not all android tables are the same

I’m struggling to find a place to start. My technology stack has been one terrible fail after another. But things are looking up. Let’s start with the facts and nothing but the facts.

• Google Pixel phones, including the Pixel 7, do not have very good tranceivers
• Looking online for Samsung phones and tables always end up on a webpage that defaults to TRADE-IN old devices effectively showing lower prices (BS BS BS)
• FireOS (Amazon) does not directly support VPN.
• FireOS does not have a terminal app
• FireOS apps always seem last or really old
• Lenovo keyboard/mouse is sluggish
• ChromeOS Android is currently version 9 which means many apps are not going to work
• Samsung tablets and phones want to use the Samsung app store (no firsthand knowledge)

And so on.

Recently I moved from ChromeOS to an HP DevOne (Pop_OS). The reasons are long:

• ChromeOS never really supported OVPN files
• My clients did not need to see or intercept my non-work related traffic
• One client had an incomplete OVPN file that required some customerization
• Cannot push DNS predicates
• Required multiple devices with certain routing to deal with split DNS routing
• Android does not support multiple VPN connections

In recent monehts I’ve migrated a few times:

• ChromeBox… failed and end of life also required multiple computers
• to ChromeBook with more power and ability to do everything I needed
• VPN became a bigger challenge and for productivity I moved to Pop_OS with twin 34in monitors
• but now there is a Linux Kernel problem in Pop_OS so I moved to my DevOne(Pop_OS) laptop
• The DevOne has not experienced the same Kernel error as my desktop even though it’s an AMD problem but it did crash and hang a few times

I have been working on my backup plans and now I have my ChromeBook working again. This has more to do with my client making changes to the security than my own systems but I like this because the ChromeBook keyboard is better than the DevOne and the OS is clearly more reliable even though it’s Linux. (Luckily for me I have the same solution working on my Lenovo P12.)

So now what?

Time to get some work done.