There are some Chromebooks out there with great hardware, like the gorgeous Chromebook Pixel, but they don’t quite reach their full potential with Chrome OS. Here’s how to install Ubuntu and get more out of your Chromebook.
Linux on a Chromebook, my favorite way
Chrome OS isn’t bad, and you can actually do a lot on it with the great Chrome apps available. But sometimes you just need a full-fledged desktop to get things done. Enter Ubuntu: with just a few minutes of work, you can get a full-fledged Linux desktop running on solid Chromebook hardware, making for a pretty awesome laptop.
We’re going to be using a tool called Crouton to install Ubuntu (thanks to our friends at How-To Geek), which uses the chroot command to run Ubuntu on Chrome OS, which is already based on Linux. Unlike dual-booting, this means you can switch between Chrome OS and Ubuntu with a quick keyboard shortcut, no reboots required, which is great. It’s fast, powerful, and only there when you need it. If you prefer a more traditional dual-boot environment, check out ChrUbuntu , but we’re using Crouton today. We tested this on a Chromebook Pixel, but it should work on any Chromebook.
This will erase your local data, so make sure you back up anything you don't have stored in the cloud. To put your Chromebook into developer mode:
