Chromebook with Google Earth and Garmin Updates

tatest The only reason I did not use Google Maps was because I use the Lat/Long function of Google Earth . However you got me thinking and I found out how to find Lat/Longs on Google Maps(GM).
So if GM can be had thru a browser, then GM should be accessible thru Chromebook . Thanks Bob

Think about how you use Google Earth. If it is just to look at the air photos or satellite imagery, you can do that in Google Maps, a 2-D application that runs within a web browser. All the images are projected to a map view, you can zoom in vertically but not move around in 3D space.

That still doesn't help with Garmin updates. I think maybe some of the newer GPS navigation devices will update directly with a net connection, or by data card? I don't know, both my GPSs (one recreational, one navigation) are quite old and I have had no need for data updates for a number of years.

Meanwhile, investigating your questions has got me playing with Ubuntu again, and thinking about alternative Linux distributions.

Thanks for all the advice. I was leaning towards the Chromebook because of the lack of the necessity for anti virus,malware etc. and the realization that most of what my need are only internet related, except for the GPS and Google Earth requirements. Bob

Got out my Ubuntu laptop, which has the 12.4 long term stable release, let everything update to current versions. Checked the Ubuntu store, no Garmin update utilities there, no Google Earth.

Went to Google, downloaded 32-bit debian version of Google Earth stable release, version 7.1.2.2041-r0. Unpacked and installed, Opened a terminal, ran google-earth. As the window came up, I got a popup warning that my graphics card was inadequate for Google Earth. The application wants 3D accelerated graphics with shader support. In the Google Earth window, I got the 2D vector graphics, and controls similar the Google Earth I was using in Windows four years ago. There was no earth imagery, just the globe outline and a lot of square spots that might have been reference points for tiles of images. The terminal window showed a long string of connection failures for URLs.

I don't know whether Chromebook hardware will have adequate graphics for Google Earth, or whether any other netbook will. I suggest a midrange laptop, i3 or i5 processors which will have at least one 3D processor on either CPU chip or in the chipset. A Celeron may not be adequate, and I don't know where the 3D accelerator falls in AMD processor and chipset technology.

One of your two critical applications appears to be Windows-only. The other, Google Earth, is Windows, Mac, and Linux, with a somewhat immodest hardware requirement. This leads me in the direction of a full feature Windows laptop, not an Internet device or tablet.

kirbybear wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I tried the Google Earth App on my Samsung Tab 2 7 but the display did not function the same as on a Win 7, especially the lat/long display.

From my limited computer knowledge and internet searches, it appears Ubuntu can be loaded onto Chrome OS as an alternative operating system. If this is so, could the Garmin GPS updates and Google Earth be useable thru Ubuntu ? Bob

If you load Ubuntu, it is no longer a Chromebook. I'm not sure why I would choose a Chromebook, as an Ubuntu platform. Most models are similar to a midrange laptop of 2004-2005 vintage, except for not having as much storage. Chromebook low end prices are not that much below a modern low-end laptop PC, which will usually have more powerful CPU and graphics processor, and 200-600 GB of disk storage for your data and software. The Chromebook Pixel has more capability, but price is up into MacBook territory.

What can you do with Ubuntu? I had been using the 2010 release on an old (2004) Sony laptop that had been designed to Windows XP requirements, liked what I had, but did not have my MapSource or Google Earth on that platform.

When support for Ubuntu 10 ceased, I loaded the 2012 release of Ubuntu, but then stopped using that laptop because the new GUI performed poorly on the machine. I also didn't like the GUI paradigm change (think of where people are now at going from Windows XP or 7 to Windows 8). So I can't tell you whether there is a Google Earth installation package for Ubuntu 12, only that there is a Google Earth generic for Linux, from Google.

I don't think Ubuntu will be converting and packaging Garmin's app for supporting GPS software updates, but it is possible that an open source alternative tool might do what you need. GPS and mapping are fairly high interest in the open source community. You need to look at what is in the Ubuntu catalog, or more generally in the Linux community, if you think you can do Linux software installations without Ubuntu packaging.

Thanks for the replies. I tried the Google Earth App on my Samsung Tab 2 7 but the display did not function the same as on a Win 7, especially the lat/long display.

From my limited computer knowledge and internet searches, it appears Ubuntu can be loaded onto Chrome OS as an alternative operating system. If this is so, could the Garmin GPS updates and Google Earth be useable thru Ubuntu ? Bob

ChromeOS is pretty much a web browser operating system. You really can't install anything on it like you can a Windows PC or MAC. Not really a true computer in my book. Just a web browsing device.

I asked that about Google's Picasa product, tech at the computer store didn't know. We looked it up, no Picasa for ChromeOS. So. I don't assume that because Google creates a platform, that Google will port all apps to it.

Just now looked up Google Earth. Native app for Windows and Mac. Mobile app for Android and iOS. Web browzer plug-in for Windows and Mac (I did not dig into which browzers).

ChromeBook is primarly a netbook, Like Android, ChromeOS probably sits on top of a proprietary pared-down Linux, a kernel, graphics system, with a GUI from Google. I did not dig into the underpinnings of the ChromeBook I was trying out. Though I've worked with Linux since late 90s, I did not readily find the admin tools on the ChromeBook, and once the store tech was looking over my shoulder, I quit trying to hack the thing.

Google may create apps, or adapt more open source apps, but right now they are not there yet with some of their old apps. Check out the Chrome Web Store, looks like current is further along than where things were when the first Linux netbooks came out.

Little more digging, native code is a file manager, web browzer, and media player. All the other apps will run on Google's cloud, accessed through the Chrome browzer. This is a lot like the early model for iOS, though Apple soon relented and let apps be downloaded that would operate when not connected.

I don't have any experience with it but the Garmin Express application that is used to update maps on a Garmin GPS only has Windows and Mac versions so I believe that eliminates using the Chromebook to update the GPS.

Since ChromeOS is a Google product, I think it's a safe bet that it will support Google Earth.