Google announces first stable version of Linux apps on Chromebooks

The Linux Development Environment for Chrome OS will be out of beta with the upcoming Chrome OS 91 update. Google announced this in a Chrome OS keynote. With that, Chromebooks get the first stable version of Linux apps.

Emilie Roberts, developer advocate from Google, said in the keynote that a number of Linux improvements have been added to Chrome OS, such as better stability, configurable port forwarding and improved USB support. Linux Development Environment is also getting a new terminal app.

Another important feature is that the Linux container will now be updated at the same time as a new update to Chrome OS. Now it can take days for the Linux container to get an update after a new update to Chrome OS.

Linux is still an optional feature on Chromebooks, which users have to turn on themselves, and it takes up quite a bit of disk space. Google states that Linux on Chromebooks is primarily intended for developers, but it is also a way to run native applications on Chromebooks instead of web applications or Android applications, such as LibreOffice or GIMP.