Under the Linux console, do they work without having to press any extra modifier keys?

(Ctrl + Alt + F2 to switch consoles is already a lot of keys; adding another key to the mix is just too much; it was enough to make one Logitech wireless keyboard I bought unsuitable for my purposes (and changing the default behavior requires running a Windows application and doesn't persist through a reboot).)
Of course, if I'm going to do that I could probably just do it with my current laptop.

Also, I note that I often use the computer while lying down in bed holding it; an external keyboard won't work for this use case.

Yes, but that's more a rare case. I've done Win+C and Win+V in hotkeys for copy/paste through a special app that compressed and encrypted data from one spot to another, it's really not that bad. Just decide on a character combination set you don't use much; Or do the same layout in the middle of the keyboard and give 6 hotkeys to give the same layout, just press ALT for the 6 keys to activate it.

Could just do Alt+O/L for Page up/down. And it would be persistant on reboot easily enough.

The ASUS L210 looks like it might be a decent option:
+: Price is around $220, so within budget
+: Has an M.2 slot, so fast storage can be added
-: Won't charge via USB-C
-: M.2 slot needs NVMe, so I can't just move my SATA drive over (I do have an unused NVMe drive, however)
-: Wireless doesn't automatically work on Linux (though apparently there's a way to replace it)

Hi rtcvb32. I assume yours is x86. How is ChromeOs x86 compared to ChromeOs arm (or Android arm)?
I mean, the trackers & the well known G crap aside.
Did you find apps not x86 available or different than arm? like abandoned, older versions, more bugs, etc
as example, I remember seen MXPlayer having a mess between x86 & arm. I don't have any experience with Android x86, but even with arm, I witnessed huge differences of codecs supported, performance, trimmed features (subtitles) between tegra, mali and adreno...
I ask because I have an old x86 laptop 32bits Centrino where the last windows possible is Vista and all the web browsers abandoned it already. I riffle the option to install ChromeOS there for the sake of web browsing usage (widevine streaming, youtube) as I resist to leave that good laptop to die yet... but I need to ponder the ChromeOs beast...

Time ago, testing Slax I got some clock issues (Slax vs internal clock vs internet)
timedatectl set-local-rtc 1
or so fixed that. give it a try

Of course, I've stumbled across another option, though possibly a bit higher than my stated budget:
The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3

Rather confusingly, there are multiple different models with this name:
* One is a Chromebook with an ARM processor
* One has an Intel Pentium Silver N5030 CPU, and 128GB PCIe storage
* One has an AMD Athlon Silver 3050e with 64 eMMC storage

Of course, there's the question of which one to get, if I choose to go this route.

After having put Crouton on (ubuntu files basically) it became apparent it was indeed a x86_64 architecture. How many are ARM vs x86 i couldn't say, i only know it's basically a super cheap laptop compared to what you'd expect.


I haven't found anything specific i was looking for in differences. When i do get the sound to work it can sound glitchy, which may just be that the sound doesn't have a high enough priority, but it is good enough to play some stuff. For basic utilities and office apps, web browsing and programming it's just fine.

Getting emuation (virtualbox/qemu) seems like a lost cause, the chips probably support it but there's no access to changing those settings from SeaBios.

On a second chromebook also finding some distros just won't boot, can't find the files (Probably partition detection). This is likely old firmware that i can't update because i don't want to disassemble the thing to remove the firmware protection screw (yes a literal screw on the motherboard somewhere) and i don't want to accidently damage the machine. Having a few lost features and the boot screen annoy you for 2 seconds is... fine.

Chromebooks unlike normal laptops don't have a CMOS battery to keep track of the time/date, and the time/date will always be off, be it a few hours or days. Or when the battery is dead, years. Updating it automatically can do the job.

Currently got 2 distos installed, a heavy preference for Slax (speed simplicity, wiping to clean slate, prep for a cluster setup, etc), as well as Mint.

Thank you rtcvb32 :)

Google for "lenovo ideapad 110s keyboard replacement".
You can get one for something like $23 or so.

Naturally external keyboards (like the compact wireless Logitech K360 keyboard that I have, which is quite nice) still work with the laptop as well, but they are not that good for portable use, take extra space in the laptop bag etc.

The problem is how to take the keyboard out, or at least get to where the keyboard connects to the motherboard

Seems I've managed to fix the issue by opening the laptop and pushing in what I think is the keyboard connector on the motherboard side, even though it looked like it was already pushed in.

Great! Extending electronics life is good: Mother Nature somehow says thanks!
(1 less laptop near to be disposed &/or 1 brand new laptop making room in the world...)
:)