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Keith I Myers - Blog

Installing Microsoft PowerShell on Chrome OS with Project Crostini

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Microsoft’s PowerShell is without question a very powerful management tool/automation tool, especially for those who use Windows. Many developers have also started to embrace PowerShell and it has even seen native releases for MacOS and Linux. Thanks to the magic of Chrome OS and Crostini, it can also be installed on a Chromebook, here is how:

Chrome OS Crostini Container Update : cros-garcon

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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.

HP Chromebook X2 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 – Could a Chrome OS Tablet Replace Your Android Tablet?

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It is no secret that Android tablets are not as popular as they used to be. With the exception of the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Samsung Galaxy Tab line of tablets, it seems like many Android tablet manufacturers have given up on Android Tablets. Google has been working hard to replace Android with Chrome OS on future tablets and while this is a refreshing change, Could a Chrome OS Tablet replace your aging Android Tablet? For this post, we are going to put two leading flagship devices in a head to head battle – the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 (Android) and the HP Chromebook X2 (Chrome OS).

Fact Checking Wall Street Journal/Business Insider’s – “Google reportedly allows outside app developers to read people’s Gmails”

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If you have been reading the headlines over the past few days, you may have been lead to believe that Google’s email service was hacked. Earlier this week, The Business Insider released a horrible article that lightly plagiarized a Paywalled Wall Street Journal article stating that Google gives developers free reign to your inbox. They further introduced wording to allow some readers to formulate conspiracy theories to fill in the many gaps in their content – and it worked. They also gloss over the most important fact – users, not Google are who are giving services access to their email. Here is why it is all bullshit.

Installing Discord on ChomeOS via Project Crostini

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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.

Chrome OS’s upcoming “Better Together” feature may be a Google Pixel Exclusive Feature (for now)

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Google has been working hard on a feature called “Better Together” which was designed to allow for deep integration between Android Phones and Chrome OS. Thanks to the latest build of Chrome OS to hit the developer channel, we now have a better picture on what the setup process will look like and it is not looking good for non-Pixel Phone owners.

PSA – All Google Home Units Having Issues This Morning

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Update : Resolved (At least for me)

If you are like me and use your Trusty Google Home as a alarm to wake up every morning, you may be a bit late to work today as all Google Home Minis, Google Home and Google Home Max units are currently having major issues today. Most of my units are giving a generic “Something went wrong” error when saying “Ok Google” and others are acting as if it was factory reset. Here is a video of one of mine

ChromeOS 69.0.3464.0 brings Plenty of Bugs, Better Together, Android P Styling, File Manager Changes and Crostini Support to More Devices

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Update : June 21, 2018 – It seems that Google has pulled the update. Users who managed to install the update before Google pulled it can perform a rollback if the stability issues are making your Chromebook unusable. Rollbacks do require a powerwash which may or may not be a reason to hold out for a stable update.

It looks like Google has begun the rollout of ChromeOS 69.0.3464.0 to users on the “dev” channel. This is actually a major version increase as all previous updates were part of ChromeOS 68. Lets look at some of the changes Google has packed into this release – fair warning, there is A LOT in this release and plenty of bugs.