From ASUS, Acer, HP, Dell, Samsung, and Lenovo

Aug 12, 2018 00:32 GMT  ·  By

It looks like Google is taking support for Linux apps very serious lately by recently enabling its integrated virtualization machine for running Linux apps on Chrome OS to support Chromebooks powered by Intel Braswell CPUs.

In May 2018, Google made it official that Chromebooks will soon be able to run Linux apps, which is currently in beta testing with only a few modern Chromebooks supporting the installation of Linux packages in the .deb (Debian) format, including Google's Pixelbook, promising that more Chromebooks would receive the new feature in the coming months.

HP Chromebook X2 is the world's first detachable Chromebook to support Linux apps, as well as the Acer Chromebook 13 and Chromebook Spin 13, and Samsung's Chromebook Plus, but that's about to change as it looks like a whole lot more Chromebooks running Intel Braswell processors and Linux kernel 3.18 are getting support for Linux apps.

Here are the Braswell-powered Chromebooks that can now run Linux apps

According to XDA-Developers, a new Chromium Gerrit commit was published this week that enables Linux app support in Chrome OS for devices using Braswell processor systems. This means that a bunch of Chromebooks from ASUS, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Samsung, and other manufacturers are now able to run Linux apps in the Chrome OS Canary experimental channel.

The new Chromebooks supporting Linux apps are Acer Chromebook R11 (CB5-132T, C738T), Acer Chromebook 11 N7 (C731), Acer Chromebook 14 (CB3-431), Acer Chromebook 15 (CB3-532), ASUS Chromebook C202SA, ASUS Chromebook C300SA, ASUS Chromebook C301SA, HP Chromebook 11 G5, HP Chromebook 11 G5 EE, Lenovo N22 Chromebook, Lenovo N42 Chromebook, Lenovo ThinkPad 11e Chromebook G3, and Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga G3.

Moreover, Samsung Chromebook 3 (XE500C13), Dell Chromebook 11 (3180), Dell Chromebook 11 (3189), PCMerge Chromebook (PCM-116T-432B), CTL Chromebook J5, CTL NL61 Chromebook, Haier Convertible Chromebook 11 C, Mecer V2 Chromebook, Edugear CMT Chromebook, Edxis Education Chromebook, Prowise ProLine Chromebook, and Viglen Chromebook 360 now also support Linux apps.

If you're interested in trying out Linux apps on either of these Chromebooks, you would have to enable Developer Mode and switch to the Chrome OS Canary experimental channel following these instructions. But we don't recommend doing so if you're looking to have a stable Chrome OS experience on your Chromebooks. Support for Linux apps is currently targeted at power users and early adopters.