Shocked again by how decent ChromeOS Flex is. Had to travel recently for work, grabbed and old laptop, installed Flex, and went. It connected to the WiFi at both the hotel and where I was at for work. We (those of us that traveled) were given a lot of PDFs and had to access email, all went fine. I got home and had to scan a bunch of receipts, was dreading dragging the ol' Windows PC out and hooking it all up. That little voice said hook the scanner/printer combo up to the laptop. Well it instantly recognized the printer and I was just about to give up on scanning when I looked at the combo unit, and realized that I had to set it to scan mode (on the combo unit itself, had not used it in a long time). Put it in scan mode and voila, it worked. Hell, even the scanner interface in ChromeOS Flex isn't bad. I guess I was more surprised that it recognized the printer/scanner that I have, it's kinda old, 2013 model.

Once again, I got to give Google some credit. :thumbup:

I'm aware that I can now run Linux apps in this thing. I guess in the non-Flex, a.k.a real ChromeOS, you can also run Android apps. Regarding the Linux applications, I'm not so in love with the ChromeOS Flex's UI that I think that it's an oh-so-wonderful replacement for insert-Linux-Desktop-Environment here. In other words, I'd rather run a Linux Distro at that point. In fact, I do most of the time. Looked at from a few other angles...It's something else to go wrong, it's another layer that gives rise to potential security issues. Blah, blah, blah. If I'm gonna use this damn thing, I'd prefer to stick with what it comes with and what I can do in-browser.

While I'm likely in a minority regarding my thoughts/way of using ChromeOS Flex, I hope Google's Devs think along these lines too. I believe thinking that way would make the OS better all around for all users.

Apparently Google's decided to make getting the latest image easier:

https://dl.google.com/chromeos-flex/images/latest.bin.zip

Oops, I noticed that I put "double-click for context menu" in the image 'backlight-video_line.png'. Obviously, that should be 'right-click for context menu'. :oops:

Eh, Chrome and the Files app. That's all I need. :wink:

How hard would it be to make that togglable? To be quite frank, how about a ChromeOS Flex lite that doesn't include any "apps" for those of us that don't need training wheels? :wave:

<div id="controls-container">

<backlight-video-controls dir=ltr>

Well, you kinda, sorta can shut off the big honking controls in the Gallery app. It's not ideal in that it only lasts as long as you have the current instance of the thing running... A little prefencing, most of these 'apps' on Chromebooks/ChromeOS/Flex are little more than web apps. Wit that said, here's how I accomplish killing the big-ass-honking controls:

I'm double-click and vidya from the Files app. Once the galley app opens, right-click [i]on the controls[/i] and choose 'Inspect'.

[attachment=2]riteclk_inspect.png[/attachment]

[code]<div id="controls-container">[/code] Should be selected once the dialog opens. You CAN right click ON THAT line and choose 'Delete element' and the toolbar will be gone. I, however, go a bit further and delete something else. If you look a bit above that 'element', you'll see a line that reads

[code]<backlight-video-controls dir=ltr>[/code]

[attachment=1]backlight-video_line.png[/attachment]

I single-click that line (to select it) then right-click the same line and chooose 'Delete element'.

Ridiculously huge control bar gone.

[attachment=0]gone_controls_gone.png[/attachment]

If your vidya isn't already playing, you can start it with the spacebar and, if you desire, can open the smaller controls, by right-clicking on the vidya and choosing 'Show all controls'. The big controls will stay off until you close the player/Gallery app. And, yes, you can drag videos from the Files app and drop in the player/Gallery app.

Well, I just found out that the Gallery app does have a way to turn on the nicer, smaller controls, like you see in the browser:

[attachment=2]shpw_all_controls-AM.png[/attachment]

There's just one, small, slight little problem with using them though:

[attachment=1]do_better_Gooble.png[/attachment]

Just the minor issue of the BIG ASS HONKING UGLY CONTROLS that you can't shut off rendering right in front of them.

[attachment=0]do_bettah.png[/attachment]

A slight clarification on the video thing in particular, if browsing and I find a direct link to an MP4 and click it, it plays in the browser, if I download the MP4, and am using the Files app, there's is absolutely no option to open in the broswer, let alone setting the browser as the default to play the file.

Why, why, why? :?:

Having woes. Heh. I get that this isn't Windows. Somewhere along the lines I gave up on Caret:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/caret/fljalecfjciodhpcledpamjachpmelml

Although, I do see why people like it. Tonight I was opening some CSV and TSV files. Of course the CSV file was opening by default in the 'Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides' extension. I guess it's still considered an extension. More on that in a bit. The CSV file was rather large and everything slowed to a snail's pace. I closed out of it and right-clicked the CSV file and chose 'Open with' -- Text. Of course, it render as it would in a text editor. I decided I like that better. How do I make that happen by default, I asked myself. Well, my thinking was to disable the 'Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides' extension and then select the Text app to open these files by default. Heh. I did figure out how to disable the extension. It's no longer shown in extensions. I will give Google some credit here, it's fairly simple to disable now:

In Chrome, open chrome://flags (type it in the URL box), type 'office' in the search bar...

[attachment=7]04-PM.png[/attachment]

Select the drop-down beside Disable Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides' and choose Enable. Yeah, it's one of those that you have to ENABLE the DISABLE. Clear as mud? It took me a couple of tries to realize. :lol:. Now, as to the file associations, let's take a look at one where I can choose between something and something else, an HTML file:

[attachment=6]10-AM.png[/attachment]

Okay, as you can see, when I right-click on them, I can choose to 'view' it or open it with the Text app. 'View' simply opens it in the browser (chrome). Also, you see that I can 'Change default':

[attachment=5]21-AM.png[/attachment]

That's fairly obvious, no? I can choose to set the default to either the browser or the Text app. Just so you know, the 'Open' drop-down, near the top of the screen offers the same choices as the right-click context menu does.

So, what happens when I right click on the CSV or TSV?:

[attachment=4]18-AM.png[/attachment]

As you'd expect, I do not have an open with 'Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides' option. I killed that off. But I also don't have a 'Change default' option. Well, okay, what happens when I double-click either the CSV or TSV file?:

[attachment=3]38-AM.png[/attachment]

[attachment=2]fuu-rage.gif[/attachment]

I guess I'll deal with having to right-click them, but why the hell do I have to? [b][i]It's possible[/i][/b] this is one of those the extension could be modded situations. Well, I guess I'd still have to kill the built-in one and mod the one that you can download:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/office-editing-for-docs-s/gbkeegbaiigmenfmjfclcdgdpimamgkj

but what would happen when the extension is updated? With a freaking text editor, how many file types could you possibly need it to open? :lol: To give you a vague idea, take a look at the list of addons for the text editor that '!' recommends:

https://www.textpad.com/addons/syntax
http://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4423

As I was typing this, it dawned on me that Google also is missing something kinda obvious too. The browser can handle a lot of files. I know I can play MP3 audio files and play MP4 videos in the browser for instance. As a matter of fact, when using chromeOS flex I often find myself playing mp4 video in the browser rather than using the Gallery app. Why, you might ask:

[attachment=1]gallery_app.png[/attachment]

[attachment=0]browser.png[/attachment]

Which set of controls would you rather look at? :wtf: I can blow either of them up full screen...

In Windows you can associate a file with a program that can't handle it, I guess I don't need that much control, but *some* would be nice. If anyone from Google reads this, don't forget about the files the Chrome browser can handle, you never know what someone might prefer... I shouldn't complain too much, I do see improvement -- being able to "enable the disable" that I mentioned previously...