Google has published the release of Chrome OS 108 on the Linux kernel, upstart system manager, ebuild/portage build toolkit, open source components and Chrome 108 browser.
This build is available for most current Chromebook models, while the Chrome OS Flex edition is offered for other computers.
The main changes to Chrome OS 108 include:
- Canvas lock to eliminate unintended zooming and panning in the Cursive handwritten notes app;
- support for working with multiple accounts in the Screencast app to view screencasts associated with another account;
- the ability to rollback an upgrade to one of the three previous versions of Chrome OS;
- improved document scanning operations, support for scanning multiple pages and writing them as a multi-page PDF file in the camera app
- Improved WLAN interface with Captive Portal (improved login prompts, simplified login page detection and more reliable connection to authorization pages)
- easier navigation of the virtual keyboard on touch-screen devices. You can now change language, access the emoji library and activate handwriting by tapping the top bar;
- support for the recycle bin in the file manager. When deleted from the My files section, files go to the recycle bin from which they can be recovered within 30 days;
- support for a presence sensor that automatically locks the screen when the user leaves and displays a warning that an unauthorised person is looking at the screen. Such a sensor is built into Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebooks.
In October, Google released the first gaming Chromebooks. They come with Chrome OS and are designed to work with cloud-based gaming services.
The end of November saw the release of the Chrome 108 browser and the stable release of the free Chromium project.
