I've been running the Chromebook Pixel 2015 as my primary dev machine since it came out. Unlike the author however, I've opted for the less-secure "dev mode" on the laptop, and do everything in crouton. (Java web / Android, mostly).
It may not be as secure, but it's hella convenient (still use 2FA). ChromeOS boot is < 5 seconds, and I just stay there for web browsing / netflix. Dropping into crouton is another < 5s when I need to do dev work, or play steam games.
Everything important on the laptop is backed up to some cloud service or another, but it's expensive enough that I'd be distraught if I lost it (plus they stopped selling them).
I'd be more worried about somebody straight up stealing the laptop than any other security risks I may be running by running in dev mode.
I love the idea of natively developing in ChromeOS, but at this point it just seems like more hassle and fighting the system than it's worth.
I've been doing the same thing, but as I work with Docker often I had to waste a bunch of time compiling a custom kernel[0], which I ended up trashing after about a week because who cares?
Instead, I just have my Chromebook and a VPC on Google Cloud that I SSH into for work. Theoretically I wouldn't be able to work if I didn't have internet access, but I've never actually run into that problem. I still have dev mode off, but I don't think turning it on is a huge risk.
Steam games though? I didn't know you could do that.
Awesome link, thanks! Docker is actually the one thing I was never able to get working properly in my chroot!
Re: Steam games, yup it's powerful enough to run most indie games that support linux (which is an increasing number, recently). The biggest constraints are GPU and disk space. I've had a few good runs of FTL (Faster than Light) on long-haul flights.
You just gotta make sure you keep an eye on the battery, since if it dies you accidentally wipe the system :/
It may not be as secure, but it's hella convenient (still use 2FA). ChromeOS boot is < 5 seconds, and I just stay there for web browsing / netflix. Dropping into crouton is another < 5s when I need to do dev work, or play steam games.
Everything important on the laptop is backed up to some cloud service or another, but it's expensive enough that I'd be distraught if I lost it (plus they stopped selling them).
I'd be more worried about somebody straight up stealing the laptop than any other security risks I may be running by running in dev mode.
I love the idea of natively developing in ChromeOS, but at this point it just seems like more hassle and fighting the system than it's worth.