I recently picked up a Chromebook (C100p notebook) at $250 for an overseas trip. It worked great; really light and easy to travel with. The screen and keyboard are a little small, but then, so is an airplane table.

In addition to things you would expect to work well (Google Docs, Gmail, and Chrome), I also found it very easy to work with Dynalist. I use Simplenote for general notes,and for the first time have been playing with Office.com for Microsoft products (necessary for my job). I'm happy with the purchase and the device.

But I had two areas of awkwardness. One was SIMPLE list making. I'm one of those people that I have to have a quick, ubiquitous tool to grab my incoming to dos. (As I've learned to my sorrow, I have to capture things to one place. Multiple places doesn't work.) Simplenote doesn't quite work for me because it doesn't have checkboxes, or any easy way to reorder things within a note,or reorder notes. While Dynalist is great on the Chromebook, I'm not keen for it on mobile. Re-ordering is clunky. So I took another look at Google Keep, and I don't know if it's me, or them, but suddenly I find it a very good fit for the simple task inbox I was looking for. Really handy on mobile.

But what I haven't been able to find is a good cloud based mindmapper. I use mindmaps for planning talks, and general thinking. My little Chromebook doesn't have Android apps implemented just yet, it appears. Dr. Andus and others - what mindmapping solutions have you found for the Chromebook? I've looked at Mindmup (which now is subscription based, $2.99/mo if you want to save private maps) and Coggle ($5 a month).

A few years ago I used Mindomo:

https://www.mindomo.com

I found it adequate for my needs at the time. I haven't used it for a few years, so I am not sure how much it might have evolved. It has desktop versions, for when you're not using your Chromebook.

Steve Z.

jaslar wrote:

I recently picked up a Chromebook (C100p notebook) at $250

for the first time have been playing
with Office.com for Microsoft products (necessary for my job).

But I had two areas of awkwardness. One was SIMPLE list making.

I've looked at Mindmup (which now is subscription based,
$2.99/mo if you want to save private maps) and Coggle ($5 a month).

Welcome to the Chrome OS world! Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/ , it's the best community I found of Chromebook users.

BTW, I love my C100 Flip as well, it was an amazing piece of kit when it first came out, and it is still running strong for me after 2 years.

Luckily the C100 comes with Android, so you can also make use of the MS Office Android apps.

For list-making I use WorkFlowy. It also has an app version in the Chrome Web Store, which means you can use it offline as well (though I prefer to use the browser version, enhanced with Stylish CSS and other extensions).

For mindmaps I use the free version of Mindmup. I have not yet reached the point when I needed to subscribe to it. I just save directly to Google Drive, which is great. But I wouldn't mind paying for Mindmup if I was pushed to it, it's a great app.

I also love to use Gingko on Chromebooks, though that makes for a different type of list-making and outlining.

And check out Caret in the Web Store for text editing. And Speed Dial 2 for bookmarks in new tabs. Well, I could just go on, as there are lots of great extensions in the Web Store that enhance the browsing experience.

jaslar wrote:

My little
Chromebook doesn't have Android apps implemented just yet, it appears.

I missed this sentence. The C100 was among the first Chromebooks that got Android, so you definitely should be able to set it up. Look for the Play Store icon among your apps to launch it.

Thanks for the comments. Mindmup, using the free version, won't let me save to Google anymore. I've also been looking at mindmapmaker.org, which offers a somewhat quirky, but free and open source outliner. I haven't made up my mind about it.

I'm puzzled by the android app setup. In setting, the "Google Play Store (beta) option gives me a button that says "Turn On." When I click it, nothing happens, and I don't have the icon in my list of choices. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the Reddit link.

I forgot all about Gingko, which I liked when it first came out....

jaslar wrote:

Thanks for the comments. Mindmup, using the free version, won't let me
save to Google anymore.

Make sure to use MindMup 2. It says "Store unlimited mind maps for free on Google Drive."

I'm puzzled by the android app setup. In setting, the "Google Play Store
(beta) option gives me a button that says "Turn On." When I click it,
nothing happens, and I don't have the icon in my list of choices. Am I
missing something?

Are you using the same Gmail account for the Android and Chrome OS? I think they need to be the same. Otherwise it should just work. You click on Play Store icon, log in (only the first time), and go to "My apps & games" to select which of your existing Android apps (presuming you had a pre-existing Android account) you want to install on this specific machine. Note that not all apps are available or compatible yet.

Speaking of quick note-taking on a Chromebook, apparently in the future it will be possible to take a handwritten note on the lock screen (on devices with stylus-enabled screens), without the need to actually log in:

"Chrome OS Lock Screen Note Taking Coming Soon, First with Google Keep"

http://www.worldgiz.com/2017/09/chrome-os-lock-screen-note-taking.html

Dr Andus wrote:

"Chrome OS Lock Screen Note Taking Coming Soon, First with Google Keep"
http://www.worldgiz.com/2017/09/chrome-os-lock-screen-note-taking.html

Oops, apparently that website directly plagiarised this article, so here is the original source:

https://www.xda-developers.com/chrome-os-lock-screen-note-taking-google-keep/

ah, that's a good tip. You're right. I probably set up my Android phone with a generic gmail account before I bought the G suite. Thanks.

Do Chromebooks support Java? If so, there's Freemind (freemind.org). That's my go-to mind-mapper on the desktop.

I'm planning on buying a Chromebook once my 2007 MacBook (now running Linux) dies. Sometimes, you need more than a tablet + BT keyboard.

Two updates. Dr. Andus, yes, I can go to Mindmup, click on the Google Drive button, and still save files.

But even though I also have a Google Play account with my chromebook login, and I'm up to date on Chromebook software, I still get the "Turn On" button that won't turn on. When I got to Google Play, the Chromebook doesn't show up as an option. I'll have to pursue further.

jaslar wrote:

But even though I also have a Google Play account with my chromebook
login, and I'm up to date on Chromebook software, I still get the "Turn
On" button that won't turn on. When I got to Google Play, the Chromebook
doesn't show up as an option. I'll have to pursue further.

I don't have my Asus Flip with me right now, so can't check what it looks like at my end.

But I suggest you post your question on the Chrome OS reddit forum. Normally these sort of issues get resolved within a matter of minutes or few hours max.