Google Brings Linux to Chromebook

May 14, 2019

All new Chromebooks will be capable of running Linux.

Linux-based Chromebooks are not capable of natively running Linux apps and utilities. Last year, Google launched project Crostini to allow Linux apps – primarily command line tools and utilities – to run natively on ChromeOS using containerization.

According to some media reports, at the Google I/O summit this year, Google announced that “all Chromebooks launched in 2019 will be Linux-ready right out of the box.” It means all new Chromebooks will have Crostini enabled by default.

“Crostini is the umbrella term for making Linux application support easy to use and integrating well with Chrome OS. It largely focuses on getting you a Terminal with a container and easy access to install whatever developer-focused tools you might want. It’s the default first-party experience,” said the Project Crostini page.

Both Google and Microsoft are trying to lure developers towards their platforms, and they see a benefit in providing Linux command-line utilities that many developers/sysadmins need to test, build, and run their cloud-native applications.

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