That's the next step, but I would be happier if I could get the damn thing to turn on.

The set up guide on the acer website includes the line "Your Chromebook may have a detached battery; insert the battery if necessary" so if it is that simple I would like to just do that. I can't find anything like a diagram showing where the battery might be or an in transit switch or anything

See if it will boot into recovery mode. Hold Escape and Refresh keys and hit the power button.

Thanks, ND. Nothing happens.

Would any Buffista developers care to share their excellent documentation with me? I'm trying to show one of our developers a sample of what we need (essentially, a technical document that would allow us to take our site's code to a new developer and/or host and have them install it without any trouble).

You are looking for technical instructions? I don't write for an avowedly technical audience much, unfortunately .

Though I should update the chicken scratches for B.org...

The digitiser on my Note tablet is being erratic. A reboot fixes so far,but I am worried. Is this pending doom? I NEED A NOTE.

Yes, but I think we've got what we need internally. (My boss seems to think that there is a company standard for this sort of thing...she is wrong. Nobody knows how to do it right, and everyone makes it up as they go along.)

I have an XP machine that I'm going to leave as is for now, since it's not connected to the Internet. But I've been curious about Linux. I don't do the hard core "Oh, I just reformat my hard drive every six months and reinstall everything from an image" type of tech stuff, but I'm not a novice. The Linux fantypes all gush about how easy it is to install, but I'm wondering what the consensus is on the frustration level I'm likely to run into if I try to convert.

Connie, Linux has gotten way easier to install than it was many years ago -- you don't need to be super hardcore.

I'd recommend starting with Ubuntu [link] or Mint [link] as both are designed for end users and not people who manage servers -- you can download a live CD of either or both, pop it into your current machine, and try it all out without breaking anything until you decide you want to install it; when you do, they'll walk you through the process. Installation is seriously much easier than Windows.

As for frustration level after that, that ultimately depends on what you need to do -- if you're mostly planning to use this computer for browsing and media that isn't Netflix, Linux does great. If you're tied to a lot of stuff that depends on one specific program (Word, Photoshop, etc...) you'll find that while there are word processors (or graphics programs, or etc), they aren't the same as what you're used to.

I use Notepad and Open Office for my text needs, but I'm more concerned about the genealogy program I've got, which is my primary use for the XP machine. But it could be something to check out. Thanks.

Has anyone played with the Amazon Fire TV? It looks to be a Roku/AppleTV competitor. My big question, can it stream from a network drive on my local network? Or is it stream from internet sources only?