14 DAY TRIAL // It would appear the Google plans to extend support for Linux apps to a whole lot of Chromebooks soon with an upcoming release of its Linux-based Chrome OS operating system.
Google announced a few months ago that it will enable support for running containerized Linux apps on the Chrome OS Chromebook operating system, and that its Google Pixelbook would be the first to offer them to users. A few weeks later, we learned that Samsung’s Chromebook Plus is also getting support for Linux apps.
Even better, it would appear that Acer’s Chromebook 13 and Chromebook Spin 13 will also be the first Chromebooks to ship with Linux apps support out-of-the-box at launch, and HP’s Chromebook X2 will be world’s first detachable Chromebook to support Linux apps. Now, it looks like 18 more Chromebooks will get support for Linux apps on Chrome OS soon.
Here are the 18 new Chromebooks that will support Linux apps
According to XDA-Developers, a recent commit in Chromium Gerrit shows that Google will soon enable support for running Linux apps on all Chromebooks that use Apollo Lake processors, which include Chromebooks for Acer, ASUS, Dell, and Lenovo. However, it’s not clear when Linux apps support will be available for this devices.
A total of 18 Chromebooks appear to have Apollo Lake processors, including Acer Chromebook 11 models C732, C732T, C732L, C732LT, CB311-8H, and CB311-8HT, Acer Chromebook Spin 11 models R751T, CP311-1H, and CP311-1HN, Acer Chromebook 15 model CB515-1HT/1H, and ASUS Chromebook Flip model C213SA.
The Dell Chromebook 11 model 5190 and Dell Chromebook 11 2-in-1 model 5190 will also support Linux apps, as well as the Lenovo Thinkpad 11e Chromebook, Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 11e Chromebook, Lenovo 500e Chromebook, and Lenovo 100e Chromebook.
If you can’t wait until Google releases a new stable version of Chrome OS to implement support for Linux apps on these Chromebooks, you can try to enable either the Chrome OS Canary or Chrome OS Developer channels if you want to tray Linux apps, but they’re still in beta so we recommend waiting for a stable release.