As someone who has recently transitioned from Windows 10 to a Chromebook.
I had no clue exactly what I was getting myself into. I only moved operating systems due to my main desktop taking its last breath a few months ago, my laptop that I’ve had for over 5 years slowing down, which is only good for running my Minecraft Bedrock Server, and is mainly for programming using a Basic Scripting Language that isn’t resource intensive.
I’ve got my hands on a “Free” Chromebook. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Go to be exact.
It might not have the best RAM or space overall. But, I’ve managed in the last week that I’ve had it in my possession; I’ve learned a lot about the Linux Development Environment.
This will be a guide into the world of Installing AppImages that can be Pinned to the Shelf, and will show in the Launcher.
Forgot to mention in some places within this guide:
Every file should be saved to “Linux Files”.
The Linux Development Environment
While some people may just buy a Chromebook and not know there is a Linux Container, which is just basically a Virtual Environment that runs a stable and secure version of the Debian Distro.
Before we are even able to run AppImage Packages, we need to turn on The Linux Development Environment.
- Open your Chromebook Settings. You can get there by locating it in your Launcher.
- On the Left-side panel, locate Advanced and expand this menu.
- Open the Developer settings and Turn On the Linux Development Environment, if you haven’t already. There’s some extra steps, which include giving a username, and setting up how much space you’d like the Environment to have on your device.
- Wait until the installation is complete.
- A Terminal will open, meaning you now have access to the Linux Virtual Machine.
- Run:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
- Minimize the terminal, we’ll be coming back to it soon!
Downloading Bootstrap Studio
This is pretty straight-forward. You’ll need the Linux Version of Bootstrap Studio.
This will come as an *.AppImage file when downloaded. But, in order for this all to work properly; when saving it to your device, it comes as “Bootstrap Studio.AppImage”. You’ll need to remove the space between Bootstrap and Studio. Some commands we run soon and later don’t like spaces for some reason. It should look like: “BootstrapStudio.AppImage”.
After downloading the application, head back to the terminal and enter:
chmod u+x BootstrapStudio.AppImage
This makes the AppImage Executable, which is needed to run the application.
You’re also going to need an App Icon Image, you can download whatever you want for this image, as long as it’s *.png and a max of 256x256. But, because I know it would look nicer to have the original Bootstrap Studio Icon; I just went to BootstrapStudio.io and downloaded the Icon from the Navbar, saving it as it is: “logo_128.png” in the same location as BootstrapStudio.AppImage.
Creating the Desktop Shortcut File
This is pretty easy.
I’m not sure if all Chromebooks come preinstalled with Text. It’s the program with the icon that has the lowercase letter T between the greater than and less than symbols.
This is what we need to enter:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Bootstrap Studio
Exec=”/opt/BSS/BootstrapStudio.AppImage”
Icon=/opt/BSS/logo_128.png
comment=Create Responsive Websites using the Bootstrap Framework.
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Utility
Save the file in the same location as BootstrapStudio.AppImage & logo_128.png.
Call it “ BootstrapStudio.desktop”.
“Installing” Bootstrap Studio
Open your terminal. We’re going to now go through the process of manually moving these files into the appropriate folders to allow Bootstrap Studio to show in the Launcher.
- Install Nautilus.
sudo apt install nautilus
This is a File Explorer that can go a bit deeper into the Linux Virtual Environment. - After installing Nautilus, opening the package will bring you to /home/{username}. You’ll need to create a folder called BSS and move BootstrapStudio.AppIcon and logo_128.png into this folder.
If you’re unable to see the folder, turn on the option to see hidden folders. - Back in the terminal, execute these commands:
sudo mv BSS /opt/
sudo mv BootstrapStudio.desktop /usr/share/applications/
- Wait about 30 seconds.
- Enjoy your now pinnable Bootstrap Studio AppImage.
If you’re running into issues when following this guide; don’t hesitate to message me on here.
I’ll help you out the best that I can!
How it should look after it’s installed.
