On the one hand, I applaud improving access to devices for kids—on the other, we have seen this play out before:
🚫 Chromebooks are *still* nearly useless for kids when they’re offline
🛜 Internet access is over-reported due to social stigma when self reporting, and “a kid can walk to a coffee shop” often counting as broadband access
🔒 Ecosystem lock-in means Google gatekeeps what “real apps” can be easily used
💀 In three years, these devices will likely be unsupported
https://9to5google.com/2023/08/04/google-chromebook-mongolia/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
nostr:npub12f7r2gjj0ch84wdh5kg03gkmjyskya6zlxq70cxlk5qm5sysjhuq08lkxh I wonder if there's a way to buy up three year old unsupported devices at scale and re-flash them with real GNU/Linux 🤔
That way you could both prolong the lifespan of the devices and make them more useful for kids.
nostr:npub1d76s7zapvltswuyrayjk9kwey4jqkja0frtkfxkarszf0fykjzwq93897u unfortunately it’s SUPER dependent on the specific hardware and oftentimes the bootloaders are locked down. I believe it’s similar to the state of Android phones where a few with unlockable bootloaders exist, but the vast majority require an exploit if they can be reflashed at all.
This is where I feel like Right to Repair regulation should require reflashability at least after the EOL date, but also I feel like congresspeople would not understand the concept at all…
nostr:npub1d76s7zapvltswuyrayjk9kwey4jqkja0frtkfxkarszf0fykjzwq93897u nostr:npub12f7r2gjj0ch84wdh5kg03gkmjyskya6zlxq70cxlk5qm5sysjhuq08lkxh did you just say "real GNU/Linux" unironically? You are hanging with the wrong crowd 😆
