the middle schooler: then I installed linux on my [school] chromebook
me: um are you allowed to do that?
middle schooler: I asked our tech teacher and he doesn't know what linux is so I decided yes
I did this back in the day! The tool of choice as the time was crouton, because it came with a keybinding that let us stealthily switch back to the ChromeOS desktop whenever the teacher walked by :)
A “one click” install of Debian (in a VM) that runs alongside your ChomeOS device. It’s a great starter tool for those getting used to Linux and even for the Linux Pro it gives you a terminal, which 99% of the time is all I need.
You can use GUI applications as well so GIMP and other tools are available.
I did this back in the day! The tool of choice as the time was crouton, because it came with a keybinding that let us stealthily switch back to the ChromeOS desktop whenever the teacher walked by :)
I hate that I just read the words " back in the day" in the context of chromebooks. this feels too new for me xD
Yes! The crouton dual boot was an absolute gem; singlehandedly helped me survive high school boredom
@gramgan
What’s the tool of choice now?
Crostini. https://chromeos.dev/en/linux
A “one click” install of Debian (in a VM) that runs alongside your ChomeOS device. It’s a great starter tool for those getting used to Linux and even for the Linux Pro it gives you a terminal, which 99% of the time is all I need.
You can use GUI applications as well so GIMP and other tools are available.
Super easy, barely an inconvenience.
Wow this looks awesome! Is Debian the only option?
Good question, I don’t know! I haven’t touched a Chromebook since at least 2020…
If I were to do it now, I’d probably still use crouton, but get it to download something other than Ubuntu 16.04, or I’d just dual boot.