Future Chromebooks Can Run Linux As Virtual Machines

All future Chromebooks can run Linux. According to Google, all laptops with Chrome OS will have support for Crostini, which allows Linux apps to run in a virtual machine.

According to ZDnet, Google announced the new plans during developer conference I/O, which takes place this week. All new Chromebooks will then receive support for Crostini, a feature that Google announced last year for a limited number of Chromebooks such as the Pixelbook.

Crostini runs a Linux distribution called Termina in a virtual machine. That is a modified version of Debian 9.0 Stretch. In that virtual machine it is possible to run Linux applications or other distros such as Ubuntu. Before Crostini was introduced, it was possible to install other Linux distributions, but that was a cumbersome process and required several security features to be disabled.

Termina is integrated into the operating system so that it is possible, for example, to open documents in a Linux application such as LibreOffice. According to Google, Crostini does have some limitations within the system. For example, it is not possible to access a computer’s microphone from the VM, nor is it possible to install other operating systems such as Windows.