Looked like a metal detectives briefcase? 

The super special collector's edition. I have that. 

Sat Nov 22 2025 14:38:59 UTC from Nurb432

i think i have them all.  Most came in that 'boxed set' with the car and pictures and unicorn. it did have 5 versions ( or at least 5 discs... one might have been a 'making of' documentary, its been in storage too long. )  I only ripped the theatrical version, so it had the correct ending, and be the one i remember watching in the cinema when it came out. I know why it was later removed, but it seemed like something important was missing to me.

If i remember right, it also has the really hard to find ( or watch/rip ) video disk release.  I could go get it out of the closet and look.  

Sat Nov 22 2025 03:32:31 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

The "Director's Cut". I can never keep track of which that is. There are a half dozen versions.  

 

Yes, but it was supposed to resemble the Voight-Kampff machine.

Tue Nov 25 2025 03:23:44 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

Looked like a metal detectives briefcase? 

The super special collector's edition. I have that. 

 

 

Well this is both good and bad news. wrapped up into one.

That real android support is coming for generic x86 is nice as that was the missing piece in FlexOS, but hat chromeOS may be seeing retirement soon is not nice news.. But this new OS is targeting x86 i think, not arm too, so donno what this really means in the long run. ( and of course android phones are still going to be arm for the foreseeable future.. )

Tho to be honest, i dont get it the trouble that is going on.. I have a pixelbook with an i7. It runs ChromeOS. it runs android apps just fine.  I can get an official Chromebox, same thing..with an i-whatever i want.    so its not like they haven't done this already..    grrumble.

https://www.theverge.com/news/828595/google-aluminium-os-android-pc-chromeos-ai

I never put that together until now. Like I said... the bottom 19% of the top 20%. Voight-Kampff suitcase. That is exactly what it was. 

I'm ok with ChromeOS dying. I never understood a Linux OS that did everything through the Chrome Browser. 

It was like Mac OS - only even DUMBER - to me. 

I mean, the first thing I'd want to do with a ChromeBook - would be to ROOT it so I could have access to the real power under Chromium. 

Outside of education - I never saw the appeal - another iOS "walled garden" - only... only browser based. 

I always felt like I must have been missing something? 

Tue Nov 25 2025 15:33:05 UTC from Nurb432

Yes, but it was supposed to resemble the Voight-Kampff machine.

 

Its more than just that if you don't fit the 'main market'. If you have a supported version you can run anything that android has, browsers, network tools, games, whatever. Exactly what this 'new thing' is being touted to do.. And unless its a managed device, you do have access to the core system if you like.  I run LibreOffice and some python stuff on mine ( like thonny or spyder ). But, 99% of what i do is web if im out and about, and its via Linux Firefox + anti spam plugins.. Aside from places like this or work related sites, i have nextcloud at home, so the need for local stuff is almost zero.

Thu Nov 27 2025 04:37:43 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

I'm ok with ChromeOS dying. I never understood a Linux OS that did everything through the Chrome Browser. 

I didn't realize you could run all Android apps on Chrome OS - that is kind of cool. 

But beyond that - the problem to me is... I mean, for the "Real World", LibreOffice and Python and linux in general - it doesn't work. Every time I've tried to migrate someone from Windows to Debian or Ubuntu - it works for a while until they go, "I need to do... THIS..."  and I go - oh... yeah, that... you need Windows - you could try WINE - and they try WINE, I set it up for them, it doesn't quite work - and at some point the support of getting a "normie" to live in a *nix world is more work than it is worth - and they usually end up - most likely going to OS X - or back to Windows. Usually - Linux seems like a gateway drug to being a Mac user in my experience. 

Linux guys never get this and don't like to hear it. But so, for you or I, I suppose - if you can get a Chromebook to run root Linux apps - that is an incentive - especially if the price is right. 

But the high-end Chromebooks were suddenly hitting $700-$1000 - the same price as a mid-range Windows laptop. And the cheap ones were often little more than a Pi500. So, I can run a full-fledged Linux OS on a Pi500 that has Chromium and will access Google Suite and will also run all the native *nix apps for $100. And there are cheap laptops that are in this niche too. I just don't see where Chromebooks fit in this paradigm - outside of locked down systems in education for students. 

Thu Nov 27 2025 15:30:00 UTC from Nurb432

Its more than just that if you don't fit the 'main market'. If you have a supported version you can run anything that android has, browsers, network tools, games, whatever. Exactly what this 'new thing' is being touted to do.. And unless its a managed device, you do have access to the core system if you like.  I run LibreOffice and some python stuff on mine ( like thonny or spyder ). But, 99% of what i do is web if im out and about, and its via Linux Firefox + anti spam plugins.. Aside from places like this or work related sites, i have nextcloud at home, so the need for local stuff is almost zero.

 

 

And from what I've seen - the locked down education systems won't let students install Android apps that aren't approved. So again - it just seems that there are more convenient alternatives. It just never had an "a-ha" moment for me - and everyone I've known who has been a Chromebook advocate has had ties to education which seemed like why they liked them. Teachers, administrators, education IT workers... Then it IS a price thing - "We used to be Mac oriented, but they're too much money to give every student a Macbook, iMac, or Mac Mini - but we can do that with Chromebooks - and there are better tools catered to us than with Pi. So we go Chromebook..." 

Right. I have moved people from windows/etc over to ChromeOS in the past.  Its 'sort of like how your phone works, and you can use the same apps too'.  And if they need a bit of extra, i can install Linux stuff underneath add a shortcut to the bar, they never know the difference.    

I have also ran windows under a VM on my pixelbook ( but not any of my ARM devices ).. but that's not for everyone. ( and was just an experiment anyway )

My pixelbook was more than 1k. But it was a i7, 32g ram, bla bla and that was a lot back then for anything.  But i do agree prices have risen in general, both due to general inflation, and the move towards higher end intel or arm chip-sets.  But lower end cheaper machines still do exist and are plentiful. 

Fri Nov 28 2025 07:15:21 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

I didn't realize you could run all Android apps on Chrome OS - that is kind of cool. 

But beyond that - the problem to me is... I mean, for the "Real World", LibreOffice and Python and linux in general - it doesn't work. Every time I've tried to migrate someone from Windows to Debian or Ubuntu - it works for a while until they go, "I need to do... THIS..."  and I go - oh... yeah, that... you need Windows - you could try WINE - and they try WINE, I set it up for them, it doesn't quite work - and at some point the support of getting a "normie" to live in a *nix world is more work than it is worth - and they usually end up - most likely going to OS X - or back to Windows. Usually - Linux seems like a gateway drug to being a Mac user in my experience. 

Linux guys never get this and don't like to hear it. But so, for you or I, I suppose - if you can get a Chromebook to run root Linux apps - that is an incentive - especially if the price is right. 

But the high-end Chromebooks were suddenly hitting $700-$1000 - the same price as a mid-range Windows laptop. And the cheap ones were often little more than a Pi500. So, I can run a full-fledged Linux OS on a Pi500 that has Chromium and will access Google Suite and will also run all the native *nix apps for $100. And there are cheap laptops that are in this niche too. I just don't see where Chromebooks fit in this paradigm - outside of locked down systems in education for students. 

Thu Nov 27 2025 15:30:00 UTC from Nurb432

Its more than just that if you don't fit the 'main market'. If you have a supported version you can run anything that android has, browsers, network tools, games, whatever. Exactly what this 'new thing' is being touted to do.. And unless its a managed device, you do have access to the core system if you like.  I run LibreOffice and some python stuff on mine ( like thonny or spyder ). But, 99% of what i do is web if im out and about, and its via Linux Firefox + anti spam plugins.. Aside from places like this or work related sites, i have nextcloud at home, so the need for local stuff is almost zero.

 

 

Right, the lock down is just like any other enterprise setup, the IT gods decide what you get and don't get to run.  But, they could leave the door wide open too.. its not googles choice in this case.

Fri Nov 28 2025 07:18:10 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

And from what I've seen - the locked down education systems won't let students install Android apps that aren't approved. So again - it just seems that there are more convenient alternatives. It just never had an "a-ha" moment for me - and everyone I've known who has been a Chromebook advocate has had ties to education which seemed like why they liked them. Teachers, administrators, education IT workers... Then it IS a price thing - "We used to be Mac oriented, but they're too much money to give every student a Macbook, iMac, or Mac Mini - but we can do that with Chromebooks - and there are better tools catered to us than with Pi. So we go Chromebook..." 

 

So, I mean the use-case for me is "can I move my grandmother-in-law" to a non Windows machine and NOT have to constantly support her to the point where she asks for something that I go, "No - you can't do that on this OS." 

It has gotten BETTER over the last 10 years, I guess - but ultimately - I end up going, "What YOU want is an OS X machine." You want the Windows, without the Windows - the broad application support without the Microsoft. And Linux - is always LAST, if at all. 

I mean, 3D rendering - DAZ3D is the market leader - the dominant juggernaut of 3D rendered art. It is easy, it is well supported, it is well documented, there is a huge corporate engine behind it with tech support, and tutorials and mainstream, easily accessible assistance - and the majority of the content is produced by, and for - their engine. They're the successor to POSER. They're the engine used for early modeling of 3D architecture in movie and entertainment CGI. They're huge in Pr0n. 

You can do EVERYTHING and more in Blender - and for VERY powerful applications of 3D rendering and animation - blender is arguably more powerful - but it is WAY more difficult, way less accessible, far less supported, requiring far more dedication to achieve the same BASE results that are what more than 90 percent of the casual end-user market wants. 

DAZ3D supports both Windows and Mac - with a Windows bias. 

So for $1k I can get a great Windows or Apple Silicon platform - either of which COULD run Linux - but why would I, other than on principle? 

Fri Nov 28 2025 14:38:17 UTC from Nurb432

Right. I have moved people from windows/etc over to ChromeOS in the past.  Its 'sort of like how your phone works, and you can use the same apps too'.  And if they need a bit of extra, i can install Linux stuff underneath add a shortcut to the bar, they never know the difference.    

I have also ran windows under a VM on my pixelbook ( but not any of my ARM devices ).. but that's not for everyone. ( and was just an experiment anyway )

My pixelbook was more than 1k. But it was a i7, 32g ram, bla bla and that was a lot back then for anything.  But i do agree prices have risen in general, both due to general inflation, and the move towards higher end intel or arm chip-sets.  But lower end cheaper machines still do exist and are plentiful. 

 

10 years ago it was a bigger deal, and ya i lived thru that too.. But realistically in 2025, for the average person today, what 'local' apps do they use on a computer? Other than for work, and that don't count ( and even that is not many at this point. )  And since 3/4 of the population now lives on their phone, for me, making it look more like their phone + the phone apps they are used to = no support calls.

And while i dont want to give them $, even stuff like MS office does not need to be local anymore either. In my case, id just install the nextcloud client/apps and point it back to my server "here is your office suite, and some other stuff, its about the same as it was before".   of course googles is free too, for personal use.

The only real exception is gaming. And as has been discussed to death, that is changing too.

And no, not trying to push ChromeOS here. It just fits my needs well for when i'm mobile or to help people get off windows or osx. Id hate for it to go away. Tho i would love to get Android support on non-official machines.. ChromeOS-Flex is fine, extends usefulness of machines long after MS and Apple have pulled support. And does the job for converting 'web centric people', and if you need Linux its there too, but its missing that one piece of android support.  Of course 'techies' need more than just web, but we also don't need our hand held so we don't count.           There is also openfyde, but they lost android support for now, and if Google pulls the plug on the ChromeOS project, then their base code goes stale on them and may not have a future, unless the replacement is also open.

And yes i know Google is no longer the company they used to be. They are no longer the 'good guys' and now the 'less bad guys'. And its frustrating.

Well isn't that strange,  my i7 Pixelbook that runs ChromeoS got an update this morning, and included updates for android apps...  They way they talk you would think that is impossible..  'we have to create an entirely new product line to support x86 and android!'

idiots.