What if I can't access SleepyHead?

[eviltim]

nightflight, if you're up for some reading and messing around with technology you can install Linux on the chromebook and run sleepyhead from there. It does work well on Linux. I haven't tried it personally but I do have linux installed on mine using crouton and use it for programming.

[nightflight]

How about this. I buy a refurbished laptop; I've seen some that are around $100. I would only use it for the sleephead software.

So would a really cheap computer be able to handle Sleepyhead?

[JJJ]

How about this. I buy a refurbished laptop; I've seen some that are around $100. I would only use it for the sleephead software. So would a really cheap computer be able to handle Sleepyhead?

SleepyHead is only around 10 MB for the executable so, yeah, even an older computer that is underpowered by today's standards would be fine.

I would check your local Craigslist or equivalent. You might be able to do better than $100. But there are a couple things to think about:

1) If it's Windows or Mac, does it come with the OS and a license? If it does not, you can still install Linux (I can help with that), so if the price is right it still might be a good deal even without the OS.
2) Does it have an SD card reader? Most laptops these days do; most desktops do not. You can get a USB adapter on Amazon for $2, so it's not a big deal, but it would be convenient if it does.

[archangle]

As others have pointed out, you cannot run Windows apps directly on a Chromebook. However, it is possible to install Windows as a virtual machine on a Chromebook and then run Windows apps in the virtual machine. Unfortunately, installing Windows in a virtual machine is not trivial, although I understand that VMWare has simplified the process. Also, although there is a free version of VMWare, to install Windows requires a license, and the license for recent versions of Windows do not allow it to be installed as a virtual machine.

Do you have to "jailbreak" it to do that? My limited understanding is that Chromebooks are locked down to some extent to keep you from running "unapproved" programs.

[JJJ]

Do you have to "jailbreak" it to do that? My limited understanding is that Chromebooks are locked down to some extent to keep you from running "unapproved" programs.

No. The usual way that a vendor locks down an OS is to create a locked bootloader that allows booting only the vendor's OS. In the case of the Chromebook that would be the ChromeOS. The ChromeOS isn't locked in the usual sense, it's just that it is more or less just a web browser. Running most programs doesn't work, not because it is forbidden, but because it would be like trying to run a program in, say, Firefox. And, as for the bootloader, I don't believe it is locked, because I know people who have installed Linux on a Chromebook.

As far as I know you can run the VMWare vitrual machine app in the ChromeOS. How VMWare accomplished that, I don't know.

[Labrat0116]

What about those of us where the Sleepyhead program is corrupted and can NOT use it ?

Can we Email/PM someone with our SD Card's data, have them download it to their Sleephead program, decipher it and then Email/PM back to us ? I don't believe there is any Private data collected on the SD card so that should not be an issue.

???