ChromeOS 75.0.3759.4 is currently being rolled out to users in the dev channel. Unfortunately if you have chosen to enable the GPU, your Crostini instance may no longer function. You may get the following error message when launching Termina via crosh
There are a few pre-made distributions to allow you to run a version of ChromiumOS on existing hardware such as CloudReady and FideOS however there are several benefits to building your own distribution from scratch. ChromiumOS is the open source of the popular ChromeOS operating system. By following this guide, you will get a version of ChromiumOS that should boot on most hardware (with a 64 bit Intel or AMD Processor). This version will also give you access to Linux Apps via Crostini and even enable the same OTA upgrade service that users on ChromeOS enjoy.
We know that Google is working on eventually adding the ability to integrate Google Drive with Crostini in the future but this feature is not expected to hit production Chromebooks until sometime next year. Sadly it is also not possible to mount a Google Drive share (or any remote filesystems) at this time as well. Fortunately there is a excellent third party Google Drive client that I have personally used for a few years on my Linux machines called Insync – it turns out that it works in Linux without much of an issue. Here is now to install it:
I have been contacted by serveral readers and seen countless posts on reddit from users who have been forced to powerwash their devices after a unstable “Dev” update to their Chromebook. While I do not recommend that users who demand stability use the “Dev” channel, I do understand why they do as it offers a lot of features that allow a Chromebook to replace their primary machine. I am a firm believer in a saying that says “If it is not backed up, you must not care about it”. As Google does not yet offer a way to backup your device, allow me to show you a simple way to do this via rsync and a remote server.
ChromeOS 70.0.3524.2 is currently rolling out to users on the Dev channel. I am working my way through the changelogs to see what has changed. This list is only what I have been able to find after a few minutes of research, I will update it as I find more.
Over the past few days, instructions to install Debian Packages (.deb) files on ChromeOS via the Chrome OS File Manager have been floating around many major tech sites. I was originally not planning to cover this story as it was already covered so many times however I changed my mind after following the steps on these sites and was not successful. It turns out that they were missing a step – the .deb file needs to be placed in the “Linux Files” mount first. Here are the instructions:
It is healthy for people to have hobbies outside of their day jobs, one of my personal hobbies is 3D Printing. I have been planning to cover more 3D Printing stuff on my blog (along with the normal stuff I cover). I have covered a few 3D printing posts in the past but I feel it is time to start posting more. My first post will be getting my favorite slicer, Simplify 3D to run on a Chromebook via Crostini.
As I have mentioned on this blog in the past, the build of debian that is used for the default “penguin” container is very vanilla aside from a few extra packaged used to bridge some of the functionality with ChromeOS. These extra packages are not always updated via the primary Chrome OS update utility and thus must be manually upgraded via the command line. Google has released a upgrade for one of the packages – cros-garcon. Fortunately upgrading this package is very easy.
ChromeOS 69.0.3486.0 was pushed out to several devices yesterday in the Developer Channel and while unlike ChromeOS 69.0.3464.0, this build is quite stable – unfortunately there are a few are a few minor bugs that users should be aware of. After using the build for a few hours, here is what I have been able to find;
Discord has been one of the fastest growing communication platforms on the planet right now but unfortunately they do not publish an official client for Chrome OS so Chrome OS users are stuck using the web application. While the web application is pretty good, some would wish to have access to the desktop application. Fortunately it is pretty easy to install, here are the steps.