Beta Channel Update: 0.10.156.46

It's here! The beta channel has been updated to 0.10.156.46. That's also the current dev channel release so if anyone has been wanting to get off of dev channel without needing to do a recovery, now would be the time to switch back to beta channel.

We have two winners to the poll, haybales and wethreetrees both picked today, Feb. 28th as the date a 0.10.xxx version would reach beta channel:

haybales says "my cr-48 is great, and also colin is forever beta"
and
wethreetrees says "yay!"

congrats guys, revel in your Internet glory and fame. Soon, we should be seeing a 0.11.xxx version hit dev channel bringing new features (and bugs!) to our favorite little matte black laptops. What are you looking forward to in 0.11? Let us hear about it in the comments.

Dev Channel Update: 0.10.156.46

The dev channel was updated again tonight to 0.10.156.46. No word if they've actually been fixed but so far, I've been unable to produce the audio and OOBE "Let's Get Started" bugs. If you've upgraded and can reproduce the issues, or notice any other features and/or bugs in 0.10.156.46, let us know about it in the comments.

Dev Channel Update: 0.10.156.36

Once again my commentors have beaten me in noticing that 0.156.36 has been released to the dev channel. Sadly, once again it seems the most glaring bugs in the last few releases is still unfixed. The audio mute and OOBE issues are still present in this release. But with 3 dev channel updates in one week, might we see 0.10.xxx move into beta channel and a 0.11.xxx dev channel release soon? If you haven't already, be sure to pick the date you think 0.10 will go beta.

Guess the Beta Update Date, Win Eternal Internet Fame and Glory

Real soon now, we should be seeing a major update land on the beta channel as Google declares the 0.10.xxx builds stable enough for beta channel. Here's what we know:

• Last night, Google bumped Chrome browser beta channel to 10.xxx builds and Chrome browser dev channel to 0.11.xxx builds. The Chrome browser and Chrome OS releases schedules are closely tied together.
• The number of priority 1 bugs on crosbug.com that are left to be fixed for the R10 release (0.10.xxx) has dropped to 19. That's down from 69 early this week and a few hundred 2 weeks ago.
• Google is striving for a 6 week release schedule with Chrome OS like they have with Chrome browser.

So when do you think a 0.10 build will land on beta channel? Take the poll here. Winners will receive eternal Internet fame and glory (translation: I'll post your name and shout out message to my blog). Good luck!

Dev Channel Update: 0.10.156.34

Thanks to commentor nopainkiller for pointing out that dev channel was updated last night to 0.10.156.34. Also thanks to jackblau for recognizing that the audio and OOBE issues still exist in this recent update. You guys are getting really fast at reporting these. <insert normal message about leaving comments regarding experiences on this build, yada yada>

Dev Channel Update: 0.10.156.30

Thanks to Chrome Notebook Pilot group user 7HM0M5OM for pointing at that Google pushed out a new Dev Channel update tonight. No word on changes but I have confirmed that the audio mute issue and the repeated OOBE "Let's Get Started" message error issues have not been fixed yet.

Let us know what you notice about 0.10.156.30 in the comments...

Google Launches Official Cr-48 Group, Accidentally Spams Cr-48 Owners

Last night Google launched the official Chrome Notebook Pilot Users discussion group. Unfortunately, it seems there was a glitch in the process and most Cr-48 owners were welcomed to the group with dozens of emails in their Inbox. Despite the glitch it's exciting to see Google opening an official communication channel for Chrome OS users like us. A few thoughts on the group:

• A few people have noticed that I posted on the group before most people were aware of it's existance. I am a Top Contributor in other Google Help Forums and was invited to join the group early by Google.
• Right now, the group is being moderated while Google works out the email glitch so no one can post. I expect emails will be turned off for users and posting reopened by early next week.
• There are currently 25,970 users subscribed. If Google indeed signed up all email addresses that got a Cr-48 that means they're approaching the halfway point of shipments of the assumed 60,000 Cr-48s.
• It looks like non-Cr-48 owners will be able to read but not subscribe to the group. This makes sense since an official Google forum open to everyone is likely to get flooded with "I want one!" emails from the Cr-48 hopeful. I suspect that Google will provide a way for Cr-48 users who somehow did not get subscribed to prove ownership and join the group for posting, keep your eyes peeled.

So be sure to head over to the group once it's open and get posting! Most importantly, let's be sure to thank Google for their awesome free gift by keeping a positive attitude in our discussions!

Dev Channel Update: 0.10.156.20

Thanks to reader William for pointing dev channel was again updated today to 0.10.156.20. Unfortunately it seems neither the audio mute bug or inclusion of 2 versions of flash has been resolved yet. No word on what is fixed at this point but if you notice anything, you know what to do...

Dev Channel Update: 0.10.156.18

Dev channel was updated to 010.156.18 tonight. The most significant update appears to be Adobe Flash 10.2. Chrome browser is at version 10.0.648.49 which means it should include all the fixes noted in the Chrome releases blog yesterday.

Note that if you go to about:plugins, Flash still reports 10.1, you have to click Details at the top right to see the 10.2 version file, not sure why this is. The big question is how does Flash perform? I was able to play a 720p Youtube video with decent performance. I've yet to try other flash content like Hulu and Netflix. Update: Commenter Dave pointed out that Netflix doesn't use Flash, it uses Silverlight, silly me.

If you get updated let us know how Flash does for you and any other differences you notice in the comments!

Update: No go on Netflix, they still list Chrome OS as incompatible. There also seems to be a sound bug. It worked fine until I tried to turn the volume up at which point the onscreen showed the volume as muted. No pressing of the volume up down or mute keys would undo the mute :-(

2nd Update: Ouch! This one might get ugly. I logged out to see if the sound might return with a new session. Instead of the login screen I was greeted with the Out of box "Let's get started" screen! Looks like some issues with detecting that I've already run through the setup. Luckily once I ran through that and logged in, my user settings were untouched. Well, when you live on the bleeding edge, sometimes you've got the edge and sometimes you just stand there bleeding... Gonna try a reboot now...

3rd Update: Volume control buttons are definitely borked. As a workaround, open a shell and run "alsamixer" to use a non-GUI volume control, it works and can unmute the sound or adjust volume when needed.

4th Update: I toggled the Dev switch under the battery this morning in order to wipe the stateful partition (wipe to factory defaults). That appears to have gotten rid of the volume issue and the strange return to OOBE on logout or reboot issue. 720p videos are jerky but I'd characterize it by saying that flash support is definitely improving with plenty of room for more improvement.

5th Update: It seems that although Flash 10.2 is included, 10.1 is also still included and is the default. You can disable 10.1 by going to about:plugins, clicking Details to the right and clicking Disable next to 10.1. You can verify what version of flash your Cr-48 is using here.

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Now back to our regularly scheduled Cr-48 coverage, I expect we'll see a dev channel update in the next day or two. And pretty soon we'll be seeing the 0.10.xxx branch of build stabilize to the point that it becomes the new beta channel while dev channel jumps up to 0.11.xxx. Fun times ahead!

Cloud Print to Printers on Your Mac or Linux Box

Until vendors ship cloud-aware printers, we need the intermediary cloud print proxy to share our printers with the Cr-48. Unfortunately, cloud print proxy is Windows only. If you're printer is hooked up to a Mac or Linux machine, you're out of luck. But not any longer thanks to the work of Chrome OS expert Jason Michalski. He's created a simple cloud print proxy python script that runs on Linux and Macs and connect your CUPS printers to cloud print. The script prompts you for your Google Account and then discovers your printers automatically.

If you've been waiting to try out cloud print, now's your chance. Let us know how you like it in the comments.

AT&T GSM now possible on the Cr-48 with a light hack

Hexxeh has figured out how to switch the Cr-48's Gobi 2000 3G radio to GSM mode and use it on AT&T's network. A nice little trick if you've used your 100mb Verizon 3G quota for the month and have a AT&T data plan available to you. In theory, T-mobile should work also but only at EDGE speeds since the Gobi 2000 does not support T-mobile's 3G radio frequencies.

Dev Channel Update: 0.10.156.4

Thanks to commentor Brian for pointing out that dev channel has been updated to 0.10.156.4. No word on changes but with such a small bump in numbers, it's likely only bug fixes. Let us know your experiences using (or getting) 0.10.156.4 in the comments.

Chrome (the browser) stable channel updated to version 9.0

Google has released Chrome 9.0.597.84 to the stable channel. This is the first 9.0 stable release of Chrome. With the 9.0 branch of Chrome being declared stable, expect to see Chrome OS beta channel updated to a 9.0 version of Chrome browser shortly. For a better overview of what's new in Chrome's latest stable release, see this article.