There’s a wide range of great Linux apps for Chromebooks, unless you have an ARM-powered device, that is. Luckily, Visual Code is available through a community build project.
Browsing: Productivity
After consumers gained support for Linux apps in Chrome OS 69, enterprise users get the feature in Chrome OS 73, along with managed guess sessions for improved device sharing.
With an updated Skype for Web service, Microsoft has eliminated support for all but the Edge and Chrome browsers on certain hardware. To get around this on a Chromebook, you can use this trick.
Currently you can remove just about any app from a Chromebook directly from the app launcher. But not Linux apps. That’s changing with Chrome OS 75, which will get the feature for simple Linux app uninstalls.
The latest Dev Channel of Chrome OS 74 brings a key feature for those using Linux apps on a Chromebook: Backup and restore of the Linux container. Here’s how it works.
A short video demonstrates how virtual workspaces will work on a Chromebook. You’ll be limited to four desktops but that should be plenty for a huge productivity boost.
Hopefully, Google will add optional Android widget support to Chromebooks in the future. Until that happens, give Taskbar a try: If you have a Chromebook running Android 9 Pie, you can use this app to add any Android widgets to your Chrome OS desktop view.
Using an Android app to annotate PDFs on your Chromebook? You may not have to much longer: Google introduced a native PDF markup function in the latest Dev Channel of Chrome OS 73 that works with a stylus or a finger on a touchscreen.
A small code change will lead to a largely desired function, particularly for enterprise users: VPN support for Linux apps in Crostini on a Chromebook. Yes, you can use an Android VPN app for Chrome OS, but that security won’t extend to Linux.
Until today, you officially needed a Google-branded Android phone and Chromebook to use the Instant Tethering feature for connectivity when you can’t find a Wi-Fi hotspot. Now, the feature is expanding to partner devices with more in the coming months.
Slated for Chrome OS 74 is a new function to export and import Crostini containers on Chromebooks, allowing you to backup or restore your Linux environment as needed — handy for folks relying heavily on Linux apps within the Chrome OS platform.