Chromebook, ChromeOS and Google Chrome browser news
One of the most read posts on About Chromebooks is from last April when I detailed how I was coding with my Pixelbook. Now that Project Crostini has quickly matured, I’ve revamped my development environment on the Pixel Slate.
The Chrome OS 73 Dev Channel brings a bunch of useful features to Project Crostini on Chromebooks. You can now mount your Google Drive and Google Play files in Linux. Plus there are new flags to enable a Crostini file backup function that’s in the works.
Using a Linux app on your Chromebook and you just can’t read or use text and app controls because they’re super small? The reason may be due to display scaling and a new option is available in Chrome OS 72 to address it.
A new command to enable GPU acceleration in Project Crostini was added to the Chrome OS code base, although it doesn’t yet work. Once it does, you should be able to test the feature in Linux on your Chromebook.
The mobile-friendly web page option for Chrome tablets is available in the Chrome OS 72 Dev Channel. Here’s how to enable and use it, although if you have a large-screened slate, you might not ever need it.
If you got used to the Share with Linux files feature on your Chromebook, you might want to get un-used to it. The latest Dev Channel release of Chrome OS removes it with a new target version of Chrome OS 73. Here’s why.
USB support for Project Crostini is finally here, enabling read & write access to a memory card from the Linux Terminal app. Here’s how to enable and use it. Oh, and Android 9 comes along for the ride on Chromebooks.
There’s a slew of changes in the newest Chrome OS Dev Channel including several for Project Crostini USB and file sharing support. Oddly, Chrome OS is losing its double-tap to zoom function when in tablet mode.
Project Crostini is here for one of the ARM-powered Chromebooks, the Acer R13 but you’ll need to brave an early version Chrome OS 72 on the Dev Channel to start using Linux apps.
A few tweaks make it easier to share Chrome OS files and folders with the Linux VM in Project Crostini or close down the VM with a click, and you can now see VM resources usage in the Task Manager on your Chromebook.
With this custom URL, it’s easy to see what’s new or changed between two Chrome OS versions on the same channel in lieu of full release notes.
