The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1132.11 (Platform versions: 2268.16.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 , Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48).
This build contains security & stability improvements. Some highlights of these changes are:
Chrome OS
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1132.15 (Platform versions: 2268.23.0) for Chromebooks
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1132.15 (Platform versions: 2268.23.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 , Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48).
This build contains functional & stability improvements. Some highlights of these changes are:
- Improvements to trackpad on cr-48
- Updates to Pepper Flash
- Several crash fixes
Known issues:
- Device is freezing after disconnecting external USB mouse (Issue: 31206)
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.48 for Chromebooks
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.48 (Platform version: 2046.95.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5).
This release contains stability improvements and bug fixes.
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1132.7 for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 , Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48)
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1132.7 (Platform versions: 2268.9.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 , Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48).
This build contains a number of new features, as well as security & stability improvements. Some highlights of these changes are:
Dev Channel Updates for Chromebooks
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1132.1 (Platform versions: 2268.0.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 , Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48).
This build contains a number of new features, as well as security & stability improvements. Some highlights of these changes are:
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1123.3 for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48)
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1123.3 (Platform version: 2227.1.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48). This release contains functional and stability improvements.
Known issues:
Linus Torvalds likes the Google Chrome OS Linux desktop
Google's Linux-based Chrome OS Aura interface has a new friend: Linus Torvalds.
Linus Torvalds, Linux’s primary creator, hasn’t been happy with the direction his formerly favorite Linux desktop interface, GNOME, has gone. In fact, Torvalds downright hates GNOME 3.x. He’ll get no argument from me. I hate GNOME 3.x too. Recently though, Torvalds has start toying with Google’s new Chrome operating system’s Aura interface and, guess what, he kind of likes it.
Torvalds wrote, “And I haven’t really played around with it all that much, but as a desktop it really doesn’t look that bad. I could name worse desktops (cough cough).” That would be GNOME 3.x of course.
Torvalds continued, “It allows such radical notions as having easy mouse configurability for things like how to launch applications. Things gnome removed because those kinds of things were “too confusing”, and in the process made useless. And an auto-hide application dock at the bottom. Revolutionary, I know.”
Say hello to Google’s new, old Chrome OS (gallery)
He added, “It also seems to improve on the experience even in the non-laptop mode. Making the calendar start as a “window” instead of as a browser tab also means that when you use it in the single-use mode that we traditionally did, the app takes up the whole screen, without the browser buttons etc.”
“So the new Aura approach seems to work both as a traditional window manager and as a more limited “apps take up the whole screen”. Maybe this whole ‘browser as an app’ thing can really work,” Torvalds concluded.
In short, he found, as I have when I tested Chrome OS Aura, that Google has taken its hybrid Linux desktop/cloud-based and given it a really useful retro desktop look. Personally, I’ll take this kind of desktop, or the Linux distribution’sMint new take on the GNOME 2 interface, Cinnamon over such new and improved desktop interfaces as GNOME 3.x or Windows 8 Metro any day of the week.
The current generation of Chromebooks though, which is where most people including Torvalds use Chrome OS, are another matter. Torvalds wrote, “The whole point of a laptop for me is that you can take it on the road and do your work. And that, to me, means “compile stuff and use git”. And no, “use ssh [Secure Shell] in a browser to compile on some other machine” does not count. The laptop is the only thing I have with me. So for it to count as a real laptop, I need to be able to do real work locally too. I like having lots of connected options, but they can’t be the only options.”
Of course you don’t need a Chromebook to run Chrome OS. You can run it on any PC. It’s just that it’s not packaged that way. In fact, I run Chrome OS in virtual machines all the time. Personally, though, my Samsung Series 5 Chromebook has become my grab and go laptop.
On the other hand, I just use Web applications like Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Voice on it. I don’t try to use git, never-mind compile anything on it! For those uses, it would be great if, as it appears might be the case, the next generation of Chromebooks will be built on Intel’s Ivy Bridge chips.
In the meantime though, as Torvalds said in a comment, “I was pleasantly surprised by the new interface - it seems to be going very much in the right direction. Give it a few years (and better hardware), and I can really see it happening. As it is, it’s clearly useful for some people, judging by the comments here. It’s not there for me now. But the new interface is better even just for the limited use I put the thing to.”
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.41 for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5)
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.41 (Platform version: 2046.68.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5)..
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1116.0 (Platform version: 2199.0.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48)
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1116.0 (Platform version: 2199.0.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48). This release contains functional, security and stability improvements.
Release highlights:
- Google Drive integrated into the file manager
- 29370 - Fixed issue where audio was not heard on video playback when multiple tabs are open
Known issues:
- 29994 - File manager menu item is missing from the wrench menu. Workaround: Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-M or go to chrome://files to open the file manager.
- 25619 - Power button is sometimes unresponsive. Workaround: Long press the power button to shutdown the system.
- 30060 - Unable to enter CJK or other complex characters
- 29981 - Unable to connect to GSM network
- 29316 - Two-finger click sometimes fails on Mario
- 29738 - Occasionally machine fails to detect ethernet connection. Workaround: Rebooting the machine often clears the problem
- 29744 - Cannot add hidden WEP/WPA networks
- 29957, 30059 - Audio is not heard when playing certain media file types when files are saved to the Chromebook
If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our help site or filing a bug. Interested in switching to the Beta channel? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue’ under the wrench menu.
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1105.0 (Platform version: 2153.0.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48)
The Dev channel has been updated to 20.0.1105.0 (Platform version: 2153.0.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48). This release contains functional, security and stability improvement.
Release highlights:
- Updates to Chrome - see this blog post for details
- Switched to open source touchpad driver on Cr-48
- Introduced redesigned UI to Cr-48
- Introduced option for natural scrolling direction
Known issues:
- Some regressions in particular touch use cases
- 122868 - Some flickering seen when opening websites or new tabs. Workaround: Switch to another tab and and switch back to clear the blocky or flickering screen. In some cases, a machine restart may be required.
- 29370 - Video playback sometimes does not work properly when multiple tabs are open. Audio continues but video may stop or stutter. Workaround: Close some tabs or restart machine to clear posible memory issues, and replay video.
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.30 (Platform version: 2046.44.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5)
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.30 (Platform version: 2046.44.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5). This release contains stability improvements.
If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our help site or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue’ under the wrench menu.
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.23 (Platform version: 2046.30.0) for Chromebooks
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.23 (Platform version: 2046.30.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5). This release contains stability improvements. If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our help site or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue’ under the wrench menu.
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.17 (Platform versions: 2046.20.0) for Chromebooks
The Beta channel has been updated to 19.0.1084.17 (Platform versions: 2046.20.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5). See more info in the Dev post.
Google’s Chrome OS Will Soon Look More Like Windows Than A Browser
It’s hard to say how popular Chrome OS, Google’s browser-centric operating system, really is. There can be little doubt, though, that Google is quite serious about this initiative. Today, Google launched the latest developer version of Chrome OS and this update sports the first major redesign of the operation system’s interface since its launch in late 2010.
In this new version, Chrome OS almost looks like a traditional OS, with a full-blown desktop and window manager instead of just a browser and tabs. Aura, as this hardware-accelerated window manager is known, is Chrome’s next generation user interface framework and it is making its public debut in this new developer version of Chrome OS.
This update is quite a departure from Chrome OS’s origins. Until now, Chrome OS basically just gave users access to a single browser window at a time (you could already have multiple browser windows open on separate virtual screens) and launching new apps meant you first had to open a new tab and then look for the app you wanted to start. Now, Chrome OS features a Launchpad-like app launcher, as well as a Windows-like taskbar (Google calls it a “shelf”). Apps, it is worth noting, still start in a browser tab and not as stand-alone windows, though.
In short, Chrome OS now looks and behaves a lot more like the desktop operating systems it set out to challenge.
In a way, this almost feels as if Google is admitting defeat here. When Chrome OS launched, Google’s Sergey Brin argued that traditional PC operating systems were “torturing users.” Chrome OS was supposed to be all about “speed, simplicity and security” and Google wanted to use it to “re-think what operating systems should be.” This new version, however, does away with a bit of this simplicity in favor of greater functionality. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, and may just help Chrome OS gain more mainstream acceptance as new users will surely find it to be a more familiar experience.
While Aura is obviously the star of this update, it’s worth noting that the latest version also introduces support for files compressed in the tar, gz and bzip2 formats, as well as better support for multi-monitor setups.
Dev Channel Update for Chromebooks
The Dev channel has been updated to 19.0.1048.17 (Platform versions: 2046.20.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5).
This build contains a number of new features, as well as security & stability improvements. Some highlights of these changes are:
- New modes for multiple monitor handling: mirrored (highest common resolution only), show only on primary, show only on secondary (Switch with Ctrl + F5)
- Updated Scratchpad app
- New file types supported - tar, gz, bzip2
- Updates to local audio and video player
- Functional and visual refresh of the Chrome OS Settings
- Recovery tool supports re-formatting recovery media (use a previous recovery image USB)
- Introduced new Japanese fonts (Motoya G04 Gothic/Mincho).
- Redesigned UI and updated Window Manager
Known issues:
- Issue 29012: Spoken feedback stops after increasing or reducing the machine volume
- Issue 28932: [ZGB] Device does not respond to light sensor
- Issue 28689: Offline help center is displayed when connected to Network
- Issue 28564: [ZGB] Audio fails with HDMi-to-HDMi connection
- Issue 27956: Suppress user/password dialog when re-enabling sync
- Issue 27360: Media hangs on the machine
- Issue 25619: Power button is unresponsive
- Issue 23880: Sign in / Sync: Change of account password results in a sub-optimal experience depending on a number of factors
- Issue 29050: Ethernet disappears when we configure static IP
If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our help site or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue’ under the wrench menu.
Stable, Beta and Dev Channel Update for Chromebooks
The Stable and Beta channels have been updated to 18.0.1025.151 (Platform version: 1660.12.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48). Dev channel has been updated to the same version for Cr-48 systems.
The Stable channel has been updated to 18.0.1025.140 (Platform version: 1660.98.0) for Chromebooks
The Stable channel has been updated to 18.0.1025.140 (Platform version: 1660.98.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48). Machines will be receiving updates to this version over the next several days.
Release highlights:
Dev and Beta Channels Update for Chromebooks
The Beta channel has been updated to 18.0.1025.140 (Platform versions: 1660.98.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48).
This build is also now available on the Dev channel for Cr-48 Chromebooks.
This build contains a number of stability improvements.
Known issues:
- 26151: Occasionally, some users experience loss of audio when playing long streaming videos. Rebooting the system restores audio.
- 26731: When accessibility (verbal feedback) is enabled, viewing different pages causes the CPU usage to go to 100%. Restarting the machine resolves the issue temporarily. Workaround: Disable accessibility with audio feedback.
If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our help site or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue’ under the wrench menu.
Dev and Beta Channels Update for Chromebooks - The Beta channel has been updated to 18.0.1025.120
The Beta channel has been updated to 18.0.1025.120 (Platform versions: 1660.94.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48).
This build is also now available on the Dev channel for Cr-48 Chromebooks.
This build contains a number of stability improvements. Some highlights of these changes are:
If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our help site or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue’ under the wrench menu.
Stable Channel Update for Chromebooks - The Stable channel has been updated to 17.0.963.80
The Stable channel has been updated to 17.0.963.80 (Platform version: 1412.234.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48).
Release highlights:
- Stability & security fixes, as described in the Chrome Stable Update blog post.
Known issues:
- Issue 26698: Time display mismatch