How to Activate Lacros: The Second Browser for ChromeOS Chromebook (Linux and Chrome OS)

RahmanCyber.NET Chromebook - OK, so here we will discuss about LACROS which is the second experimental browser on Chrome OS.

Separator Super Light ChromeOS Official Second Browser for Chromebooks!

This time we discuss the latest features on the Chromebook v100, which is stable and very suitable for productivity, blogger friends in creating articles and managing blogs... You can also create your own website hosting admin... as well as for online shop admins...   :) No Worry... be Happy!

This is my project this week, finally I can upload it today.. : )

Here I introduce a feature that may not be considered new... because it has been under development for several years, but it's only stable on ChromeOS v100...

and Here I will immediately tell my friends who are already using Chromebooks.. or not.. :)

Don't worry, I will only pack this for 13 minutes... :)


What will you learn?
1. New Features
2. How can it be useful for Bloggers and Online Store Admins?
3. What are the advantages, how can it be so fantastic? In total there are 13 advantages that I pinned in this video.
4. What are the functions?

etc


Hope it's useful for fellow Chromebook users!
#ChromebookExperience
Especially... ahem... Samsung Chromebook 4... hehehehe (No, it's okay, fellow chromebook users... support each other, right... :)

So that Chromebook users can NEXT LEVEL!
Although most of the applications and software are FREE... but no less POWERFUL with Paid Applications/Software... right... :)

Especially for this affordable Computing Device... (It's okay ... we can maximize it for productive things!)



#chromebook

What is LACROS on ChromeOS Chromebooks

since 2020 Google has been trying to separate Chrome browser from the Chrome OS platform so here is formed LaCrOS which stands for Linux And ChRome OS.

We can also test LACROS, which is essentially a Chrome browser for Linux designed to run on ChromeOS.

I recently conducted a test of this experimental browser. If you're interested in the technical details behind the development of LACROS, you can refer to the official documentation provided here.

Previously, when running a browser on Linux, as I mentioned on the Rahmancyber channel, I found it to be slow and, unfortunately, there was no Chrome browser available in the main repository or APT Debian. Consequently, I installed another browser, but as I mentioned earlier, it was not a satisfactory experience due to its sluggish performance.

Therefore, when an experimental new feature was introduced in Chrome OS, specifically in Chrome OS version 100 and above, called LACROS, it was regarded as stable enough to serve as a secondary browser for Chrome OS. It combines ChromeOS and Linux in the stable version of Chrome OS version 94. Beta channel users may have already experienced LACROS last year, but I decided not to take the risk as I primarily use my Chromebook for work, not testing purposes. Hence, I patiently waited for the stable channel version, and fortunately, it has arrived with ChromeOS V94. As of the time of writing this post, the stable channel of version 96 includes LACROS. Based on reviews from those who have tried it, this feature is deemed ready after extensive coding and testing efforts by Google on the LACROS solution.

I am curious about its performance, particularly in this ChromeOS version 100. There have been significant changes, especially in the profile migration section, as reported by various media outlets. As a blogger who requires more than one browser, including private mode, I typically have two modes open in one browser: normal mode and private mode.

So, I decided to give it a try...

The LACROS browser... the most noticeable thing is that its icon resembles a yellow Chrome Canary... hmmm.

In fact, there have been numerous recent improvements and feature additions to ensure that LACROS delivers an experience similar to the current Chrome OS browser.

How about with Profile Switch in Lacros browser?

For instance, when I saved my account picture and continued with my Google account settings, such as bookmarks, they were seamlessly transferred. From this, I can conclude that the profile management feature has been significantly improved. However, it's important to note that LACROS is still in the experimental phase, which means there will likely be further enhancements and refinements in the future to make it even more perfect.

Additionally, all of my previous extensions are available, and they function just as they do in the Chrome browser. This shouldn't come as a surprise since Chrome extensions are generally designed to work across platforms. If there are any compatibility issues, the developer will typically specify which platform, in this case Linux, is not supported. Notably, the recently updated Desktop and Screenshot tools have been integrated with Lacros in Chrome OS 98. This allows for convenient customization of where to save screen images and the ability to activate the microphone for screen recording.

How to Activate LACROS

Activating it is actually quite easy since it is still in the experimental phase. You can enable it by accessing the flags settings.

Just point your Chromebook browser to chrome://flags/ and search for Lacros.  Then enable the ones you want.

So far, I am pleased with what I have observed. There haven't been any significant loss of functionality, and the Lacros browser performs as swiftly as the current Chrome browser. A few months ago, I would have mentioned that Lacros felt sluggish and appeared as if it was running on a Linux system. There were font and UI issues at the time. However, most of these issues have been resolved, although there might still be a few remaining bugs here and there. I find that the performance of Lacros is already on par with that of the Chrome browser on Chromebook, as I mentioned earlier. 

I was able to restore all my previously opened tabs without any issues after the recent update. I believe this is the core objective of the Lacros project: separating the browser from the platform allows for independent browser updates on Chromebooks, without necessitating a complete Chrome OS update. What has been your experience with it so far?