When you use Crouton, you’re actually just running one operating system: Linux. Crouton was actually created by Google employee Dave Schneider. Crouton also uses Chrome OS’s standard drivers for your Chromebook’s hardware, so you shouldn’t run into issues with your touchpad or other hardware. It takes advantage the Linux system underlying Chrome OS to run both environments at once and is a much slicker experience than traditional dual-booting. Crouton allows you to use Chrome OS while having a standard Linux environment with all its command-line tools and desktop applications a few keystrokes away. This gives you the ability to take advantage of both environments without any rebooting needed. Ubuntu runs alongside Chrome OS, so you can switch between Chrome OS and your standard Linux desktop environment with a keyboard shortcut. Crouton: Crouton actually uses a “chroot” environment to run both Chrome OS and Ubuntu at the same time.ChrUbuntu can be installed on your Chromebook’s internal storage or on a USB device or SD card. You can restart your Chromebook and choose between Chrome OS and Ubuntu at boot time. It works like a traditional dual-boot system. ChrUbuntu: ChrUbuntu is a Ubuntu system built for Chromebooks.

You’ll need to choose a project developed specially for Chromebooks. Installing Ubuntu Linux on your Chromebook isn’t as simple as installing the standard Ubuntu system-at least not at the moment.

RELATED: Living With a Chromebook: Can You Survive With Just a Chrome Browser? You don’t need Crouton to run Linux software anymore. Update: Google has added native support for Linux apps directly to Chrome OS, and this feature is available on many Chromebooks. We’ve performed this process with the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook, the original Chromebook Pixel, and the ASUS Chromebook Flip, but the steps below should work on any Chromebook out there.

How to install linux on a chromebook