Can you run those things as a pure Linux system, without any tie to Google? I have an application where I run a Python program that needs WiFi and a USB port, but nothing else. I'm using old EEEpc 2G Surfs now, but they're getting old.
You can in most cases but you wouldn't need to. Most people install Linux using a project called Crouton which creates a chroot running parallel to ChromeOs. The Crouton chroot can see a USB device and of course has network access.
If you have a forget-in-the-back-of-the-closet application, you might do well simply switching to a ChromiumOS build. http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os
