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This class doesn’t focus on design, at least in terms of creating graphics for a website. If it did, I’d probably try to use Gimp on Linux although it’s easy to argue that the Adobe Creative Suite or some similar software not available on Linux would be better. My current class is in web development where we’re coving the basics of HTML and CSS, along with a light sprinkling of JavaScript. A Chromebook is ideal for this because it’s a low-compute activity and because the Chrome Developer Tools are fantastic. Using Visual Code on a Chromebook, there isn’t much I can’t do save for an enterprise-class application. For example, to archive episodes for the MobileTechRoundup podcast that I used to record weekly, I had no problem developing and running an app to download them.
Arduino Create – An IDE that allows you to program for Arduino based electronics and boards. Move the visual studio .deb file from the Downloads folder to the Linux Files folder. Right-click on the download Visual Studio Code deb file and select ‘Install with Linux ‘. Node.js– A JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to test and run JavaScript without a web browser. In addition to this, you should also consider investing in a second screen, external mouse and keyboard, especially if you plan on working from a home office.
Code with Python
At the time of writing this guide, the most well-rounded and powerful Chromebook was theGoogle Pixelbook GO, particularly the i7 256 GB version. Originally, Google had not intended it to be a fully-fledged operating system but a specialized one that consumers could use to run the Google Chrome web browser. Early Chromebooks had very limited onboard storage so they weren’t very ideal if you were trying to install a large app. The convenience continues when this browser-based code editor allows you to use private packages and import public ones. It’s also optimized for various frameworks such as Angular, Vue, and React. The integration with GitHub has brought benefits in the sense that you can import and run repositories directly from GitHub and export your development sandbox back to the repo.
The following steps are going to guide you on getting DroidScript on Chrome OS. 5)The Terminal will provide you a URL to copy and paste into your browser to launch Jupyter Notebook.
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Currently this feature is in beta, and hardware acceleration is still not supported in non-Chrome OS applications. For example, if you want to install Firefox, all you need to do is open up the terminal and enter sudo apt install firefox.
In addition to this, if you’re a developer, you should familiarize yourself with Linux terminal commands. Since most Chromebooks come with USB ports, some with USB Type C ports, the best option for upgrading your Chromebook is through an external hard drive.
Tips for Optimal Chromebook Coding
ChromeDuino – An IDE and text editor that allows you to edit and develop Arduino compatible sketches from any of your Chromebooks. It features a terminal mode that you can use to interact with your Arduino board. Developers and engineers who plan to create projects with microcontrollers and single-board computers using their Chromebooks need not be discouraged. Even before you could officially run an embedded version of Linux from Chrome OS, you could natively develop Android and web apps. Once it’s done installing all the dependencies, use the terminal command in step 3 to install Microsoft VSCode. Once it’s done, an arrow icon will appear near the bottom right corner of the desktop. Developers who bought their Chromebooks on sale or won them in a competition may be the most tempted to do this.
SQL Server even runs in Linux, and the developer edition is free to use. A perfect example is a database class I took where I simply couldn’t use my Chromebook because the entire course focused on Microsoft SQL Server. If you can’t find a web app to meet your needs, all Chromebooks can run Android apps, too, from the Google Play Store — more than 250 million of them are available. You can run Chrome Remote Desktop from a browser window or install a progressive web app . VS Code runs on any recent Chromebook, as long as you are able to enable Linux applications via Crostini, which we’ll look at how to do in just a moment.
Coding With a Chromebook
However, I’d suggest you weigh your options carefully and consider if it’s worth the risk and effort. You can streamline your workflow by learning about some of Chrome OS’s more intricate and subtle features. DroidScript has a store inside the app that makes it possible to grab a wide variety of plug-ins to increase your productivity when writing code. There are a total of 8 plug-ins currently, with more on the way.
Therefore, this article will be a descriptive guide concerning all the various code editors you can work with on Chrome OS and how you can access or install them on your device. If you’re a programmer and have come looking for ways to code on a Chromebook, look no further as you’ve come to the right place.
This method of upgrading your Python version uses the wget command, which is an easy way to accomplish the task at hand. In addition, if you require a specific Python variant, you only need to replace the version number in the following command and keep everything else just the same. For reference, we will install the 3.9.5 Python version, which happens to be the latest one currently.
To check what variant of Python you’re currently running on Linux, input the following command into your Terminal. Microsoft Visual Studio Code is probably your best bet if you’re thinking about coding or programming on a Chromebook. But, again, we’re talking about a highly polished platform with a multitude of features to help smoothen your coding experience. We’ve extensively covered this software in one of our articles here, so do check it out if you’d like to read more about its features. Support for Linux ought to enable you to create, test, and run Android and web app for phones, tablets, and laptops on one Chromebook. You should also be able to run popular editors, code in your preferred language, and launch projects to the cloud. Linux runs as a window on top of a Chrome OS, just like Chrome or any other application.
Linux runs a virtual machine that was designed from scratch for Chromebooks (Linux Kernel-based Chrome OS). A popup window will appear asking if you want to install Linux. If you did not find your Chromebook on that list, and it was launched before 2019, unfortunately, we don’t have setup instructions for you yet!
- One of them includes Jimp – an image processing library that’s written totally in JavaScript.
- It isn’t too extensive in its functionality and does not have many other programming languages as well.
- By having the ability to execute Python programs from within this full-blown code editor, you’re going to have a highly convenient time writing code on IDLE.
- Even a device with a new Pentium and 4 GB of memory will suffice at this point for Linux on a Chromebook.
- Even before you could officially run an embedded version of Linux from Chrome OS, you could natively develop Android and web apps.
On the desktop, click on the time on the bottom right corner of the screen. But the latter is a bit of a waste since the latest versions of Chrome OS allow you to run an embedded version of Linux, mainly for software building purposes.
