cr48 Channels and Modes

One thing that might not be obvious to cr48 users is the distiction between Channels and Modes. You may hear of OS upgrades coming over the Beta or Development channels, or you might hear of people running in Developer mode. What’s the difference?

Channels

Channels determine what version of the OS is loaded onto your cr48. There are currently two channels: Beta and Development. 

The Beta channel is the latest Chrome OS release intended for normal users. This channel provides a more stable and reliable OS. 

The Development channel gives you the latest developer build of Chrome OS. It’s intended for developers and more advanced users to get a glimpse of what is coming soon for the beta users. It’s more of a test platform. While features and functions may be added, releases coming from the Development channel are typically considered less stable than those coming over the Beta channel. 

Users who are not computer-savvy or don’t want to hassle with possible instability of new or untested features may want to stick with the Beta channel.

Modes

The mode is the manner in which the cr48 operates. There are three specific modes that the cr48 can operate in : Normal, Developer, and Recovery.

The Normal mode is the stock user mode that boots Chrome OS and permits the user to interact with the web browser. Verified boot is enabled meaning that only OS images signed by Google will be bootable. In the terminal screen, user interaction is limited to a small set of diagnostic-related commands.

Developer mode is an operating mode similar to Normal mode, however verified boot is disabled meaning that the system, can boot OS images that are not signed by Google. This gives the ability to load other OS’s or modifications of Chrome OS. In the terminal there is an additional shell command providing full shell access to the underlying OS.

The third mode is Recovery mode designed to get you back to a factory state. It will not boot the installed OS, it prompts you to insert a USB drive containing a valid boot image, and it will only boot an image signed by Google.