EWriter on Chromebook

[Ga Bowen]

Do you know if an eWriter will run on a Chromebook tablet?

[Tim Green]

Hi Gareth,

Counter-Question: Is a Chromebook a Windows machine?

[Martin Wynne]

Do you know if an eWriter will run on a Chromebook tablet?

It would be worth trying using CrossOver:

https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover#chromeos

p.s. use promo code TANGENT to get 25% discount.

Martin (no connection).

[Ga Bowen]

Fair enough.

It's just with it being it's own environment, I thought it'd be worth asking the question.

Cheers, Tim.

EDIT: Good timing, Martin! Thanks, I'll have a look at that.

EDIT2: Tim, it also says in your help literature (Reference > Publishing Formats > eWriter eBooks) that eWriter is not compatible with Windows CS...

[Tim Green]

Tim, it also says in your help literature (Reference > Publishing Formats > eWriter eBooks) that eWriter is not compatible with Windows CS...

That's correct, because Windows CE (not CS) wasn't Windows (it's now dead). It was a mobile operating system that sort of weirdly looked like Windows if you looked at it sideways, but it would run almost no real Windows applications. But that's actually outdated now, because Windows CE is not something you will find in active use any more. However, these statements also apply for Windows for ARM, Windows RT (now also dead) and Windows 10X (never really released properly, now also probably dead).

What all these "Windows" operating systems have/had in in common is that they are also not Windows in the real sense of the word, because they don't support what we normally know as Windows applications. Any applications that do run on them have to be specially written or rewritten specifically for them, in the way that applications that run on Mac OS have to be specially written or rewritten for that.

Running regular Windows applications on the new version of Windows for ARM may become possible at some point through emulation, but if it does it will have a performance hit because X86 processors need to be emulated on the ARM machines to allow the regular Windows X86 applications to run. There are reports that it is already possible to run Windows for ARM in virtual machines on new Apple Silicon Macs, for example, but still with a very long list of caveats and problems, including but not only performance problems.

[Peter Muckle]

If we get eWriter for Android, that would run on a Chromebook

[Tim Green]

If we get eWriter for Android, that would run on a Chromebook

Replace "would" with "might possibly" and the statement would be correct. Not all Android programs run on Chromebooks, and not all that do run actually run well. Also, eViewer needs to run an encapsulated web server and since the Chromebook operating system is basically a web browser (Chrome) it would remain to be seen whether that would actually work there.

My only experience with Chromebooks is with quite a few teenagers in our neighborhood who are forced to use them at school. Every single one of them despises their Chromebooks with an almost frightening passion.

[Peter Muckle]

My only experience with Chromebooks is with quite a few teenagers in our neighborhood who are forced to use them at school. Every single one of them despises their Chromebooks with an almost frightening passion.

Mine has been the opposite; I bought my kids cheap (£160) Lenovo Chromebooks 6 years ago and one is still using hers in her 3rd year of university, and my son has just replaced his with a newer Chromebook for uni.

[Tim Green]

Mine has been the opposite; I bought my kids cheap (£160) Lenovo Chromebooks 6 years ago and one is still using hers in her 3rd year of university, and my son has just replaced his with a newer Chromebook for uni.

Interesting -- I think the main gripe here is that the kids want to do real computer things with major applications, and also run games. They also complain about the school's management of the devices, of course.

[Peter Muckle]

Interesting -- I think the main gripe here is that the kids want to do real computer things with major applications, and also run games. They also complain about the school's management of the devices, of course.

I should add, my son is doing civil engineering and I expected him to need a powerful laptop and decent screen to run CAD, but he uses the university computers for that. My daughter is doing art and also has an iPad for artwork. Both use Xbox for games. I understand teenagers are unhappy if they are told they don't need an Xbox because they have a Chromebook.