What Can You Do With Linux on a Chromebook?

Finished setting up Linux on your Chromebook but not sure what to do now? Here are three things that you can try.

With most Chromebooks now able to install a virtual Linux environment, you may wonder what you can do with it. There’s lots of stuff you can do with the Linux installation on your Chromebook.

1. Try Your Hands at Coding

Google positions the Linux environment as a developer tool, and it’s no surprise since Linux desktops are already widely deployed within Google. Linux has always been a developer’s favorite, and you can install compilers and interpreters for just about any programming language under the sun. You can even run graphical editors and IDEs.

You can tinker with Python, run text processing in Perl, and even use C to get closer to the hardware, or at least as much as you can in a virtual machine.

2. Remote Access With SSH/Mosh

While Chromebooks have had an SSH app for connecting to remote machines, you won’t find the Chrome app functionality on Chromebooks in 2021. There’s a Chrome browser extension that promises to replace it, but the Linux environment also lets you install OpenSSH, and it’s much more flexible than just using an extension.

Not only can you log in to systems using SSH, but you can also generate keys, which you’ll need if you don’t have any. You can also use Mosh for connections that stay up when you switch networks or put your Chromebook to sleep.

3. Learn More About the Linux OS

If you’ve been curious about Linux, exploring it on a Chromebook is a good option. Because the Linux environment is isolated from the rest of the system, you don’t have to worry about messing up your main system, as is possible on a Linux/Windows dual boot system.

You don’t have to enable Developer Mode as you do with Crouton. And this makes it very easy to get started with Linux on a Chromebook.

Man page for ls Linux command on Chromebook

Because Linux is so widely used in technical computing, getting comfortable with it on a Chromebook will give you an advantage if you ever want to get into IT as a profession.

You Can Do Lots of Stuff on a Chromebook

You can code in any language, connect to remote computers, and learn more about Linux on a Chromebook, and that’s just scratching the surface. If you’re still on the fence about learning Linux, there are several reasons why you might want to do it on a Chromebook.