• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Chrome Unboxed - The Latest Chrome OS News

A Space for All Things Chrome, Google, and More!

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Unboxing
  • Chromebooks
  • Upcoming
  • Deals
  • Tips
  • Podcast
  • Home
  • Gaming
  • SEARCH
You are here: Home / Chrome OS / Chrome OS 80 makes graphic intensive Linux apps so much better
Chrome OS 80 makes graphic intensive Linux apps so much better

Chrome OS 80 makes graphic intensive Linux apps so much better

March 10, 2020 By Robby Payne Leave a Comment

As we’ve seen in the past few months, Linux apps on Chrome OS have come a long way. There’s still work to be done and there are new features that are on the way or that have just launched, but the overall feel of Linux apps on Chromebooks is way more cohesive than it was just 6 months ago.

If you’re like me, you’ve either tried or want to try a few games here and there using the new ability Chromebooks now have to install some things in a more native fashion. Steam actually installs quite easily and other games that have installers (like Open Areana) can be installed right from the command line. In addition, many people seem quite interested in the handful of video and photo editors Gabe has covered in the Command Line series. All of these tasks need one very specific thing to run, though, and that is GPU acceleration.

This idea isn’t new and we’ve had GPU acceleration working for some time now. The thing is, it hasn’t been working out of the box up to this point. Instead, users were required to enable the Crostini GPU Support flag to get the whole thing running and for many, this is either something they won’t do on their own, something they’ll forget, or something they won’t even know exists. For any of those users, loading up any graphics-intense application becomes a mess of dropped frames and unusable software. Most games simply won’t perform at all without access to the GPU. Though the integrated graphics chips in Chromebooks aren’t that powerful, they are far better at tackling these tasks than just the CPU alone.

Thankfully, this requirement doesn’t seem to be a thing any longer. With Chrome OS 80 and the new version of Debian Linux (Buster) that it installs when enabling Linux apps on your Chromebook, it seems GPU acceleration has finally become part of the general Linux app experience on Chromebooks. This is a massive win since most users giving Linux apps a try may or may not ever be familiar with GPUs and whether or not there is a need to enable them. From this point forward, they won’t need to worry about it and the entire Linux app process can become one step less convoluted and one step more seamless. It’s beneficial all around and a feature we’ve been waiting on for a long time. Now, about those discrete GPU Chromebooks that can start really taking advantage of this…

Shop All The Latest Chromebook Deals

Get Alerted About New Posts On
Your Schedule
Sign Up For The Official Chrome Unboxed Newsletter
Latest Posts
  • The 5 best Chromecast remote shortcuts [VIDEO]
  • Google Play Books adds a fun, new reading mode for children following the shut down of the Rivet app
  • Chrome 88 introduces the controversial Manifest v3 which seeks to fix the ‘extensions problem’
  • The upcoming Chrome OS diagnostic tool will be baked into the settings menu

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Chrome OS, Command Line, Crostini, News

About Robby Payne

Tech junkie. Musician. Web Developer. Coffee Snob. Huge fan of the Google things. Founded Chrome Unboxed because so many of my passions collide in this space. I like that. I want to share that. I hope you enjoy it too.

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | EMAIL | ABOUT

Copyright © 2021 · Chrome Unboxed · Chrome is a registered trademark of Google Inc.
We are participants in various affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites.

GET EMAIL UPDATES

Privacy Policy

  • Reviews
  • Editorial
  • About