/weight. at 13 hours of battery life and 3 pounds, it is light and strong. It can realistically be used all day. Compare this to an Ultrabook ("best laptop battery of 2015") at 6ish hours, 3 pounds, and $600 (4.6 times the cost).
5 - Full keyboard. The keyboard is JUST good enough to matter. I can write on it for over three hours without it being a superpain (real keyboard would be nicer, but you know). I developed a Chrome app using nothing but a chromebook. It's powerful enough for lightweight software development and comfortable enough to do it. I challenge you to do that from a tablet or smartphone.
6 - Extras. Mine came with 100Gb of storage for 2 years and 12 airplane wifi passes a few years ago. That's nice, especially at this price point.
Generally, for $129, you can get a computer which can do anything on the web, last for over 10 hours, has a full keyboard, weighs 3 pounds, and comes with some extras. Compare this cost to an android tablet ($160, doesn't have a keyboard), an ipad ($300, no keyboard), netbook ($120 range, but isn't going to be updated/configured as well), or laptop (4 times the cost and only 20-40% more functionality, bad battery life). That price point makes it a nearly ideal travel computer (ssh into a real machine for real work), D&D computer, "writer's laptop", note-taking/E-mailing device, or generally a "treat it like crap" computer. At home I have a two-monitor supercomputer, but when traveling I mostly just need some internet and a keyboard. For bonus points, the chromebook, with a Chromecast, turns any (hotel) TV into a monitor, solving the biggest weakness.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 06 2015, @04:04AM
I see one free course. I see two courses for $500 (actually, it looks like one course, offered in two different languages) One course for $995. Almost missed a course priced at $1062. Everything else is $2000, up to $2500.
It doesn't look like these courses are aimed at the poor, or the underprivileged. Apparently, they hope to recoup the cost of the Chromebooks through tuition. Yes, they may be non-profit, but they aren't exactly giving away much, either.
Still, I suppose it's a decent bargain. Other schools, colleges, and universities charge more for courses, and they don't give away books or computers to complete the courses with.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Sunday September 06 2015, @04:37PM
It's aimed at people with a training budget and fancy a free chromebook.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday September 06 2015, @05:14AM
If I pass your final can I get the free Chromebook without paying tuition?
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2015, @07:02AM
No. We made up exclusive acronyms and mnemonics for our courses to make sure you pay attention. You know Please Do Not Take Sales Persons Advice? We changed it, smart ass.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Sunday September 06 2015, @10:25AM
Isn't "free Chromebook" the oxymoron to end all oxymorons, as Google took the free Linux ecosystem and exploited it to build a walled garden on top of it that is the exact opposite of the hacker ethos that made the Linxux operating system possible in the first place? Why would a Linux foundation support something that's the opposite of the free software ethos? Might as well give people Windows laptops, since at least MS built their own walled garden instead of using free software to do it.
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday September 06 2015, @11:48AM
Want a free Chromebook? All you have to do is take a Linux course offered by the Linux Foundation ...
But will it run GNU/Linux natively? or a BSD? Or any other OS I feel like loading?
...no? Then why bother? Or is it a competition where first prize is one Chromebook and second prize is two?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2015, @02:29PM
Does your laptop support Coreboot? Because Chromebooks run open-source Coreboot instead of UEFI. You can run most popular Linux distros on it. If you aren't running an open BIOS, you were rooted from the beginning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2015, @05:17PM
My current laptop runs on 100% free software. Can the same be said about Chromebooks?
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday September 06 2015, @11:27PM
Does your laptop support Coreboot? ...
Both my laptops are pre-UEFI, gave up on laptops some time ago (because of the high expense/benefit ratio for my use).
... Because Chromebooks run open-source Coreboot instead of UEFI. You can run most popular Linux distros on it.
So I can plug a Slackware USB drive in, reboot, and dump Chrome and run Slack instead? When did this happen (It is a while since I checked into this)? If not, then why bother?
If you aren't running an open BIOS, you were rooted from the beginning.
Sadly true.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday September 06 2015, @04:11PM
The applications are all in O how I hate this term The Cloud. How many cloud service providers release source? Of those that do how many comply with the Free Software Definition?
The Linux Foundation should not be encouraging use of Chromebooks; there are all kinds of ways they could give away notebook computers with all Open Source or Free Software.
It's much like Caltech's initiative to teach computer programming to every Institute student starting in 1983 or so. IBM gave us five million dollars in "Funny Money": real money provided we used it only to purchase IBM products.
True-Blue IBM PCs really ARE quite nice but really we should have been exposed to other kinds of computers.
In the Spring of 1984 I enrolled in, then in the Fall of 1984 I taught Physics 20, Computational Physics. We all told our students "Use any language you please. The only requirement is that you credibly complete a computer model of some physical phenomenon by the end of the quarter."
I learned BASIC, FORTRAN, C and 16-bit x86 assembly code; in CS 10 I learned Pascal. My ex-girlfriend "Cipher" used APL - one can numerically solve a differential equation with a one-character operator. She went on to become a Cryptologist for the NSA. I'm not supposed to know that but Cipher made the mistake of posting her work address on our alumni directory site.
Today, Physics 20 uses MATLAB and that's it.
The whole point of Ph 20 when I was a Techer was to enable us to develop programs like MATLAB, not learn how to use software someone else wrote.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 07 2015, @07:47AM
They don't give you a free Chromebook. That Chromebook is no more for free than the "free" phones you get with a phone contract.
Note the following part:
The correct headline would read:
Linux Foundation Course Fees Include the Cost of a Chomebook You Get When Attending The Course