Hi folks,
I have been using Emacs off and on for over 20 years. Lately I saw what a coworker's vscode system could do, went "I know these features exist for Emacs but I don't have time to set them up", and switched to Doom.
Unfortunately the experience hasn't been fantastic and got worse with the latest doom upgrade, which broke my install without warning, since I'm on 26.1 which is in Debian stable. I'm trying to evaluate my options -- none of which look appealing -- and I'd like some help.
Background:
I run Emacs everywhere. Primarily on my Linux laptops and workstations, where it's running reasonably. Also on my Lenovo Duet ARM-based Chromebook in its Linux environment, where it takes about a minute for Doom to initialize. I use mu4e to read email, which works well on the higher-end boxen but is slow on the Chromebook. I accept the performance there for what it is.
I also have Emacs on various Raspberry Pis, from Pi 2 to Pi 4, and on server environments, though I haven't Doomized them. I am a heavy user of org-mode and org-roam.
I am looking for:

• evil-mode nearly everywhere would be great
• LSP support, particularly for Rust and C
• Modern completions (Doom is using ivy which is fine). But also code completions from LSP, etc.
• Spellchecking as appropriate
• org-mode and org-roam
• ability to run fine in a terminal and with the X GUI, simultaneously via emacsclient
• "set and forget it" - I want it to stay secure but I don't need the latest everything
• Something that doesn't take me days to research and set up
• git integration. "these lines have changed" highlight while editing, magit, github integration, etc.

Doom ticks all those boxes. I like about it:

• I don't have to configure all those things manually
• Its SPC overlay keybinding system. Love the things like SPC p f (find a file in a project), SPC n s (search in org), SPC s p (search in project), etc. Its searching is based on ripgrep or something and is far faster than the built-in search in most of the existing Emacs modes.
• Evil is fairly well integrated, though gets weird in M-x shell and friends.

I dislike about Doom:

• It has been fairly buggy for me. The latest upgrade broke compatibility with Emacs 26.1 and didn't warn me about it or anything.
• It messes up the middle-click-to-paste and the highlight-with-mouse-to-copy features of X.
• It adds a bunch of "are you sure you want to close the frame?" prompts. I'm sure I could turn them off but I haven't spent the time
• Its themes do weird things in terminals. (To be fair, so do the existing Emacs ones, but not to the same extent)
• All the Unicode icons... meh
• It will shortly require a version of Emacs that isn't easily installable on any of my machines, and broke compatibility with 26.1 without blocking the upgrade.

When I say "easily installable", yes I know, I can download the tarball and compile. But with Debian or Raspbian, I have unattended-upgrades that will just update emacs if it has a security bug. And some of those Raspberry Pi systems lack the resources to be able to build locally, lack good Internet connectivity, etc. Basically having a one-off thing that I have to maintain manually on the schedule of somebody at Doom, discovering it needs to be updated when it breaks, isn't really great. But is is, of course, an option.
So I am considering:

• Going back to a vanilla config. But I don't even know what all the components Doom integrated for me ARE, let alone how to set them up to play nice with each other and evil-mode. This would take me days to set up, time I don't have. Realistically I'd probably have to give up a number of the features I like.
• Stick with Doom and manually maintain my Emacs install, with the problems covered above.
• Switch to Spacemacs
• Switch to someone else's hand-crafted config template

Advice appreciated!

I have been wanting to try Chromebook for the last one year and never got one until now. I always worry whether I can do my day-to-day activity with ChromeOS. As an e-commerce consultant, my day to day work does revolve around web browser; from basic email, online meeting, writing and designing solution, analyzing data with spreadsheets, running database query report and even sometime need to do light activity using terminal. So definitely I will need more than just a browser.
I have a Dell XPS 13 as my daily driver. It is a great device. I have it for more than a year. Small form factor, great screen size, good battery life (5 hours average). However, it is still quite heavy to carry around and it can't really be used for whole-day device without bringing charger along. Afterall, it is still a laptop. It is designed that way.
Therefore, I need my iPad Pro for my always-carry, media-consumption-go-to device. I have both the 11 inch and the 12.9 and you have to admit that iPad OS apps are simply work well. I love the built-in 4G LTE which allows me to go to the Internet anytime anywhere. iPad OS' Safari browser gains desktop functionality in the new IOS, and Apple try to make iPad more and more like desktop with support of keyboard and mouse. However, many web apps are not really working well in iPadOS (i.e. smart sheet, Teamwork Projects). Google workspace suite (Gmail, Sheet, Docs) are far from working well in iPad browser and the app version is significantly inferior. As agreed with many online reviewers, iPad still lacks behind on things like multi-tasking. So the it definitely can't replace my Dell.
In the quest of trying to find "one" device that can serve both, last year I braved myself to venture into Surface Pro X (I am able to get it for free - thanks to all the points that I raked up with my Amazon credit card). For you that not familiar, Surface Pro X is a Windows 2-in-1 device that powered by ARM processor. With ARM processor, it gives you both mobility and connectivity (i.e. better battery life, thin design, built-in LTE) I am fully aware with all limitation of the device before buying it. I was thinking that before I trying Chrome OS, Surface Pro X allows me to taste how to rely most of my time with just browser (in this case Microsoft Edge). I convert all the websites that I use into web apps (thanks to the Edge browser which makes it easy to do that). And with Surface pro X, I still can get access on some of the Windows apps that is running 32 bit. So I can still fire up my Navicat Mysql app and video conference using zoom app and chatting at slack all using native windows app running 32 bit. The battery life is also extremely good - 8 hours of active uses. Moreover, it comes with LTE connectivity as well. Almost perfect. Definitely a perfect Windows mobile device. But again, Windows is still windows and it doesn't do well as tablet!
So, finally I pull the trigger and dive into ChromeOS. Since I am looking a device that I will use as both laptop replacement and day-to-day tablet. I choose Google Pixel Slate. Yes, despite all the bad reviews - especially when it first launched. But thanks to the continuous update on the ChromeOS itself, I actually think Google Pixel Slate works really well as the ultimate hybrid device. I am able to find pre-loved Google Pixel Slate (Core i5, 8G ram and 128G SSD) at very very good price, complete with the keyboard case, pen, As I expected, the experience of running all my web apps in Chrome is flawless (your miles may varies). It has all-day battery and fast charging. But to me, what really shine is how well I can run Android apps and also some Linux apps (I use GIMP, VS Code, Navicat). Too bad Google gave up producing more of these devices. I would love to see it comes with LTE built-in. I have used my Pixel Slate almost exclusively for one week now. Combine this with my Samsung Z Fold 2 (another amazing device), I think this might be the closest I get with finding the "one" device.
There are definitely things that Google still need to work out and fix. Things like issues with Bluetooth headset is annoying (certain headset won't work when there are other Bluetooth devices connected). It needs better handling on multiple google accounts (home vs work). There are also other minor issues such as some compatibility issues with Android apps running on ChromeOS. But with this device is still getting update for another 5 years (June 2026), I am not too worry too much for now as long as there is work around. As I am using more and more, will continue to share here on my experience.

I've been working off 2 laptops for this whole academic year so far. One has Word but cannot handle Microsoft Teams, and the other is a Chromebook which I use exclusively for Teams. My WiFi is fine as Teams works well on my Chromebook.
I need a laptop that:

• is Windows and runs on Windows 10 or later. I won't use Mac.
  
• is compatible with Microsoft Office (just Word, PowerPoint and Excel will be enough)
  
• decent battery life
  
• not too big or heavy, around a 13/14 inch screen.
  
• fast enough to handle Teams and Zoom without constantly dropping out, freezing or glitching the sound. It would also need a decent camera and mic.
  
• I use OneDrive so hard drive space is not an issue.
  
• £1000 budget.
  
• I don't use any complex programs for my course, literally just the Internet and Microsoft Word/PowerPoint.
  

I ask for advice as my dad has bought several expensive laptops over the years for himself, all of which have turned out to be painfully slow and virtually unusable. I need to be able to try before I buy but obviously you can't. I don't know much about the ins and outs of choosing a laptop which is why I ask for help.
Can anyone recommend a good model for me?

I've tried a few different products but they seem to be geared for small-businesses more than prosumers running a home network. Here is my list of requirements. Maybe someone who has been around can point me to the right product:
I have an Arris SB8200 and a 500/50 copper connection 1) Modern UI Dashboard - I don't need it to integrate with smart speakers, but I should be able to pull up a portal on my pc and phone and have a nice reactive webpage/app that allows me to view traffic, status, devices, individual network usage, issues, etc
2) Threat protection / detection - Modern home routers should have these basic features beyond a firewall. I'm running a small website blog and plex server and really want to keep that up without having to worry about it much
3) Parental controls - We're talking about a home here. Should be able to block categories or sites per device or per profile. Scheduling seems like an obvious requirement that should be easy to implement in the router software, easy add/remove devices from profile or change these settings. Default profile for guests, etc... I mean a lot of this could be done via DNS, but how annoying that these routers don't tend to have DNAT to force clients to use the DNS assigned at the router level.
Some of the products in the market advertise that you can ask alexa to "block billy's internet access"... well that's not very useful since billy has a chromebook and you might as well just take the device away at that point. What I need is to make Billy's devices use youtube safe mode or block certain gameservers during certain hours
4) Remote Control - If you know your IP, I don't see why you can't get into the router through WAN and reset it if it is having issues. Unifi does this, but I don't know if others do.
​
Thanks for reading. Sorry if this has been asked a million times. I just keep seeing users being pointed to the ERX and after trying it, it is solid but lacks the front-end I need. Just seems like a good one for a small business or someone who doesn't need to be at all concerned with their family's network usage.

WTF IS WRONG WITH MY PC (last post was removed for all caps title)
Hey guys I’m here because I cannot find out what the hell is wrong with my pc My issues have evolved, changed and stopped and started and I have no clue what’s to blame!?
Full pc:
Rx 5700 xt blower reference model - not overclocked
Ryzen 1600x - wraith prism cooler - Not overclocked
ASUS prime X470 pro motherboard - I looked for bad capacitors and can’t see any
Samsung nvme ssd - Bog standard one but does the job (used in my previous system: rtx 2080, i5 9600k)
Corsair vengeance 3000mhz - 2x8gb
Evga g1(+) 650w (later swapped out for evga g3 650w )
Fractal design meshify c
Accessories: Samsung ur55 4k monitor - using quality dp cable - running at 4k 60hz
Drevo tyrfing keyboard
Steel series rival 110 mouse
Shitty WiFi usb dongle
Here is a timeline of my issues:
I got my pc up and running and the after installing drivers worked for about and hr before restarting randomly (screen went black, pc was still running then the boot screen came up) , I logged back in and again within about 30 mins it restarted randomly again, this happened about 3-4 times
As well as this games I tried running such as dark souls 3 and Witcher 3 only ram for about 9 mins before crashing. Every time I ran them they would crash after a few minutes (gpu temps were fine btw like in the 40s to 60s range but not higher, this is the same through all these issues, cpu dosnt go above 50c)
Additionally running intel burn test would come back sting my cpu was unstable, until I turned my ram over clock back to stock, then back up to 3000mhz ( it’s labeled speed)
Another issue I was experiencing was once the pc booted to the log in screen I couldn’t do anything (no keys worked), not until my rgb keyboard had done a reset? (Lights went off then on)This issue continues through my issues and ussually happens when the pc reboots from a random restart
I also ram memtest 86 on both sticks which came back successfully and both sticks were good.
I thought it was weird so I did a complete reinstalling if windows just in case it was a weird driver issue (my ssd was used in my old build which had a intel cpu and nvidia gpu) After song this the issue seems fixed until later that night it happened again
Another issue I had as a one off was after logging in I couldn’t move my mouse on screen? (I didn’t appear) and then the whole pc would shut down and I would have to turn it back on
(The restarts happened randomly, usually when I was watching YouTube or twitch but sometimes happened when I was idle on the desktop)
After thinking about my issues, I thought it must be a psu issue so I returned the psu I had and bought a new one (evga g3 650w). While this new one arrived I did some more research online and found out other people with rx 5000 gpus were experiencing similar issues and a fix was to instal drivers without adrenaline 2020
When my new psu arrived, the exact same main issue continued- random restarts So I did the ‘fix’ I had found online for the issue. installed my gpu drivers without the adrenaline software and this seemed to fix it for a day however after a day or two the issues returned when I tried playing world war z and was experiencing crashes at the expect same point in any mission. After a few crashes I went into the mission again and the pc restarted, when the crash usually happened
After the fix didn’t work I tried reinstalling my drivers with adrenaline clean from ddu, which fixed the crashes in world war z and the pc seemingly worked fine for the day
Next day the issues continued again and I decided I would flash the gpu bios, I did this and it made no difference
I did one more clean driver install and then pc seemed to work for a full weekend of playing terraria and teardown (indie game)
I also tried horizon zero dawn over this weekend which ran fine - no crashes
The pc looked to have fixed its issues somehow and then I tried playing cyberpunk...
the screen tear in game was horrible so I turned on the inbuilt freesync (which I think I had been doing on and off in teardown earlier throughout this saga) on my monitor which seemed to have broke the game, crashes on crashes on crashes only 5 mins after starting up the game each time so I turned off freesync on my monitor and did a fresh install of drivers.. the issue continued. After doing all this I decided to try my cpu on intel burn test and prime96 again... which it failed and was unstable, so I clocked my ram down then back up and the tests came back stable again. (I also tried prime95 at this point and it was stable to, running for an hr where it would previously not work at all)
This lead to today where on turning on my pc the wifi wouldn’t work - it would say ‘connected - no internet’ but the wifi was working on my phone and chromebook. So I did a network reset which made me restart my pc
This seemingly broke my pc completely - it wouldn’t boot into windows just saying ‘automatic repair’ on a blue screen and giving me options to restart which brought me back to that exact screen or advanced options where I could go to safe mode and or other options,
After the fifth time of getting to the automatic repair screen I went into advanced options and selected an option to repair windows which brought me to the log in page eventually. (The smae unable to log in until keyboard ‘resets’ issue happens here)
Finally saved right??
Nope after trying to play horizon zero dawn,the game crashed after 5 minutes twice.
Intel burn test shows stable cpu
And this is where I am now
Wtf is happening i originally thought it was a bad psu, then gpu and now I think it’s a bad cpu and gpu??? I have no clue
Extra info: Temps on pc are fine on cpus and gpu
Gpu gets expected results in 3dmark
Pc is running on 4k display but most games I play at 1440p or 1080p
Terraria running above 60hz would appear hoppy and unplayable didn’t see this on other games but they didn’t really go above 60hz that much anyway
Pc is near floor and carpet but is on a piece of desk on a box

Hello, I'm trying to install cIOS so I can use WiiFlow cause I have some old backups I wanna play. But since my Wii doesn't connect to the internet, it says something like int_init failed and apparently it means it can't install because I'm not connected. How do I install cIOS without internet, or is their some other usb loader that doesn't require cIOS or a usb loader that only needs homebrew?
I'm doing this all on a chromebook so I can't run any .zip files on here if needed, only things I can run are APK's and not all if that matters.

For context, my home network consists of a few different machines:

• Ubuntu 18.04 box
• Main laptop (Windows 10)
• Chromebook
• OnePlus 6

I am seeing a very strange issue where I am unable to reach my Ubuntu box from my Chromebook over my local network, however I can reach it from all of my other devices without any issue. I am also able to access the internet and router without any issues from my Chromebook and other devices. I have a number of different services running on my Ubuntu box which I am able to access via the local network from every other device except my Chromebook. I have Plex hosted on it and I am able to access Plex on the Chromebook via my reverse proxy, but not when I try to access it using it's local IP address. This seems to be consistent with other services running on the box (SSH, Portainer, etc).
The only thing that's changed since I haven't been able to access the Ubuntu box from my Chromebook is that I had set up a VirtualBox VM with Bridged networking (which has since been deleted and VirtualBox uninstalled) on the Ubuntu box. I suspect that it has made some changes to the networking setup of the Ubuntu box which has introduced this issue, however I have no idea where to look or what to look for. I haven't made any changes on the Chromebook that would explain why I can't access the Ubuntu box over the local network. Is there any tests I can run or things I can check to see if the problem is on the Chromebook or the Ubuntu box? If anyone can give me any pointers in what to look for, or suggestions as to how to fix this issue it would be greatly appreciated.

I can't connect my PS3 to my PC without it being choppy or a black screen. Can someone please help me...?
I have my setup connected (to the best of my knowledge) and am getting problems trying to run it as expected/hoped on my PC with OBS Studio. I'm not technically illiterate, but I had a car accident/concussion and basically need someone to actually walk through step-by-step with me. It probably won't take long as I get most of it, but I'm wasting a lot of time trying to just figure it out alone. Currently, when I can get my PC to receive the "USB Video" signal - it "flickers"? There is a link to a picture example of my PC below.
Here's the setup:
- Internet Modem (direct ethernet feeds PC and Router, does have wireless with 3 security cameras/1 chromebook/2 android phones on the network) - Wireless Router (direct ethernet feeds the smart TV, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii - Wifi for router is off) - PS3/Xbox 360/Wii are all HDMI cables direct to a Sharp Audio 2.1 System with 3 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output - Sharp Audio Receiver feeds to Stream Box HDMI in and then Stream Box HDMI out to the Smart TV HDMI in - Stream Box USB 3.0 cable to 30 ft USB 3.0 extension cable direct to PC - PC receives stream box signal via USB 3.0 - PC uses OBS Studio to stream direct to Re-Stream (Re-Stream streams to Youtube/Twitch/Not sure if anything else yet)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/374636015396192257/803093308581609532/20210124_174430.jpg
I'm only going to do the "Dad's of OF" thing after prepping a while longer. I just need to chill/vibe to some "nostalgic vidya" before I set things off. Help, anyone? I have Skype, Discord, etc... Alas, I think my "clicking around" has now made things worse.

ChromeOS has a built-in VM where you can run Debian (or other Linux VMs if you configure it in the built-in crosh terminal) without putting it into developer mode.
What are the privacy implications of this? Are there any known instances of Google/other entities monitoring internet traffic or other activity within a Chromebook?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_District
Also referred to as "WebcamGate". This is a different case, it happened in the United States, and it happened ten years ago, but I believe it is still relevant to remember just how much control this proctoring software could have. In 2010, a high school student got disciplined for something that he did in the privacy of his own home, due to a school-issued laptop that was secretly taking pictures through the webcam and also taking screenshots. The school would have had no other way of knowing what he did, had it not been for the school-issued laptop. After the plaintiff, Robbins, started a lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District, it was revealed that the school had taken more than 66,000 pictures in secret using the laptops' webcams. In some of these pictures, students were undressed or in otherwise compromising positions. In addition, the screenshots taken by the school-issued laptops contained information that any reasonable person would consider off-limits, such as IM chat logs or emails. All these pictures were sent to the school district's servers, where school authorities analyzed them and shared them (whether among each other or with third parties is unclear). If that isn't disturbing enough, it turns out the laptops also had location-tracking abilities on it, and police did not need to get involved for the school to find the location of one of their laptops.
Robbins, and another student Hasan who also discovered he was being spied on, ultimately got a settlement for the lawsuit. But seeing what's happening right now with Carleton trying to push CoMaS to "prevent cheating", and anytime I think of a school trying to push some proprietary software onto students' personal computers, this case immediately comes to mind. Granted, Lower Merion tried very hard to conceal their activities, but Carleton disclosing CoMaS's intended access does not make me feel any better. In fact, for reasons I'll list below, I see even more cause for concern.
First, take a look at the data being collected: * Random screenshots * Random webcam images (which have no context) * IP address of the host PC * Internet connections made during the session * File system activity in the CoMaS and Desktop folders * The clipboard contents are read AND THEN cleared (instead of just being cleared) * Bluetooth and webcam status, at the start of a session * MAC address
Most of these requirements require elevated privileges to be granted to CoMaS. I don't know how Windows grants some of these privileges, but on Linux (maybe Mac as well), this would likely mean root access. At that point, you may as well trust CoMaS the same way you would a userland rootkit: it has full access to your system, even for things it claims not to access. The paper outlining the e-proctoring details says that CoMaS will only access certain data at certain points in time, but how can that be verified? The software is (presumably) closed-source, so reverse engineering is the only way for static analysis. We also can't just arbitrarily download it, we'd need to actually get permission from IT staff to do so; no way to find out before an actual exam what and how much data is being collected. According to u/sidbmw1 in another thread about CoMaS, it can detect if it's being run in a VM, making dynamic analysis and sandboxing difficult - it may be possible to trick it to not detect being run in a VM, but not everybody is technically apt enough to do so. The only way to use it without giving it full access to your data is to get a totally separate PC, e.g. a Chromebook or a used PC from Value Village (latter if you get lucky), but not everybody can afford to do this.
Ignoring the uncomfortable amount of data being collected on a user during a single exam session alone - just the stuff being disclosed - how exactly can it be verified that CoMaS will do no wrong? Maybe there are additional spying features in it that gather more data than one would allow, gather the same type of data but beyond acceptable times (this one especially might be easy to cover up with "it's a bug in the system, we'll fix it for next time"), or both. I'll admit this is a certain level of tinfoil-hattery, but given the lawsuit I linked to above and the fact that Carleton seems to be trying hard to prevent people from understanding the software on their own, I'm not ruling it out. Maybe everything on the info sheet we've been given is technically true, but there are additional strings attached (e.g. a CoMaS process being in the background since the computer's startup, even when there are no exams to take). Maybe CoMaS really won't exceed its boundaries and won't spy on us more than stated in their info sheet (which I, and quite a few others, already find unacceptable), but the software could be vulnerable, allowing an attacker full access to a student's system. Or maybe, by sheer accident, CoMaS takes pictures/logs of something it shouldn't by accident, but by the time the student finds out, the data's already sent to Carleton's servers and retained under their privacy policy. Whatever the case, Carleton doesn't actually do anything to earn the students' confidence in this software, except for saying "dude, trust me" and not allowing students to take exams without it.
To me, it doesn't matter whether or not the University keeps its promise on CoMaS not abusing its permissions. The mere fact that it HAS these permissions without a way for me to verify its operations is disturbing to me.
Please, do NOT let Carleton University (continue to) employ this software. The only reason to trust it is because the university says so, despite there being no available source code or other ways for people to audit the software themselves. I understand that with the pandemic going on, the University needs time to adjust, but spying on people to ensure there's no cheating is a lazy solution. One better way to handle this, in my opinion, is to have the exams be more like assignments; have them open-book, but actually test people to see if they understand and can solve the problems presented in the course, and find solutions to new but not-too-dissimilar questions. Do, of course, punish students confirmed to be communicating with each other or seeking outside help. If you force this spyware onto students, they WILL find ways to bypass it simply because they don't want so much data on their devices and of their homes collected, making "cheaters" out of perfectly honest people. Sign the petitions, keep making posts on CoMaS. Get these complaints to the University's attention.
I'd also like to ask: who made CoMaS? Was it Carleton themselves, or an outside company? I wrote this under the assumption of the former, but if it's the latter, I've got some more serious concerns.
Remember: no matter the privacy policy, assume that once your data is out there, you will NEVER take it down.
EDIT: Fixed some typos and missing or inappropriate (ie. wrongly-used based on context) words. I'm writing on a mobile phone, so it wasn't as easy to catch them.
EDIT 2: u/ahm23 managed to reverse enginner CoMaS. Check out his/her post right here, see his/her findings, and decide whether or not you're cool having this software on your PC during an exam: https://www.reddit.com/CarletonU/comments/j9fj5s/i_reverse_engineered_comas_a_few_days_ago_enjoy/

• **Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US:**$600CAD maybe a 100 or 200 more depending on quality
• **Are you open to refurbs/used?**No
• **How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life?**Most important is performance, I am fed up of my current junk chromebook which I bought for $200CAD after both my previous laptops miraculously broke in the same day. I can't even browse the web properly on it, video calls lag from my end, and the processing poweRAM is just too weak. Performance is the most important aspect of this laptop. Build quality is strong second, battery third. No need for a 2-in-1.
• **How important is weight and thinness to you?**Not important at all, I don't care
• Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. - Not too big since I already have 2 extra 22" 1080p monitors, 14 inch should be good.
• **Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run.**Probably not.
• **If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?**N/A
• **Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?**It must be able to connect to two monitors through USB-C via my Dell Dock. I have a wireless keyboard already so that is not important.
• **Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.**I just don't want my computer to lag, I want to be able to watch high quality videos without problem, browse websites without my computer being extremely slow, and have video calls where people can hear and see me clearly(My internet is gigabit, so that is not the problem). I want to be able to use 3 different screens at once. Also I prefer the operating system to be Windows, I am done with chrome OS

So I work for a tech company, we use Citrix. I have been out of commission at my job (luckily still getting paid for my out time thank god) since, not even joking, beginning of September.
My Citrix, and I seem to be the only one having this issue, is running and what seems to be dialup speeds despite having pretty decent internet speed and no real latency on my side. Call centers tend to re use profiles of people that have the same names if someone leaves, but i have a unique user profile so it doesn’t seem to be corrupted old user information. They have reset my profile 3 times. I have received 4 replacement computers from my company, I replaced my coax line and modem router (for good measure). We mostly run client programs within chrome and no one else seems to have the resource problem that I do.
Outside desktop ping test shows latency between 66-88, even when testing ping for full 10 hours. Internet is good. Unable to test ping inside desktop due to client restrictions.
Task manager inside desktop shows cpu usage jump from ~5% to 95% even when not actively doing any tasks or recieving messages in Skype. When actively working, Citrix will freeze frequently, and kick me out regardless of resources are tapped out or not.
Has anyone else encountered this issue? I am still waiting for Citrix to directly get back to me regarding this, but I am growing impatient as I would love to get back to work. If anyone has additional info or something I can try, anything at all, it would be much appreciated.
Edit: additional context- work from home, work supplied asus and acer chromebooks, I now have a chromebox/ thinkvision system. Let me know what other info could be helpful for this. I’m just frustrated.
Edit 2: I know that support that is able to be given is likely slim to none, but this has been escalated with my service desk back to our Citrix team specifically. I’m just trying to look for absolutely anything I can do. I know it’s unlikely, but I’ll take all the help no matter if I can’t even do the help or not. I’m going crazy. Work has been keeping me sane and without it I won’t die, it’s just my service desk is moving slowly and they really can’t seem to figure it out so at the very least I may be able to bring up what you all have suggested. Thank you for your suggestions.

Ok, so this is a bit of a stumper. Using an Eluktronics laptop, very nice system, rock-solid for a good, long time. My wife has a Dell Inspirion. We are both experiencing weird behaviors with Windows 10. Connected to wifi, connected to ethernet, no internet.
My laptop uses an intel dual-band AC 8265 card that handles the ethernet and wifi.
We have wifi in the back of the house with an extender but I use an ethernet over powerline adapter and run ethernet directly to the computer because wifi is a little too wonky for work connections.
What I'm experiencing now is wifi will drop out intermittently. My ethernet will do the same thing. Rebooting the computer brings it back.
So I did the usual of uninstall the adapter, let it autodetect again, update the drivers, delete it and the drivers and add them back in, flush DNS and reset ipv4 and ipv6, no good. I even got an additional USB wifi adapter to see if maybe it's just a driver conflict and it won't connect, either. If I connect the laptop directly to the router the speed is fast, when it works. But sometimes it'll refuse to see the router without a reboot.
Meanwhile, while these Windows machines have trouble connecting, I have zero problem with our cell phones, chromebook, television with rokus, all of them connect to the wifi just fine.
So, given that the problem is limited to Windows machines, my suspicion is that there's something going wrong pending a Windows update and I think the problem is inherent to Windows since it's failing wifi and ethernet on the same card and fails for the usb wifi as well.
Someone pointed out that there's a hidden item in device manager that's the microsoft tool for adding hotspots. Kill it and that can resolve some issues but it didn't work for me.
In googling I've seen Windows 10 networking issues out the wazoo, a lot of people are having issues, many seem similar to mine, and the common solutions aren't working.

Its not surprise. Chrome is monstrous surveillance engine which sends data to google.

Nonfree (proprietary) software is very often malware (designed to mistreat the user). Nonfree software is controlled by its developers, which puts them in a position of power over the users; that is the basic injustice. The developers and manufacturers often exercise that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.

Back Doors

​

• The Google Play Terms of Service insist that the user of Android accept the presence of universal back doors in apps released by Google. This does not tell us whether any of Google's apps currently contains a universal back door, but that is a secondary question. In moral terms, demanding that people accept in advance certain bad treatment is equivalent to actually doing it. Whatever condemnation the latter deserves, the former deserves the same.
  
• ChromeBooks are programmed for obsolescence: ChromeOS has a universal back door that is used for updates and ceases to operate at a predefined date. From then on, there appears to be no support whatsoever for the computer. In other words, when you stop getting screwed by the back door, you start getting screwed by the obsolescence.
  
• Android has a back door for remotely changing “user” settings. The article suggests it might be a universal back door, but this isn't clear.
  
• ChromeOS has a universal back door. At least, Google says it does—in section 4 of the EULA.
  
• In Android, Google has a back door to remotely delete apps. (It was in a program called GTalkService, which seems since then to have been merged into Google Play.) Google can also forcibly and remotely install apps through GTalkService. This is not equivalent to a universal back door, but permits various dirty tricks. Although Google's exercise of this power has not been malicious so far, the point is that nobody should have such power, which could also be used maliciously. You might well decide to let a security service remotely deactivate programs that it considers malicious. But there is no excuse for allowing it to delete the programs, and you should have the right to decide who (if anyone) to trust in this way.
  

Censorship

​

• Google offers censorship software, ostensibly for parents to put into their children's computers.
  
• On Windows and MacOS, Chrome disables extensions that are not hosted in the Chrome Web Store. For example, an extension was banned from the Chrome Web Store, and permanently disabled on more than 40,000 computers.
  
• Google censored installation of Samsung's ad-blocker on Android phones, saying that blocking ads is “interference” with the sites that advertise (and surveil users through ads). The ad-blocker is proprietary software, just like the program (Google Play) that Google used to deny access to install it. Using a nonfree program gives the owner power over you, and Google has exercised that power. Google's censorship, unlike that of Apple, is not total: Android allows users to install apps in other ways. You can install free programs from f-droid.org.
  

DRM

Digital restrictions management, or “DRM,” refers to functionalities designed to restrict what users can do with the data in their computers.
​

• Google now allows Android apps to detect whether a device has been rooted, and refuse to install if so. The Netflix app uses this ability to enforce DRM by refusing to install on rooted Android devices. Update: Google intentionally changed Android so that apps can detect rooted devices and refuse to run on them. The Netflix app is proprietary malware, and one shouldn't use it. However, that does not make what Google has done any less wrong.
  
• Chrome implements DRM. So does Chromium, through nonfree software that is effectively part of it. More information.
  
• Android contains facilities specifically to support DRM.
  

Insecurity

These bugs are/were not intentional, so unlike the rest of the file they do not count as malware. We mention them to refute the supposition that prestigious proprietary software doesn't have grave bugs.
​

• TikTok exploited an Android vulnerability to obtain user MAC addresses.
  
• Many Android apps can track users' movements even when the user says not to allow them access to locations. This involves an apparently unintentional weakness in Android, exploited intentionally by malicious apps.
  
• The NSA can tap data in smart phones, including iPhones, Android, and BlackBerry. While there is not much detail here, it seems that this does not operate via the universal back door that we know nearly all portable phones have. It may involve exploiting various bugs. There are lots of bugs in the phones' radio software.
  

Interference

This section gives examples of Google software harassing or annoying the user, or causing trouble for the user. These actions are like sabotage but the word “sabotage” is too strong for them.
​

• Google is modifying Chromium so that extensions won't be able to alter or block whatever the page contains. Users could conceivably reverse the change in a fork of Chromium, but surely Chrome (nonfree) will have the same change, and users can't fix it there.

Sabotage

The wrongs in this section are not precisely malware, since they do not involve making the program that runs in a way that hurts the user. But they are a lot like malware, since they are technical Google actions that harm the users of specific Google software.
​

• A new app published by Google lets banks and creditors deactivate people's Android devices if they fail to make payments. If someone's device gets deactivated, it will be limited to basic functionality, such as emergency calling and access to settings.
  
• Revolv is a device that managed “smart home” operations: switching lights, operate motion sensors, regulating temperature, etc. Its proprietary software depends on a remote server to do these tasks. On May 15th, 2016, Google/Alphabet intentionally broke it by shutting down the server. If it were free software, users would have the ability to make it work again, differently, and then have a freedom-respecting home instead of a “smart” home. Don't let proprietary software control your devices and turn them into $300 out-of-warranty bricks. Insist on self-contained computers that run free software!
  
• Google has long had a back door to remotely unlock an Android device, unless its disk is encrypted (possible since Android 5.0 Lollipop, but still not quite the default).
  

Surveillance

​

• Google Nest is taking over ADT. Google sent out a software update to its speaker devices using their back door that listens for things like smoke alarms and then notifies your phone that an alarm is happening. This means the devices now listen for more than just their wake words. Google says the software update was sent out prematurely and on accident and Google was planning on disclosing this new feature and offering it to customers who pay for it.
  
• Google “Assistant” records users' conversations even when it is not supposed to listen. Thus, when one of Google's subcontractors discloses a thousand confidential voice recordings, users were easily identified from these recordings. Since Google “Assistant” uses proprietary software, there is no way to see or control what it records or sends. Rather than trying to better control the use of recordings, Google should not record or listen to the person's voice. It should only get commands that the user wants to send to some Google service.
  
• Google Chrome is an instrument of surveillance. It lets thousands of trackers invade users' computers and report the sites they visit to advertising and data companies, first of all to Google. Moreover, if users have a Gmail account, Chrome automatically logs them in to the browser for more convenient profiling. On Android, Chrome also reports their location to Google. The best way to escape surveillance is to switch to IceCat, a modified version of Firefox with several changes to protect users' privacy.
  
• Google tracks the movements of Android phones and iPhones running Google apps, and sometimes saves the data for years. Nonfree software in the phone has to be responsible for sending the location data to Google.
  
• Google invites people to let Google monitor their phone use, and all internet use in their homes, for an extravagant payment of $20. This is not a malicious functionality of a program with some other purpose; this is the software's sole purpose, and Google says so. But Google says it in a way that encourages most people to ignore the details. That, we believe, makes it fitting to list here.
  
• An Android phone was observed to track location even while in airplane mode. It didn't send the location data while in airplane mode. Instead, it saved up the data, and sent them all later.
  
• Some Google apps on Android record the user's location even when users disable “location tracking”. There are other ways to turn off the other kinds of location tracking, but most users will be tricked by the misleading control.
  
• Android tracks location for Google even when “location services” are turned off, even when the phone has no SIM card.
  
• Low-priced Chromebooks for schools are collecting far more data on students than is necessary, and store it indefinitely. Parents and students complain about the lack of transparency on the part of both the educational services and the schools, the difficulty of opting out of these services, and the lack of proper privacy policies, among other things. But complaining is not sufficient. Parents, students and teachers should realize that the software Google uses to spy on students is nonfree, so they can't verify what it really does. The only remedy is to persuade school officials to exclusively use free software for both education and school administration. If the school is run locally, parents and teachers can mandate their representatives at the School Board to refuse the budget unless the school initiates a switch to free software. If education is run nation-wide, they need to persuade legislators (e.g., through free software organizations, political parties, etc.) to migrate the public schools to free software.
  
• Google's new voice messaging app logs all conversations.
  
• Google Play (a component of Android) tracks the users' movements without their permission. Even if you disable Google Maps and location tracking, you must disable Google Play itself to completely stop the tracking. This is yet another example of nonfree software pretending to obey the user, when it's actually doing something else. Such a thing would be almost unthinkable with free software.
  
• Google Chrome makes it easy for an extension to do total snooping on the user's browsing, and many of them do so.
  
• Google Chrome includes a module that activates microphones and transmits audio to its servers.
  
• Nest thermometers send a lot of data about the user.
  
• Google Chrome spies on browser history, affiliations, and other installed software.
  
• Spyware in Android phones (and Windows? laptops): The Wall Street Journal (in an article blocked from us by a paywall) reports that the FBI can remotely activate the GPS and microphone in Android phones and laptops (presumably Windows laptops). Here is more info.
  
• Spyware is present in some Android devices when they are sold. Some Motorola phones, made when this company was owned by Google, use a modified version of Android that sends personal data to Motorola.
  
• A Motorola phone listens for voice all the time.
  
• Google Play intentionally sends app developers the personal details of users that install the app. Merely asking the “consent” of users is not enough to legitimize actions like this. At this point, most users have stopped reading the “Terms and Conditions” that spell out what they are “consenting” to. Google should clearly and honestly identify the information it collects on users, instead of hiding it in an obscurely worded EULA. However, to truly protect people's privacy, we must prevent Google and other companies from getting this personal information in the first place!
  
• Many web sites report all their visitors to Google by using the Google Analytics service, which tells Google the IP address and the page that was visited.
  
• Google Chrome contains a key logger that sends Google every URL typed in, one key at a time.
  

Tyrants

Tyrants are systems that reject any operating system not “authorized” by the manufacturer.
​

• Motorola, then owned by Google, made Android phones that are tyrants (though someone found a way to crack the restriction).

Proprietary malware

By type

• Addictions
• Back doors
• Censorship
• Coverups
• Deception
• DRM
• Fraud
• Incompatibility
• Insecurity
• Interference
• Jails
• Manipulation
• Obsolescence
• Sabotage
• Subscriptions
• Surveillance
• Tethers
• Tyrants
• In the pipe

By product

• Appliances
• Cars
• Games
• Mobiles
• Webpages
• Conferencing

By company

• Adobe
• Amazon
• Apple
• Google
• Microsoft

​

What's up fellow checkra1ners
If you read this long long time after I posted this please consider to lookup newer threads for your answers, it could save you a lot of time
My setup:
- iPhone 7 plus (9.2 Global) 13.6.1 iOS - Lenovo Flex 3 Chromebook with 32 bit aarm64 Chrome Os in dev mode with chrosh shell and virtual linux (not crouton) - original Apple lightning cable
3 days ago I was able to checkra1n my iPhone with Ubuntu on my Desktop with no issues, but then after playing around with Cydia and installing/deleting packaged and themes I was tired to reboot and rejailbreak it every time using my Desktop, so I started to learn if there is a way to do this on my portable tiny Chromebook
Not forget to mention, I am a complete linux noobAs for a noob, answers like "defenitely no" after googling for how to jailbreak on Chromebook device make no sense so I spent a whole day trying to figure out what is going on, alongside with learning new teminal inputs like chmod
I learned that Google recently added support for USB to be discoverable in Linux, so what I ended up with:
For Linux on Chromebook:
checkra1n can not be achieved by running 'apt install checkra1n' on my Chromebook as it is aarch64 (or smth else), so I was able to download checkra1n binary from https://checkra.in and to run it with ./ , I put iPhone into DFU mode, ChromeOS told me that my iPhone can be shared with Linux by toggling a switch what I of course did, but checkra1n did not detect anything. Funny thing is that iPhone can only be shared with Linux in DFU or Restore mode. I strongly believe if I can make it be visible by Linux Jailbreak would succeed.
For chrosh shell:
- downloaded checkra1n binary (tried all versions of binaries, starting from oldest releases and both 32/64 arm versions) - copied it from Downloads to /uslocal/bin with "cp" command, as it can not be executed from Downloads - run "chmod +777 checkra1n" - run the checkrain itself using './checkra1n' - got "Error opening terminal: xterm-256color' - run checkrain with -c parameter to bypass xterm-256color error, and finally it got me to the "Waiting for DFU devices" state - put iPhone into DFU, and after 10 sec ended up with "USBDEVFS_REAPURB: No such device" and -28 / -21 error codes, iPhone rebooted normally and nothing was injected, tried 15 or 20 times - googling for it I found nothing helpful, one user said it is due to non-original cable, but mine is original - found a way to bypass xterm-256color error, and when I launched checkra1n again but w/o '-c' parameter, I received "devhelper" error, so I stopped looking for a solution as it got way too complicated for such a noob as myself
I did not see anyone om the internet stating that they can run (even without a positive result) checkra1n on a Chromebook, everyone say "STRONG NO" or "LINUX HAS NO SUPPORT FOR USB", and my results proven opposite. Maybe that is because I was reading threads that are way too old, dated 2019 or early 2020, that is why you should look for newer threads if you are reading this in 2021. So I believe there is a way to workaround with USB support in Linux, chrosh shell is such a useless tool in terms of flexibility.
Any advice on how to make Linux see DFU iPhone on Chromebook will be appreciated, and thanks for reading

_All right crew!
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The Chrome OS Beta Channel got promoted to milestone 85 a little over a week ago - from 84.0.4147.94 to 85.0.4183.39. As with every new milestone update, this brings massive new changes to the table, offering several new features, bug fixes, and security enhancements to better improve your Chrome OS user experience. Due to the sheer size, I may be missing a few things here and there. Here is what changed!
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Like my content and want to buy me a coffee? You can support me on ko-fi using this link or by using the link in my Reddit profile. If you want to be kept up to date with everything new to Chrome OS, feel free to give me a follow. Thanks in advance for your support!! :)
​

Featured changes

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This section showcases changes I believe to be the most significant to this build of Chrome OS. They make a massive impact to the user experience and may be something to look forward to when upgrading your system to this build. These changes will also be listed in the "Notable changes" section of the post.
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1. New accessibility feature to change cursor colors in Chrome OS. This feature has 5 colors for now: Red, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple. Custom cursor colors are important for visibility to some users with vision impairment (e.g. color blindness). To change the cursor colors, you’ll need to enable chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-accessibility-cursor-colors. See my reddit post to see what it looks like!
2. The print management feature flag is enabled by default, which allows users to manage and view their print history on Chrome OS. The print managing app will display ongoing print jobs and will dynamically update depending on the status of the job. When a print job notification shows up in Chrome OS, tapping on the notification will open the print jobs management app. Click here to see what it looks like!
3. The Crostini USB allow unsupported feature flag is enabled by default, which allows developers to mount their USB serial devices to their Chromebook without having to change a flag in their Linux container. Your mileage may vary as some serial devices will not work (FTDI, CH341, etc).
4. The Port forwarding feature flag is enabled by default, which allows users to set up multiple network ports to their Linux containers. This feature should be incredibly useful for developers who want to access network traffic through a port number of their choice and make it accessible for others on the local network or the internet.
5. The Chrome OS Shelf will now shrink down application icons when there is no more room left on the shelf while in tablet mode. Personally, I wish this app icon resizing also occurs in clamshell mode, but this is a good step in the right direction. For those out of the loop, this used to be a hidden feature flag. Click here to see what this does.
6. New experimental feature flag that limits items on the shelf to the ones associated with windows on the active desk. Boost your virtual desk productivity now by enabling chrome://flags/#ash-limit-shelf-items-to-active-desk. See my reddit post about it here!
7. The brand new Chrome OS settings search feature is enabled by default. Unlike the old search that used exact string matching, this search uses fuzzy search algorithms to suggest sections of Chrome OS settings that are likely to be relevant to the search. See screen recording.
8. You will now be able to “Go to file location” when a single file is selected in Recents, Audio, Images, or Videos. This is a small change with a HUGE productivity benefit. See my reddit post about it here!

​

Notable changes in this build

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The following is everything I found with this version of Chrome OS. There may be more things I might've missed - please let me know in the comments if you find a significant change not listed here. Bullet points in bold are changes I believe are the most significant.
​
Accessibility

• New accessibility feature to change cursor colors in Chrome OS. This feature has 5 colors for now: Red, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple. Custom cursor colors are important for visibility to some users with vision impairment (e.g. color blindness). To change the cursor colors, you’ll need to enable chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-accessibility-cursor-colors. See my reddit post to see what it looks like!

Ambient lockscreen

requires chrome://flags/#enable-ambient-mode to be enabled! 

• New option to customize the Ambient lockscreen slideshow to play a Google Photos album or Google wallpaper category. For example, I can set the Ambient lockscreen to choose a particular family album on Google Photos, or have it set a specific category of Google backgrounds. See my reddit post for more information.
• Ambient lockscreen got a large clock and weather information support. It can also fetch photos from your Google Photos album, although your photos will be stretched. Note that you’ll need to enable to get this experimental feature. Does not work with managed devices! Check out my other reddit post to see a screenshot of it.
• Ambient lockscreen will keep the screen on persistently when the charger is plugged in.
• Pressing any key on the keyboard will take you from the Ambient slideshow to the password page.
• Ambient lock screen will exit and switch to the password view when creating large mouse movements. Small mouse movements won’t do anything.

App list

• New subtext when searching for OS settings in the launcher search. When searching using the launcher search, there will be a small description explaining where in Chrome OS settings you’ll be jumping to (e.g. typing “Wi-Fi” brings up “Known Wi-Fi networks” with “Wi-Fi networks” below the text). See screenshot.

App Service

• New App Service feature flag that will add support for adaptive icons in Chrome OS App drawer and Shelf. This is a highly requested feature by fans that aims to bring consistent app shapes throughout Chrome OS. Note: this feature is not working yet. When it lands, try this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#app-service-adaptive-icon.

Ash

• The Chrome OS Shelf will now shrink down application icons when there is no more room left on the shelf while in tablet mode. Personally, I wish this app icon resizing also occurs in clamshell mode, but this is a good step in the right direction. For those out of the loop, this used to be a hidden feature flag. Click here to see what this does.
• New experimental feature flag that limits items on the shelf to the ones associated with windows on the active desk. Boost your virtual desk productivity now by enabling chrome://flags/#ash-limit-shelf-items-to-active-desk. See my reddit post about it here!
• Opening apps from the Shelf or launcher context menu will properly open new windows in the same display as they were launched from. Previously, windows were always opened in the display of the last active window.
• You can now search in the Google Play store using the launcher searchbar by default. This means you will be able to search for apps straight from your Chrome OS launcher search without opening the Google play store.
• Lockscreen: changed the Wi-Fi icon from black to white to improve legibility.
• Virtual desk area now uses the same color as the Shelf to be more consistent with the color scheme. Previously, the virtual desk area used a persistent dark gray color. See screenshot of the colored Virtual desk area.
• New animation when dragging a maximized window down from the top to unmaximize it. See screen recording.
• The login screen will now display system notifications (update notifications, low battery, etc.)
• Fixed windows not restoring to their original windowed size when flinging the window up to maximize, dragging the window down and flinging up again to maximize, and clicking the unmaximize icon in the window controls.
• The lock screen media controls will hide when closing your Chromebook’s lid or if your device sleeps.
• Minor UI changes to app paging, which you can switch on by enabling chrome://flags/#enable-launcher-app-paging. This includes increasing the vertical spacing and adding a gradient mask. See the new UI changes by clicking here.
• Resized tooltip text size in the shelf quick settings bubble to avoid truncation for long labels. This also includes adding a length limit to tooltips used in the status tray.
• Launcher: new full set of circular file icons (audio, excel, pdf, etc.) in the suggested files area. The suggested files area are the bubbles below the launcher search bar.
• Fixed app scaling not applying to hidden or extended shelf (shelf that displays on a secondary display) after screen rotates.
• Fixed a bug that caused app icons size to increase on the shelf or launcher when dragging it with the context menu open.
• Fixed an oversight in the login screen where the enterprise management disclosure is shown for child accounts due to confusion in the code between “management” and “enterprise management”.
• App drawer: fixed a sync bug where dragging and dropping an app from one launcher page to another on one device will incorrectly create a new launcher page with another device.
• Overview mode: right click to access the context menu will be suppressed when right clicking the Virtual desk name.
• Fixed a regression that caused app icons to get chopped when pinning an app on an overflow shelf.
• New launcher search disclaimer that informs users that Chrome OS "shows suggestions for new content to explore", which includes apps, webpages, and more. Your Chromebook will share statististics to Google to improve quality only if you choose to share usage data. A switch to enable or disable this feature is in Privacy and Security settings in Chrome OS Settings. See screenshot uploaded here.
• New policy to allow SAML users to be set through the online flow on the lock screen in order to verify and sync their password.
• Users can close the launcher search bar by swiping left while in tablet mode.
• The launcher won’t have a drag handle on top if the Shelf is set to show on the side instead of the bottom.
• Fixed a crash when the user simultaneously ends tablet mode (e.g. attaching the Pixel Slate keyboard) while dragging a window into Overview.
• Slightly adjusted the mic gain slider padding to have enough space for the slider.
• Shelf: the context menu app icon sizes (right-click the apps on the shelf) will have consistent sizes.
• Fixed a small bug where the multi-window resizer widget (the resize vertical rectangle when hovering cursor in between two snapped windows) would persist during the Overview mode transition.
• Relanded change to show enterprise disclosure as a bottom status indicator in the login/lock screen.
• Fixed a bug where the material design ripple effect when long pressing or clicking app icons on the Shelf would randomly get misaligned.
• The login screen clock will change clock type (12hr, 24hr) depending on the settings specified on the user profile. If the primary account is using a 12 hour clock and they add a secondary account that uses a 24 hour clock, clicking on the secondary account in the login screen will switch the clock type from 12 hours to 24 hours.
• The Alt + V shortcut that displays the serial number, asset tag, and version of the Chromebook in the login screen now became a toggle. This means if the user doesn't want to see the system information on the login/lock screen at the top right when using the Dev and Canary channel, they can invoke Alt + V to hide it. Note: does not persist after unlock.
• Critical system warning notifications will no longer get filtered by Do not Disturb.
• Fixed a bug where pressing and releasing your second finger would cancel the back gesture when dragging from the left to the center of the screen with your first finger.

Assistant

• Google Assistant Media Session integration is turned on by default. This means when you ask the Google Assistant to pause music, it’ll pause the music instead of “this feature is unsupported”.
• New experimental feature flag that brings on-device Assistant to your Chromebook. This feature hints at local assistant processing, which will be able to quickly process queries that typically wouldn’t use Google search (e.g. asking a joke, flip a coin, etc). Note: this feature is not working yet. To try it out, enable chrome://flags/#enable-on-device-assistant.
• The Assistant open app support feature flag is enabled by default. This feature is a mystery - public documentation on this is pretty much zero. There is some speculation on the web that says it’s for Google Assistant “apps” like Headspace or Fitness Buddy, but I’m unable to get either to work. I strongly believe that this is needed to ship first before the on-device Assistant feature lands, which may include the Assistant apps.

Blink

• New feature flag that throttles Javascript timers to 1 wake up per minute in the background. Local experiments conducted by Google conclude that throttling javascript timers to 1 wake up per minute can extend battery life from 4 hours and 42 minutes, to 5 hours and 18 minutes, when YouTube is playing in the foreground and 36 tabs are opened in the background. To test this feature out, enable chrome://flags/#intensive-wake-up-throttling

Camera

• Added a sound effect to the pause and resume button when recording a video. The sound effect is identical to Google’s camera app on a Pixel device when pressing the pause and resume button.

Chrome

• The new permission “chip” feature flag is now working, featuring a slick design when a website asks the user for permissions. To try this feature out, enable chrome://flags/#permission-chip. See screen recording.
• Initial support of 5.1 and 7.1-channel surround sound audio of Chrome on Chrome OS. This is big news for Stadia gamers since this brings surround sound to the gaming experience. I don't have a surround sound audio system to test this, but if you do, let me know in the comments if it works!
• Improved resource consumption when a window is covered by other windows.
• WebUI tab strip’s tab counter has a new progress throbber to better visualize that a new background tab was created. See demo by Google.
• Chrome will now show the quiet notification permission UI for sites known to trick users into accepting the notification permission. See screenshot.
• Chrome OS Print preview: tweaked the dropdown design. There is a new printer icon next to the printer name with a colored status bubble to indicate the printer status. Also, various fixes to the drop down came with this build of Chrome OS, including fixing labels from overflowing the input field and properly displaying the status underneath the dropdown. Click here to see what the tweaks looks like.
• Chrome OS Print preview: the print preview will show the printer status of USB printers by informing users that the USB printer is currently connected or disconnected to the device.
• WebUI Tab strips: new drag animation when dragging tab groups. See ChromeUnboxed's video of how this animation looks like by clicking here.
• Fixed a bug that caused the incorrect tab URL to be seen on the New Tab Page’s hover card after cancelling “Turn on Sync” overlay.
• WebUI New Tab page: interactive doodles will now display on themed new tab page.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Chrome URL bar to not be focused when redirecting new tabs using a plugin or extension.
• PDF viewer: New flag that honors Javascript content settings in PDFs with Chrome’s PDF viewer. This flag does not work yet. When it’s ready to test, try it out by enabling chrome://flags/#pdf-honor-js-content-settings
• PDF viewer: New flag that will revamp the existing PDF viewer in Chrome to display an updated UI with new options and features. This flag does not work yet. When it’s ready to test, try it out by enabling chrome://flags/#pdf-viewer-update
• Print preview: Fixed a bug in the print view overlay that caused it to lose focus after clicking the zoom out icon and pressing the Tab key.
• Various layout fixes to the WebUI New Tab page’s realbox. To try out the new realbox, you’ll need to enable chrome://flags/#ntp-webui first
• Fixed not being able to drag and drop files when opening the media controls in the Chrome toolbar.
• Settings: fixed Google illustration in chrome://settings/content/ not scaling when changing width of the window.
• New Chrome flag that uses Skia Deferred Display Lists when performing rasterizations in the GPU process. With the flag enabled, the raster decoder will record raster work into a deferred display list first, and then play it back into a SkSurface. For now, recording and playing back are on the GPU main thread. In future, the recording could be moved to raster worker threads. This feature further reduces the CPU load and moves some of the work to the GPU, saving battery and improving performance. To try this feature out, enable chrome://flags/#enable-oop-rasterization-ddl
• New feature flag that records the first-party contexts in which client-side storage was accessed. To try this feature, enable chrome://flags/#client-storage-access-context-auditing
• New feature flag that puts a new installed apps warning dialog to the clear browsing data flow to prevent users from accidentally deleting installed apps’ data. Test this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#installed-apps-in-cbd
• New feature flag that removes all Chrome extensions from the Cross-Origin Read Blocking and Cross-Origin Resource Sharing allowlist. This is part of an effort to improve extension security and privacy. Content scripts will instead be subject to the same request rules as the page they are running within. To test this feature, enable chrome://flags/#force-empty-CORB-and-CORS-allowlist
• Tab Groups: fixed a bug where the user won’t be able to place a tab group with a long group name past the last tab in Chrome’s tab strip
• PDF viewer: fixed a bug where encrypted PDFs that require a password to launch will not appear. Before the update, loading progress is stuck at the halfway point.
• WebUI Tab strips: new dragging pinned tabs animation
• PDF viewer: fixed zoom buttons not showing up when in Right-to-Left mode.
• Notifications: Chrome will silently notify users on the right side of the URL bar when websites attempt to abuse notification content
• Tab group: fixed a visual bug where dragging a tab group out of the window causes the group header and underline to stretch too far.
• Fixed a bug where changing the writing direction from right-to-left does not apply to chrome’s internal pages (example: chrome settings).
• Password check: fixed password check banner illustration from exceeding the width of the settings columns when window shrinks to a small size.
• Fixed WebUI New Tab page’s remove button flickering when hovering cursor over most visited sites. You’ll need to enable chrome://flags/#ntp-webui to try this feature.
• The WebUI New Tab page will share the renderer process between multiple NTPs. This reduces memory overhead of opening a new NTP by nearly 6x and reduces the load time a bit. WebUI NTP must be loaded first before launching another NTP.
• Fixed chrome.declarativeNetRequest extensions through the Chrome web store with an “invalid manifest” error.
• Chrome DevTools now supports editing programmatically constructed stylesheet objects.
• Fixed a bug where context menu persistently shows “view frame source” and “reload frame” despite some pages having no iframe.
• Fixed unable to tab to select sections in print preview after clicking the zoom out icon.
• New feature flag that tells Chrome to inform applications about your device’s low disk space. This allows them to adjust their caching strategy and ensure a smooth and uninterrupted experience for their users. To try this feature, enable chrome://flags/#enable-storage-pressure-event.
• PDF viewer: increased the page selector minimum width and padding.
• Tab Groups Collapse: fixed a bug that made it impossible to drag a tab all the way to the right when the tabstrip is filled.
• WebUI NTP: fixed a legibility problem with “Most Visited” titles when the theme is set a light color. This update forces the title color to dark. Note: WebUI NTP is not enabled by default - you’ll need to enable chrome://flags/#ntp-webui to switch to it.

Chrome OS Settings

• The brand new Chrome OS settings search feature is enabled by default. Unlike the old search that used exact string matching, this search uses fuzzy search algorithms to suggest sections of Chrome OS settings that are likely to be relevant to the search. See screen recording.
• Wi-Fi sync feature flag is enabled by default, which allows Chrome OS to sync Wi-Fi network configurations with Chrome sync. This is useful for users who connected to several different networks before and can’t remember what the passwords are.
• The “Metered network” feature is disabled by default, which brought a metered network toggle to Wi-fi and Cellular connection into Chrome OS settings. To get this toggle back, enable chrome://flags/#show-metered-toggle
• Widened the timezone selector to accommodate some languages.
• Various small adjustments and fixes to the new fuzzy search (i.e. “Linux” shows up after “Linux backup and restore”, “Device” did not properly return, etc).
• The Live caption feature moved from Chrome settings to Chrome OS settings. It is listed under Accessibility. This feature does not work yet!
• Wi-Fi networks will sync after they are configured so long as the password isn’t rejected during a 20 second waiting period. Previously, networks were only synced after they had a successful connection.
• The list all display modes feature flag is enabled by default. This means that separate refresh rate and resolution dropdowns will be shown in Chrome OS Display settings when an external display is connected.
• Fixed small oversight with the Add Wi-Fi and VPN dialogs that caused the two dialogs to have no shadow or border.
• New “Manage personal information” link under “Smart inputs” that links users to Chrome setting’s “Address and more”.
• New toggle in Smart inputs under the Language and inputs category that disables emoji suggestions.
• Search: changed “setup printer” and “install printer” terms to “Add printer”.
• Added “display overscan” to settings search.
• Fixed the Chrome OS settings search bar being focused when launching a Chrome OS setting from the launcher search.
• Updated Wi-Fi and Mobile data network icons to Google Material outline theme.
• Fixed a visual bug with the Chrome OS settings search bar where clicking the search bar would cause it to grow larger than the inactive search bar. Also fixes the strange search bar corners.
• Fixed search tags (search suggestions) getting removed and being re-added moments later, causing a laggy search UI and increasing memory usage.
• Improved grammar in the “Smart Input” settings subpage.
• Fixed a bug where searching for an “advanced” setting (e.g. language) will not expand the “advanced” category on the left side of Chrome OS settings.
• Fixed an oversight where users were able to see Google Assistant subpage settings via the Chrome OS search bar even if Google Assistant is disabled.

Default apps

• Replaced Google Play Music Android app with YouTube Music Android app.

Demo Mode

• The Explore app will show up in the launcher when the Chromebook is set into demo mode.

Family Link

• When a child account tries to modify the timezone preference, a parent must provide an access code to apply the changes.
• When a managed user attempts to launch a restricted app from the launcher, they will have a new dialog that asks for parent permission if the parent has the “permissions for sites, apps and extensions” toggle enabled; otherwise the user will have an error dialog. Previously, clicking an app that is disabled pending approval does nothing.
• The clock format will change on the child’s lock screen depending on what they switch on in the “Use 24-hour clock” preference.

Files app

• You will now be able to “Go to file location” when a single file is selected in Recents, Audio, Images, or Videos. This is a small change with a HUGE productivity benefit. See my reddit post about it here!
• New drop-down menus to "Open with" and "More Actions" when right-clicking a file type in the files app, which allows you to quickly change default apps for that file type. IMO: this is a big improvement compared to using the files app’s toolbar.
• The sort column icon was flipped so the arrow points up when sorting in ascending order.
• The files app will now be able to identify AMR files as sound files instead of text files.
• Slightly tweaked the format dialog by removing the close button and changing the spacing between the bottom form field and the bottom buttons.
• Slightly tweaked the dialog style for password-protected zips by changing the padding and fonts sizes in the dialog.
• The files app will now refresh when there are changes in Linux files or other FUSE systems.
• The file manager can now properly unarchive zips using FUSE instead of NaCL. Note that archiving selection is not working yet. Try it out by enabling chrome://flags/#files-zip-no-nacl.
• New feature flag that will add transfer details like remaining time in the progress center panel. This is not working right now. Test this out by enabling chrome://flags/#files-transfer-details.
• Small design tweaks to the “All files” section of the “Save file as” file prompt.
• Fixed .opus sound files not showing audio icon in the files app.
• Fixed a bug where saving an HTML file as “single file” incorrectly creates “.html” instead of “mhtml”.
• The “Save as” dialog will automatically attach file extensions.
• Fixed a bug where the sub menus that hang off the right-click context menu can get clipped when the files app window is shrunk horizontally to its minimum width. This bug fix will allow sub menus to slightly overlap.
• Fixed a regression where the “Save as” dialog prompt does not respond to the up/down key arrow after invoking Shift + Tab.
• Fixed a visual bug where a double horizontal line would appear above “this folder is shared with Linux” after sharing a folder to Linux (Beta).

Gamepad

• Added gamepad mappings for ELECOM game controllers (JC-U4013SBK and JC-U4113SBK) when they’re in Direct Input (“D”) mode.

Input

• Fixed a bug where left and right modifier key presses are incorrectly marked as repeat when counterpart is held, released when counterpart released. Example: press and hold left shift, press and hold right shift, then let go of the right shift key. Before the patch, the left shift unexpectedly releases.
• New OnAssistiveWindowButtonClicked API that notifies extensions a button ID of an assistive window type has been clicked.

Linux (Beta)

• The Crostini USB allow unsupported feature flag is enabled by default, which allows developers to mount their USB serial devices to their Chromebook without having to change a flag in their Linux container. Your mileage may vary as some serial devices will not work (FTDI, CH341, etc).
• The Port forwarding feature flag is enabled by default, which allows users to set up multiple network ports to their Linux containers. This feature should be incredibly useful for developers who want to access network traffic through a port number of their choice and make it accessible for others on the local network or the internet.
• Chrome OS will prompt you to restart the Linux container when you enable the Linux mic sharing toggle
• Fixed a bug that causes Linux (Beta) to automatically reinstall when rebooting the device on some devices. This update also fixes Linux (Beta) from installing automatically without user consent.
• Port-forwarding: added error UI to the port forwarding subpage. When you input an invalid port number (e.g. a port number value above the range), Chrome OS will prevent you from adding the port. Also, there will be new notifications to inform users if their port failed to start.
• The Linux (Beta) disk resizer will suggest a recommended disk size for users who want to increase or decrease disk size.
• Chrome OS will prevent users from adding duplicate ports in the port forwarding UI.
• Chrome OS will forward ports on the interface of the highest priority network instead of always forwarding ports on wlan0.
• Removed terminal splits flag. It was unused from the beginning
• Fixed Chrome OS not upgrading the Linux (Beta) container when there are dpkg locks.
• Fixed Linux (Beta) apps incorrectly using the cube icon instead of the penguin icon as fallback.
• Port forwarding settings won’t show to users if the user policy excludes them.

Media

• VA-API low power encoders are disabled by default on Chromebooks with Intel Generation 9 graphics.

Media App SWA

This app is disabled by default. Try this feature by enabling chrome://flags/#media-app 

• Fixed next image not showing after deleting a photo in the media app.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Media App SWA window to flash white momentarily when launching.
• You can now launch multiple files simultaneously with the media app by selecting them with your Chromebook’s files app. Previously, selecting two files in the files app and selecting “Open with Gallery” by right-click would only open one file. This update now allows you to launch multiple files with “Open with Gallery”.
• When launching a file in a directory, the Media app SWA will asynchronously load every other related file in that directory to speed up file loading.

OOBE (first-boot setup)

• Prevent ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID error from showing up when setting up the Chromebook on a slow network.
• Administrators will now be able to disable Chromebooks that have been pre-provisioned but not yet enrolled. This means that managed Chromebooks will immediately become disabled, even when going through the OOBE first-boot setup.
• System notifications (Wi-Fi, battery, etc) will not be suppressed during the first-boot process.

Ozone

• New Chrome flag to enable using the HDR monitor(s) EDID-provided transfer function when present. By default, this flag is disabled because blindly using an HDR transfer makes HDR content look great and SDR content look faded (SDR-HDR mixing). I do not have a HDR monitor or Chromebook display to test if HDR is working on Chrome OS. Test this feature by enabling chrome://flags/#enable-use-hdr-transfer-function

Print Management App

• The print management feature flag is enabled by default, which allows users to manage and view their print history on Chrome OS. The print managing app will display ongoing print jobs and will dynamically update depending on the status of the job. When a print job notification shows up in Chrome OS, tapping on the notification will open the print jobs management app. Click here to see what it looks like!
• Updated the print management app icon to a cleaner and slick icon. Click here to see what it looks like!
• Files sent to the printer will now have a file-type icon next to the job entry name. See screenshot.
• New policy to prevent managed users from deleting their print history. When the restriction is in place, the delete history button will be disabled.
• Fixed a bug where the print management app would not show the ongoing print job when the user signs in.
• Implemented dynamic column sizing so that column will resize based on the app’s window width thresholds. Previously, shrinking the app will cause the column to get cut off.
• New trash bin icon in the “Clear all history” button.
• Fixed ChromeVox announcing print jobs twice.
• Added cancel print job and clear all button for active print jobs
• Fixed a crash bug when cancelling a print job.
• Restricted the minimum window size to 600x320 to ensure that it displays all informational columns for a print job.
• Decreased the size of the enormous “Clear All History” trash bin icon.

PWAs

• Web app icons for Chrome OS will update when manifest data is updated.
• Trusted web apps will close when an intent to open a PWA through ARC++ is sent.
• Fixed a bug where users cannot install web apps after they’ve been removed from policy.
• New feature flag that allows users to auto-start PWAs when the user signs into Chrome OS. When prompted to install a PWA, Chrome will offer a new checkbox asking the user if they want to run the PWA after signing into Chrome OS. To try this out, enable chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-run-on-os-login
• Fixed a crash caused by installing a PWA (e.g. Twitter PWA), right-clicking a (twitter) link in incognito mode, and clicking “open with (Twitter) app”.

Quick Answers

• Quick Answers will accept keyboard accessibility inputs.
• Fixed a bug where the Quick answers feature would not get focused after pressing the Up or Down arrow on the keyboard.

Smart Lock

• Fixed an annoying bug that caused Smart lock to break on a Pixelbook after waking it up from sleep.

Sync

• Fixed a bug where Wi-Fi configurations would sync even if there is a policy explicitly prohibited them from being synced.

Wallpaper app

• Localized wallpaper picker app name
• Wallpaper picker app will be searchable from the launcher.

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Click here to see the full official changelog by Google (no platform logs, sorry). Enjoy, and happy updating!
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HUGE THANKS to my July supporters who donated to my Ko-Fi! You guys rock!!! :D

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rosse912003 PerryB Namdoan toscanoholyfamily Simon handy_shandy neuromatico 

All right crew!
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The Chrome OS Stable Channel got promoted to milestone 84 last week on Tuesday - from 83.0.4103.119 to 84.0.4147.94. As with every new milestone update, this brings massive changes to the table, offering several new features, bug fixes, and security enhancements to better improve your Chrome OS user experience. In light of the global situation, Google decided to defer the features from Chrome OS 83 to 84. This means this update is packed with major features. Fun fact: exactly 10,000 commits landed in this build of Chrome OS, excluding platform specific updates. Here is everything new I found in this build of Chrome OS!
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Like my content and want to buy me a coffee? You can support me on ko-fi using this link or by using the link in my Reddit profile. If you want to be kept up to date with everything new to Chrome OS, feel free to give me a follow. Thanks in advance for your support!! :)

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Featured changes

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This section showcases changes I believe to be the most significant to this build of Chrome OS. They make a massive impact to the user experience and may be something to look forward to when upgrading your system to this build. These changes will also be listed in the "Notable changes" section of the post.
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1. Ash: You can now snap app windows to the top of the screen to maximize, and unsnap a maximized window by dragging down from the top bar. Small change, HUGE productivity booster. See my demo on Reddit here.
2. Multi-display overview and snapping windows in clamshell mode is enabled by default. This means you can snap windows in overview mode without needing to go into tablet mode. See screenshot.
3. Files app: The completely revamped file manager built with Google Material theme and WebUI is enabled by default. This features a nice white theme, outline iconography, and native RAR archive support. This replaces the old files app on Chrome OS. See screenshot.
4. Linux (Beta): The new Terminal system app that features a cool black theme, tab UI, and new settings page is enabled by default. To find terminal settings, right click the terminal icon on the Shelf. See screenshot.
5. Linux (Beta): Linux apps can now use your Chromebook’s microphone, which opens the door to multimedia apps such as Audacity. To enable, head to Chrome OS Settings > Linux (Beta), then enable the “Allow Linux to access your microphone” toggle. Chrome OS settings will require you to restart the Linux container to apply changes. See screenshot.
6. You are now able to resize the disk size of Linux (Beta) out of the box. The setup installer also bakes the disk resize tool in it. By default, the disk size is dynamically allocated, but you can change it to a fixed size if you need more/less space. See screenshots.
7. Explore app: The brand new Help SWA app, called “Explore”, is enabled by default. It completely overhauls the Help app experience, featuring a slick Google Material theme with nice Google-y illustrations. This app aims to help people get set up and take full advantage of their Chromebook. It also merges perks from buying a Chromebook, like free Google One storage for 12 months (YMMV). See screenshot.

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Notable changes in this build

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The following is everything I found with this version of Chrome OS. There may be more things I might've missed - please let me know in the comments if you find a significant change not listed here. Bullet points in bold are changes I believe are the most significant.
Interested in trying out cool new Chrome and Chrome OS features that didn’t make it in by default? Click here to see my recommended flag list. (link coming soon)
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Ash

• You can now snap app windows to the top of the screen to maximize, and unsnap a maximized window by dragging down from the top bar. Small change, HUGE productivity booster. See my demo on Reddit here.
• Multi-display overview and snapping windows in clamshell mode is enabled by default. This means you can snap windows in overview mode without needing to go into tablet mode. See screenshot.
• You can now use a 3-finger swipe gesture to switch tabs in tabbed apps, including the new Linux terminal app. Previously, you could only scrub tabs in Chrome windows.
• New feature flag to scale down Shelf app icons in tablet mode when there is no more room left on the Shelf. Requires chrome://flags/#shelf-app-scaling to be enabled. See screen recording.
• Fully gestural navigation in tablet mode is enabled by default for Kukui (Lenovo Duet), Eve (Pixelbook), Nocturne (Pixel Slate), and Hatch (Acer Chromebook 712, Asus Chromebook Flip C436FA, Samsung Galaxy Chromebook) boards. Fully gestural navigation hides the back arrow, home, and Overview mode buttons from the Shelf when in tablet mode. Other Chromebooks will need the chrome://flags/#shelf-hide-buttons-in-tablet feature flag to be enabled.
• You can now drag and drop Chrome tabs on the right or left side of the screen to create a new window while in tablet mode. Note: only applicable on some devices. This is useful for quickly viewing Chrome tabs side-by-side. See my reddit post about it here.
• New feature flag that brings moving partial screenshot with magnifying glass to Chrome OS. This allows you to quickly resize the viewport before saving changes. To get this feature, enable chrome://flags/#movable-partial-screenshot-region. See screen recording.
• Chrome OS will now block notifications on displays with a fullscreen window. Previously with multiple displays in Chrome OS, if any one of them was fullscreen, then notifications were not shown on any displays. This update will block notifications on the display with the fullscreen window, but will show notifications on the other display.
• New feature flag that enables search results for OS settings in the launcher. This feature adds several shortcuts to the launcher search bar when search for a setting (e.g. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth). Note: this depends on chrome://flags/#new-os-settings-search to work. Not all part of Chrome OS settings is searchable in this build. Test this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#launcher-settings-search. See screenshot.
• Lock screen media controls will hide when you close the Chromebook’s lid, or when the Chromebook suspends. This is done as a privacy preserving feature.
• Fixed context menu appearing when right-clicking the Virtual desk name.
• The tablet mode back gesture will be suppressed when web pages or web apps use touch-action:none in their CSS. This helps address an issue where users would accidentally trigger the back gesture when interacting with stylus-driven apps.
• Login/Lock screen: fixed enterprise management disclosure message mistakenly showing up for family-link accounts due to developer confusion between management and enterprise management.
• Fixed fullscreen Android apps preventing users from revealing Chrome OS’ Shelf set to auto-hide.
• Fixed Chrome OS not remembering if restored windows are minimized or in view.
• Significant Alt + Tab performance optimizations with multiple windows.
• Huge polish to the upcoming Ambient mode that’ll eventually overhaul the lockscreen experience. In the previous milestone, the ambient lockscreen had performance problems, no animations, and random visual glitches. In this build, all of the three are fixed. Despite this, I don’t recommend daily driving it yet due to its incomplete nature. To get a preview of how this feature looks like, enable chrome://flags/#enable-ambient-mode.
• New Managed icon "badge" next to the avatar in the lock/login screen. See screenshot.
• Fixed a visual bug where the user can trigger the Virtual desk gesture bounce animation in the login/lock screen.
• Fixed a bug where shortcut apps pinned to the Shelf do not have radio buttons for “New Tab/New Window”.

Bluetooth

• The Bluetooth Handsfree profile (version 1.7) feature is now enabled by default. This new bluetooth profile adds indicator support to report events like headset battery level. It also includes wideband speech, which allows you to enjoy hands-free interaction with your bluetooth devices with improved voice quality and better noise reduction.
• Bluetooth suspend notifier is enabled by default. This feature allows you to wake up your Chromebook with a bluetooth mouse or keyboard.
• Bluetooth wide-band microphone priority lowered. This prevents your Chromebook from auto-selecting bluetooth microphone when there is another audio input option.

Camera

• The Chrome OS Camera app will now save video captures as MP4 (H.264) instead of MKV. This will help users make it easier to use recorded videos in other apps.
• Camera video recordings will use the recording’s start timestamp as its filename in the file manager. This also improves the thumbnail load speeds when recording a long video with your Chromebook.
• Pressing the volume keys in the camera app will now take a photo or record a video.

Chrome

• Chrome will now reduce CPU and power consumption when it detects that a window is occluded by other windows. It will also suspend work painting pixels. This feature is rolling out to some users, with a full roll-out planned for Chrome OS 85.
• WebUI tab strip’s tab counter has a new progress throbber to better visualize that a new background tab was created. See demo by Google.
• Chrome will now show the quiet notification permission UI for sites known to trick users into accepting the notification permission. See screenshot.
• Fixed an annoying issue with dragging and dropping files into Chrome. Rather than navigating the current tab away and losing data of the page, dragging a file into Chrome (example: photo.jpg) will open a new tab instead.
• Fixed Chrome on Chrome OS using the wrong scale factor on a secondary display when site isolation is applied.
• Fixed regression that caused a tab to shrink after adding to a group when only one tab is present.
• New chrome://conversion-internals page. This page allows developers to understand the state they are modifying while developing the Conversion Measurement API. The page shows tables of active impressions and their metadata, and conversion reports and when they will be sent.
• New chrome://app-disabled page to show a demo of what it looks like when a managed user tries to launch a restricted app.
• Simple info bar to opt-out of WebUI tab strips.

Chrome OS Settings

• The new Chrome OS settings fuzzy search bar can finally search through your settings. Before this update, the fuzzy search only found Wi-Fi settings. Ctrl + F will also activate the search bar. To get the new fuzzy search instead of exact string matching found in the old Chrome OS setting, enable chrome://flags/#new-os-settings-search. See screenshot uploaded here.
• When attaching a Chromebook to an external monitor, enabling chrome://flags/#display-change-modal will split the resolution and refresh rate into two drop-downs. See screenshot.
• Port forwarding status should now be updated in Linux settings when Crostini shuts down.
• Changed and added a few outline icons to search and in Chrome OS settings UI.

Exo

• Fixed a bug on some devices that caused cursor images to be drawn in the wrong orientation due to the screen orientation being reported incorrectly to clients.

Explore app

• The brand new Help SWA app, called “Explore”, is enabled by default. It completely overhauls the Help app experience, featuring a slick Google Material theme with nice Google-y illustrations. This app aims to help people get set up and take full advantage of their Chromebook. It also merges perks from buying a Chromebook, like free Google One storage for 12 months (YMMV). See screenshot.

Family Link

• New native dialog that triggers when a child attempts to install or enable an extension or app and the parent has turned off the "Permissions for sites, apps, and extensions" setting in Family Link.

Files app

• The completely revamped file manager built with Google Material theme and WebUI is enabled by default. This features a nice white theme, outline iconography, and native RAR archive support. This replaces the old files app on Chrome OS. See screenshot.

Linux (Beta)

• The new Terminal system app that features a cool black theme, tab UI, and new settings page is enabled by default. To find terminal settings, right click the terminal icon on the Shelf. See screenshot.
• Linux apps can now use your Chromebook’s microphone. To enable, head to Chrome OS Settings > Linux (Beta), then enable the “Allow Linux to access your microphone” toggle. Chrome OS settings will require you to restart crostini to apply changes. See screenshot.
• You are now able to resize the disk size of Linux (Beta) out of the box. The setup installer also bakes the disk resizer in it. By default, the disk size is dynamically allocated, but you can change it to a fixed size if you need more/less space. See screenshots.
• The disk resize dialog now recommends at least 5GB for Linux. If there is less than 5GB available (when leaving 1 GB headroom on the physical disk), the string changes to a warning that tells the user they should try to free up space. Minimum disk size for Linux is 2GB.
• Fixed a serious bug impacting some devices (HP x360 is one) where Linux (beta) would automatically reinstall when restarting the device without user intent.
• Fixed a crash bug that would happen if a user cancels the Linux (Beta) install window at just the right moment.
• Internationalized terminal strings.

Input

• You can now resize the onscreen keyboard floating by dragging from each corner of the keyboard.
• Added yawning, ear with hearing aid, and sari emojis to the Virtual keyboard.

Mouse

• Chrome OS now supports High resolution mouse scrolling out of the box. This allows users with a free-spinning mouse scroll wheel (like Logitech G502) to scroll with pixel-level precision. Previously, if you move the wheel less than a click, it won’t scroll until you move it by more than a click. Supported mice include a broad range of Microsoft and Logitech mice (any mice that report REL_WHEEL_HI_RES from the Linux kernel).

Palm Suppression

• New feature flag that suppresses touch when a stylus is on a touchscreen. Here’s a hands-on demo of the new suppression mechanism that I did about a month ago. Enable chrome://flags/#enable-palm-suppression to significantly improve palm suppression. Note that it may NOT work for all devices. Does not work on a HP x360 14-inch (thanks for testing u/magick_68 ).

Printing

• Initial printer server support for CUPS. You will be able to configure connections to external print servers and print from the printers on servers using CUPS. To add a print server, go to Chrome OS settings > Advanced > Printing, then Add a printer > Print server.

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The nitty-gritty stuff

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This advanced section is a long list of things changed that impacts web developers and enterprise users. There are some nitty-gritty stuff in the full changelog linked below, but this list covers the most important Blink and Chrome changes introduced in this release cycle.
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Disclaimer: because of how enormous the changes are between Chrome OS 83 and Chrome OS 84, I decided to omit a large amount of blink and v8 changes. However, I made sure to pick the most important blink and v8 changes introduced in this release cycle. That said, this is everything I found with this version of Chrome OS. If you find a mistake, discover something new that's not on this list, or have feedback, feel free to let me know in the comments below.
Chrome

• Websites that do not support TLS 1.2 and above will show a full-page warning to users that the connection is not fully secure. If users have sites affected by this and need to opt out, they will need to use the SSLVersionMin policy to disable the security indicator and warning. See the Google blog post for more information.
• DTLS 1.0, a protocol used in WebRTC for interactive audio and video, will be removed by default. Enterprise users who need additional time to adjust can use a policy to temporarily extend the removal.
• Extensions: fixed declarativeNetRequest chrome extensions failing to install from the Chrome web store.
• Insecure downloads will be blocked from secure pages. The change will roll-out gradually. Users will be warned about insecure executables in Chrome 84, and files will be blocked in Chrome 85. Refer to this rollout chart by Google.
• In effort to reduce websites’ ability to track users, Google is reducing the granularity of information from user agent strings by exposing the information through user-agent client hints. See this explainer for more information. The User-Agent Client hints is currently rolling out to some users, with a full roll-out coming to Chrome OS 85.
• Chrome will protect users against extensions that attempt to change their preferences without their consent. After an extension changes the default search engine or the new tab page, Chrome will confirm the change with the user, and allow them to keep the change or revert back to the old settings.
• New media feeds API to allow a user agent to discover a media feed provided by a website. When fetched by the user agent the site will return a feed of personalized media recommendations for the user. This feature is behind a feature flag: chrome://flags/#enable-media-feeds

Blink

• The new Screen Wakelock API is here! It provides a way to prevent devices from dimming or locking the screen when an application needs to keep running. This is HUGE for web developers! Previously, there was no standard way to prevent any aspect of a device such as screen or cpu cycles from going into power saving state. Some web developers use hacks such as adding very tiny video elements to the page and keep looping until some timeout. The Screen Wake lock API was heavily requested since it reduces the need for hacky and potentially power-hungry workarounds. See the Google web.dev blog for more details.
• Fixed a bug that caused textarea font size to flicker when font-size and transition CSS properties are both applied on a textarea.
• Fixed intrinsic size invalidation for canvas elements. This bug caused some photos and elements to not have the correct aspect ratio or size.
• Fixed a race condition that caused Gmail loading in offline mode to get stuck when devtools are open.
• Fixed a bug that caused a thin black horizontal line to show when hovering on YouTube’s video player. See this Redditor’s post of the bug.
• Fixed form submitting broken with multiple submissions. This bug caused one window to be broken and the other one to be okay instead of opening two windows with the same URL.
• Fixed an async form submission bug that broke sites due to Chrome expecting the first load event for just-created iframe to be for the form submission.
• New QuicTransport API that allows Web applications to connect directly to remove servers using QUIC. QuicTransport provides a client-server API that supports bidirectional transfer of both unreliable and reliable data, using UDP-like datagrams and cancellable streams. See this web.dev article for more information.
• Correct silence detecting condition in Web Audio. The silence detection should be activated when there are no automatic pull nodes, or the local destination node has an active input connection.
• Fixed positioned SVG backgrounds unstable with zoom or transitions due to sub-pixel snapping.
• Fixed form reset failing to visually update a shadow node with the default option label.
• Fixed inset box-shadow invisible in composited scroller with solid color background
• Fixed Cross-origin-embedder-policy: require-corp breaking HTML pages from extensions.
• Fixed pointerrawupdate incorrectly reporting mouse X/Y values when pointer is locked.
• Fixed submitting form that targets an iframe randomly failing silently.
• Fixed form submission taking precedence over window.location navigation
• Fixed SVG elements with filter not updating when manipulated outside of DOM and then appended back into DOM.
• Initial support for CSS Flexbox gutters. This addresses an issue web developers had when the grid shorthand resets gaps. See this developer discussion for more details.
• New row-gap, column-gap, and gap CSS properties that allows you to specify spacing between flex items and/or flex lines. Having this feature would reduce the need for extra "wrapper" divs, negative margins and other hacks. See this developer doc for more information.
• User-Agent Client Hints and the Client Hints Feature Policy infrastructure are enabled by default. This aims to provide developers with the ability to perform agent-based content negotiation when necessary, while avoiding the historical baggage and passive fingerprinting surface exposed by the vulnerable "User-Agent" header.
• Initial implementation of the new Virtual Keyboard API. Previously, developers had control over the displayed shape of the Virtual Keyboard through the inputmode attribute, but have limited control over when the keyboard is shown or hidden. This API will broaden this control. Developers cannot use this API yet. See design doc for more information.
• New Layout instability API to help developers identify unstable pages caused by DOM elements shifting around due to content loading asynchronously. It reports a value (the "layout shift") for each animation frame in the user’s session. This change is incredibly useful for web developers to sort layout problems on their websites. See this explainer for more details.
• WebAssembly SIMD support that will expose hardware SIMD instructions to WebAssembly applications in a platform-independent way. SIMD can boost performance by exploiting data level parallelism and is also useful when compiling native code to WebAssembly. See some documents on github for extra details.
• New Cookie Store API that exposes HTTP cookies to service workers and offers an asynchronous alternative to document.cookie. See this explainer for more information.
• New cross-origin iframe support for the Web Authenticator API. Check this w3c document for more details.
• New Idle Detection API notifies developers when a user is idle, indicating such things as lack of interaction with the keyboard, mouse, screen, activation of a screensaver, locking of the screen, or moving to a different screen. See this explainer for more details.
• New revert keyword to allow authors to roll back the cascade to the previous cascade level for a given CSS property. For example, on a
  element, specifying display:revert will cause the computed value of display to be block. See this section for more details.
• CSSStyleSheet.replace() has been removed. Calls to replace() will throw an exception if `@import rules are found in the replaced content. See developer discussion here.
• Enhances the Intl.DateTimeFormat API by adding a fractionalSecondDigits option to control the format of fractions of a second. Useful for web developers who need to output time information with millisecond precision. See developer document for more details.
• Web Animation API has been extended to include support for promises, replaceable animations, and read-only access to animation timeline. See updated specs here.
• Unprefixed ruby-position and ‘appearance’ CSS. See this section for details about ‘appearance’ and this one for ruby-position.
• New Javascript weak references that enable Javascript developers to create weak references to Javascript objects. These references help web developers define cleanup routines that don't keep the related objects alive but are optionally executed after the related object is garbage-collected. See this documentation for more details.
• New private methods and accessors feature. This keeps state and behavior private to a class and lets library authors present a clear, stable interface while changing their code over time behind the scenes. This adds private methods and accessors to Javascript. See this document for more details.
• New HTMLVideoElement.requestVideoFrameCallback() that registers a one-shot callback, called when a video frame has been presented for composition. It also provides useful metadata about that frame. See this explainer for more information.
• New origin isolation implementation. This allows web developers to opt in to giving up certain cross-origin same-site access capabilities — namely synchronous scripting via document.domain, and postMessage() the WebAssembly.Module instances. Reasons why a site may want better isolation include performance isolation, allocations of large amounts of memory, side-channel protection (e.g. against Spectre), and improved memory measurement. See this document for more details.

Enterprise and Admin Console

• Admins are now able to configure additional update policies for Chromebooks that are managed by Chrome Browser Cloud Management, such as allowing updates, roll back to a previous version, set relaunch notifications, or control when the Chromebook checks for updates.
• Admins can now configure network files shares for users using policies that allow configuring SMB settings such as NetBIOS discovery, NTLM authentication, and preconfiguring file shares so users can see them in Chrome OS’ files app.
• Timestamps in the device list’s CSV export file are now in human-readable format.
• Admins can now configure Chromebook’s screen resolution and UI scaling for displays.
• Admins can now re-enable the Dinosaur game for users to play when Chrome cannot connect to the internet.
• CORS enterprise policies CorsMitigationList and CorsLegacyModeEnabled will no longer work.
• The ForceNetworkInProcess policy will no longer take effect.
• Users are now able to select “always allow for this site” when opening an external protocol in Chrome OS 84. This feature is only available for secure origins and limited to the current origin.
• Requested by several IT admins, Chrome will be able to remember approval for launching external protocols. Users will be able to check "always allow for this site" when opening an external protocol.
• The URL Allowlist policy will not allow you to allowlist external protocols anymore. To improve security, this change was reverted back.

​

Platform changes

​
This part of the list covers the most significant platform changes I found in this build, from platform version 13020.87.0 to 13099.72.0. This includes low level changes, including kernel and driver updates and bug fixes. There are a ton more nitty-gritty stuff between these changes that lives outside of chromium/src. Note: due to the sheer volume of changes in this section, I am likely missing a lot of changes.
​
Disclaimer: I'm still learning how to read these changes!
ADHD

• Fixed a bug that causes audio stutters when casting desktop to a Chromecast.
• Fixed a bug that caused audio to stop playing after some time (e.g. YouTube in Firefox)

BlueZ

• a2dp: fixed bugs related to connections dropping out due to “Device or resource busy”.

chromiumos-overlay

• Dnsmasq: fixed security vulnerability CVE-2019-14834 in net-dns/dnsmasq . The CVSS severity score is rated 5 out of 10, 10 being the most severe.
• Wpa_supplicant: updated everyone to 2.8. See this link for changelogs

crosvm

• Fixed a bug where xhci host controller would stop responding if the crosvm emulated xhci device fails to trigger an interrupt for the event ring.
• Virtio net: added multi queue support to improve network bandwidth.

EC

• Nocturne: enabled Type-C Port Manager v2 / Power Delivery 3.0 on the Pixel Slate

gestures

• Fixed intermittently large, janky scrolling on web pages when using Bluetooth mice. This is caused by Bluetooth connection going to sleep, and the initial Bluetooth packet on wakeup being delayed, resulting in excess acceleration and page scroll.

libapps

• nassh: fixed ssh mini console not echoing input
• Terminal: minor theme styling changes to the Terminal settings page
• Terminal: update the context menu using material design. See some screenshots.
• Terminal: fixed a bug where chromevox does not launch using Ctrl + Alt + Z when the terminal is focused
• Terminal: increased opacity to 50% to cursors so that you can see characters that it is hovering over.
• Terminal: switched to HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) color model for the color picker.
• Terminal: ensure that there is room for scrollbar by adding 12 px on the right margin when the user sets the scrollbar to visible.
• Terminal: added optional border around terminal to make it easier to select/copy text that starts on the edges.

Linux 3.8

• Fixed critical security vulnerability CVE-2019-20636 in the Linux kernel related to input having out-of-bounds writes via a crafted keycode table. The CVSS severity score is rated 10 out of 10, 10 being the most severe.

Linux 3.10

• Fixed critical security vulnerability CVE-2019-20636 in the Linux kernel related to input having out-of-bounds writes via a crafted keycode table. The CVSS severity score is rated 10 out of 10, 10 being the most severe.

Linux 3.14

• Fixed critical security vulnerability CVE-2019-20636 in the Linux kernel related to input having out-of-bounds writes via a crafted keycode table. The CVSS severity score is rated 10 out of 10, 10 being the most severe.

Linux 3.18

• Fixed critical security vulnerability CVE-2019-20636 in the Linux kernel related to input having out-of-bounds writes via a crafted keycode table. The CVSS severity score is rated 10 out of 10, 10 being the most severe.
• Lowered the bluetooth suspend interval and window to use less power
• Soraka: Fixed HP Chromebook X2 rotation sensor broken after suspending
• Fixed a bug that would cause instant tethering to break when pairing to a Pixel device.

Linux 4.4

• Updated Linux kernel to 4.4.223
• Fixed Pixelbook not able to achieve 5120x1440 at 60hz on a Samsung CRG9 display. Previously capped at 3840x1080.
• Lowered the bluetooth suspend interval and window to use less power

Linux 4.14

• Updated kernel to Linux 4.14.180.
• Fixed kernel crash when extending Chrome OS desktop to a UDL 2.0 monitor and rapidly pressing the up and down keys to change UDL resolution in Chrome OS display settings.
• USB Serial: added support for ASKEY WWHC050, BroadMobi BM806U, and Wistron Neweb D19Q1
• Lowered the bluetooth suspend interval and window to use less power
• Fixed Pixelbook not able to achieve 5120x1440 at 60hz on a Samsung CRG9 display. Previously capped at 3840x1080.
• Fixed a bug that would cause instant tethering to break when pairing to a Pixel device

Linux 4.19

• Updated kernel to Linux 4.19.122
• Lowered the bluetooth suspend interval and window to use less power.

Linux 5.4

• Updated kernel to Linux 5.4.40

platform2

• Termina VM: fixed termina/container not maintaining the correct time and date when the Chromebook lid is closed or when device is suspended.
• Chaps: temporarily increased RLIMIT_MEMLOCK from 1 MB to 32 MB to prevent a crash bug occurring to some users using chaps.
• Sommelier: relanded copy transfer optimizations, but with bug fixes to copy transfer that prevents black boxes and graphical corruptions from covering Linux apps. The workaround that prevented the black boxes from showing in Chrome OS 83 just disabled copy transfer completely.
• Authpolicy: added readv to the allowlist to prevent various crashes due to the updated samba library’s authpolicy using new syscalls.
• SMBFS: fixed directory listing on SMB showing only a small number of files due to an issue with readdir() on 32-bit platforms (e.g. elm boards with kernel 4.19).
• SMBFS: Fixed slow directory loading speeds when navigating to a large directory on the SMB share using the files app (500+ files)

Xorg-conf

• Eve: fixed “random cursor movements” issue on the Pixelbook by swiping on the touchpad, lifting the finger, and swiping again.

Misc.

• Updated Linux (Beta)’s kernel from Linux 4.4 to Linux 5.4.

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Click here to see the full official changelog by Google (no platform logs, sorry). Enjoy, and happy updating!

Hi guys,
Sorry for what is similar to other posts that pop up yearly. I see a lot of similar-ish posts from the last few years all over forums, including Reddit, but would appreciate some more specific advice.
My dad is in his 60's, and his only source of internet in over a decade has been by phone. It mostly works ok for him, he browses a handful of websites and Youtube with a magnifying glass (learned this last year). My brother got him a new budget prepaid phone a couple of years ago, but it seems we didn't set it up properly and we/he can't install apps. In the years since, I've gotten a lot better at documenting details like this and plan to set up several new accounts for services for him and otherwise maintain those for him. *My dad is quite a distance away, and we rarely are able to get together even without a pandemic.
Now that my brother has a 2 year old, and my wife and I are planning on having one next year, and being unable to have our rare visits, I've been trying to get our family to have monthly video calls. Unfortunately, my dad's phone just refuses to work, and I can't drive across the state to try to problem solve a small section of a bigger issue.
What I'm hoping to find (especially with BlackFriday coming up) is a Chromebook or similar that can take a TMobile Sim card (what my wife and I have and can add a line for) so the he can use the laptop to browse the web, watch Youtube (maybe Plex and connect to his TV), video chat with the family/his granddaughtekids, and a suggestion for remote support software that I can leave running on his computer (or just a click away) so that I can remote in to help him with things. Alternatively, I'm open to other suggestions. A new phone wouldn't solve the small screen size alone, so I'm leaning away from just doing that, though we might look into deals through TMobile to see if we can just add 2 lines or something.
Thanks for any insight,

First off gonna apologize now for how rambley and jumbled this is probably going to be, battling a super migraine for a few hours now. Also potentially long and sorry for that too.
Background here is I'm 32 boyfriends 33 together almost 4 years but known each other since highschool. He lives with me and my 13 year old son and has since almost the beginning of the relationship. Hes been divorced from his ex wife for 7 years now probably longer and has 2 kids. 10m and 8f. The schedule the court set for them is he picks them up from daycare after work so say 3pm and drops them with his ex wife at 8pm m-w. Thursdays he is supposed to not have them (though the ex typically finds a way to get him to have to take them. Boyscouts being closed lately has made that harder for her and thus shes had to keep to the schedule more lately.) Every other weekend he has them Friday after work thru Sunday at 8pm. My house is a 2bd 2 both 1200 square ft home so they obviously dont have a room and sleep in the living room on weekends they are here. I pay all the Bill's. (And I mean all. Groceries, water, electric, netflix hulu etc, internet, all of the Bill's. He just started paying rent so we are able to pay my mom what she used to get for this house but it has not decreased my share at all. Which I still pay 100-200 more than him. I also have to do the cooking laundry and cleaning because he does very very minimal if any.) I lost my job at the beginning of June and have not been able to find another due to the pandemic currently so I'm pretty stressed as my unemployment is running out fast. (And I just finally recieved it 2 weeks ago). I've asked for help but he consistantly says he cannot because of all the Bill's he has to pay leave him with little money and he still wants to be able to spend a little on himself after working so hard (he pays his phone gas daycare health and credit cards as well as just started paying 500 in rent to my mom, from what I remember I think all his past Bill's are finally paid off)
So for the problem. - he used to go to his moms on days during the week he had his children because it was closer to where he takes them home and his babysitters as well as all their stuff being there. Since the pandemic he now brings them to my house everyday as well as every weekend he has them. Wouldnt be so much of a problem but these children are becoming too much. I dont want to say hate because it's too strong but I'm past the point of becoming slightly resentful and my mood shifts when I know they are going to be here. Bad enough to where I dont even want to be home when they are here. It isnt for lack of trying I have tried for years but theres alot that adds to the issues. His lids are completely disrespectful, do not pick up after themselves, dont treat my house animals or furniture with respect, if I cook something one if not both will refuse to eat it (even if their grandma cooked the same thing they wont eat mine but will eat hers), they run my dog and cats ragged and will not leave them alone enough to where they hide in my room or at my feet just to get away, they hit my son as well as my dog, cannot push in a chair at the dinner table when they are done and even after repeatedly telling them to sit in the chairs straight because they have broken one before they dont, they always seem to puke and or pee somewhere in my house or on my furniture multiple times almost consistantly every few weeks, constantly fight and argue with each other as well as my son, they will out their plate on the counter 2 feet away from the sink instead of in the sink, sometimes with food on it so then the dog takes it and spreads it around the house because they dont tell anyone they just walk away, when told to turn the TV down they will only to turn it up again a few minutes later so loudly I can hear it over the noise canceling headphones on my pc, same thing goes for the youtube they consistantly watch around my house with their switches or chromebooks. I am also not allowed to parent them, not only do they not listen to me, they go back to their mom and complain and he gets bitched at that i was yelling (im loud it's just the way my voice is. I've never yelled and it's been explained to them they still say it.) or whatever they want to say to her and he doesnt want to deal with it so I'm unable to do anything but take it. He spends most of his time in the garage when they are here or outside working on his project truck leaving them inside with me. Each night he also leaves the living room light on when they stay because he swears they are afraid of the dark and need it so its jacking my electric bill up as well as shining in my face because our door remains open for the cats.
My son has daily chores which he does to get xbox time, they are well known to come over and wrestle on his bed as hes playing his xbox to unmake his bed and throw his stuff around but pick nothing of it up and leave more work for him. Hes expressed to me everyday when he asks if they are coming over how unhappy he is they are coming. (Me too bud me too). I have tried to mention to my boyfriend he should be taking them over to his moms more because she doesnt see them anymore (his response is I told him I wanted him to spend more time here so he is.) I've been asking for a few weeks now for him to help me make a list of chores they need to do while they are here because they need to help to. Hes agreed but has yet to make it and keeps saying they are little they cant do much.
His son had a meltdown saturday afternoon after I caught him on camera slamming a controller onto my sons xbox and walking outside perfectly fine. Somehow in the span of him getting to the garage he turned on his waterworks and told his dad my son kicked him in the forehead. It was proven he didnt then the story changed to he got kicked in the back 35 minutes prior and just decided to cry now. His son has issues with lying and being the bully at school so it's nothing new. When he didnt get what he wanted he continually screamed he hated it here never wants to come again and wants to go home (which cant his mom was out of town and wasnt going to be back). I know it hurts my boyfriend to hear that but we cant afford rent on a bigger place so this is what we have to deal with currently. I tend to stay on my pc just to get away from it besides just getting up to cook them dinner and pick up after everyone just to keep myself from loosing my mind.when it came time tonight for them to go home and they were outside prepping ground for an above ground pool I went to remind him the time and got an "oh didnt I tell you we have them tonight she eont be home until really late" (which I told him would happen when he told me she was leaving town and was assured hell no they go home Sunday night) I was also informed I can take them and drop them off at his daycare tomorrow or I can just keep them with me all day (when I said he wouldnt get a discount if they were there or not for a day so what's the point he swore he would) otherwise he has to go into work late so he can drop them off. (Daycare has no time limit some people drop at early as 5 am. He has to be at work at 6). I did not cook dinner as I didnt expect them to be here and he came in at 9pm asking if we were just doing leftovers then because hes hungry. I'm completely out of milk as tomorrow is usually my shopping day that I cannot do now because I'll have them so no idea what I'm able to feed them for breakfast since they dont eat anything but cereal. But my main issue was I wasnt Informed (hes great at that and forgetting to tell me when plans change or just never mentioning it till I ask why they are still there or why they are here on a day they arent supposed to be) and also I was thrust into being the sitter without asking if I had things and appointments to do the next day (Tuesday my son has his braces being put on so thankfully it wasnt monday)
I'm so frustrated and feel like I'm well beyond my breaking point here. I want to tell him to start going back to his moms with them because I cannot handle it all anymore but know that will start a fight that will just escalate with him but it's like he doesnt understand how hard and unfair this is on not only me but also my son as we are the ones picking up after the three of them. (His moms having health issues and he lost his father a few years ago to cancer. He doesnt want to go there and see her not at her best but he cant avoid her until she passes or he will regret it just like his dad. I'm sure shes unhappy too because now she never sees the kids unless he stops by to pick his mail up but then comes here) When I've said I cant afford to feed 5 people before he gave me 100 (after the first few times I mentioned it.) and said he would help with the groceries when they are here....that was a month ago. (And 3 months since hes changed the schedule with them always being around here) I feel like if it goes on any longer I'm going to absolutely snap but at this point I dont want them here until things can change. I am beyond in need of a break and 1-3 days a week isnt cutting it. He thinks they are fine and his excuse for anything I bring up with them is they are just kids or they are too little to understand as well as he refuses to pay his ex any money from deviating from the schedule because she will win in court.
I'm at a complete loss on what to do here so any advice is appreciated. I've highly considered ending everything just because of the situation with these kids but I absolutely adore him and were typically great just when they come around he gets frustrated and angry and takes it out on me and it starts fights. It was good for a bit but the past 3 weeks have become increasingly worse to where he has an attitude soon as he walks in with them. I cant push too hard because he has a tendency to pack up and move out (if you want back on that check my past posts it's happened about 5 times now).
If your still reading sorry I just spilled everything out without being able to consolidate and make it cohesive. Its 3 am and I'm currently hiding in the bathroom with a headache unable to sleep because this is driving me mad.
Help -_- for my saints sake. If you need any more info just ask I probably forgot to add important things I'm sure.
Tl;dr; how do I tell my boyfriend he needs to start going back to his moms weekdays when he has his kids so my son and I can get a break from them and being their maid as well as me having to foot the bill for everything without starting a fight.