You Can Now Run Linux Apps On Chrome OS (venturebeat.com)

Google today announced Chrome OS is getting Linux support. "As a result, Chromebooks will soon be able to run Linux apps and execute Linux commands," reports VentureBeat. "A preview of Linux on the Pixelbook will be released first, with support for more devices coming soon." From the report: "Just go to wherever you normally get those apps, whether it's on the websites or through apt-get in the Linux terminal, and seamless get those apps like any other Linux distribution," Chrome OS director of product management Kan Liu told VentureBeat.

Support for Linux apps means developers will finally be able to use a Google device to develop for Google's platforms, rather than having to depend on Windows, Mac, or Linux machines. And because Chrome OS doesn't just run Chrome OS-specific apps anymore, developers will be able to create, test, and run any Android or web app for phones, tablets, and laptops all on their Chromebooks. Without having to switch devices, you can run your favorite IDE -- as long as there is a Debian Linux version (for the curious, Google is specifically using Debian Stretch here -- code in your favorite language and launch projects to Google Cloud with the command line.

Comments

Security, reliability. With today's CPUs it's free

[raymorris]

The CPUs do virtualization in hardware these days, so VMs are essentially free. The performance difference is less than 5%, often closer to 1%.

What you get for that is clear separation, in terms of security, stability, etc. No one application can cause problems for the system.

Re:But Why?

[jetkust]

I would. This makes Chrome laptops more appealing to me. When you want to run Linux on laptops you always have to be careful to select the right laptop which is compatible enough to make it worth buying. Having a laptop that is out of the box compatible is different, or at least where the company that makes it is designing it to do what you want to do. Everything I do on a Linux laptop is either in a browser, or in a terminal. I'm fine with Chrome doing the browser work. And if I have a fully functional terminal, ChromOS may be virtually indistinguishable to me at least with how I use Linux on a daily basis. Also I'm cool with the VM, as long as it's seamless and efficient. Plus you're not really running Linux in a VM, you are running the Linux programs in a VM. ChromeOS is still native. But you're doing what it was designed to do, as opposed to always seeming like you're using workarounds. I also like that it would make development for Android more seamless than if on a Linux machine. I won't be ditching Linux for ChromeOS any time soon, but it does increase my interest level.

ChromeOS

[fluffernutter]

This news actually made me interested to try ChomeOS for Android development and possibly see how I can better use the Google ecosystem. For some curious reason it's not easy to download it for people to see if it would work for them. There is some free bastardization of it that requires you to fill out a form and you can try it free, but why would they not just release it like a Linux distribution? If I like it, I might buy a Chromebook, but as it sits I'm not interested.

Re:Security, reliability. With today's CPUs it's f

[AmiMoJo]

Well, it was 1% before Meltdown. Now if you have an Intel CPU it's quite a lot worse than that.

Fortunately most Chromebooks are ARM based.