Prusa Slicer is a great companion app to the Prusa 3D printer. If you have a Prusa, you’ll need one of these, as no other slicer is quite as compatible. It’s cross-platform, and it works on Windows, Mac OS, and other platforms. It even works on Chrome OS, with the Linux developer environment enabled and configured. Here’s how you can get the Prusa app working on your Chromebook.
Enable Linux on Chrome OS
You must enable the Linux developer environment on your Chromebook. To do this, start by selecting the clock icon in the Chrome OS dash. Then, select the “gear” icon. Once you’ve selected the gear icon, you’ll be loaded into the Chrome OS settings area.
Inside the Chrome OS settings area, find the “Advanced” section, and click on it with the mouse. When you select the “Advanced” option in Chrome OS settings, it’ll reveal sub-settings. Look through the settings for “Developers,” and click on it with the mouse.
After selecting the “Developers” option, look for the “Linux developers area,” and click on the “Turn on” button. Selecting the “Turn on” button will start the Linux setup process on your Chromebook.
Once you’ve downloaded Linux onto your Chromebook, Chrome OS will install a terminal app and launch it. In this terminal app, find “Penguin,” and select it with the mouse. Selecting “Penguin” loads up the Linux command line.
In the Linux command line, run the apt update command to refresh the Linux software sources and check for updates.
sudo apt update
When you’ve updated the Linux system, you can install available updates using the apt upgrade command. Keep in mind, that this command may take a bit of time to complete if there are a lot of updates available for the Chrome OS Linux container.
sudo apt upgrade
Once you’ve installed all available updates in the Chrome OS Linux container, you’ll be able to use Linux on your Chromebook to install apps, including Prusa Slicer.
How to install Prusa Slicer on Chrome OS
There are two ways to get the Prusa Slicer app working on your Chromebook. You can install the Prusa Slicer Debian package which will give you a stable, but out-of-date version of the app. Alternatively, you can install the Flatpak package. In this guide, we’ll show you how to do both.
Install Prusa Slicer – Debian package
If you want to install the Prusa Slicer app on your Chromebook via a Debian package, start by launching a terminal window. You can launch a terminal window on your Chromebook by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu in Chrome OS.
Once the terminal app is open, use the apt install command to install the “prusa-slicer” package. Keep in mind, however, as Debian packages tend to be slow to update, this version of Prusa Slicer may not have the latest features you’re excited about. If you require new features, install Prusa Slicer as a Flatpak instead.
sudo apt install prusa-slicer
With the command above run, Prusa Slicer will be installed in the Chrome OS Linux container, and as a result, will be available for you to use via the “Linux apps” folder in the Chrome OS app menu.
Install Prusa Slicer – Flatpak package
Setting up Prusa Slicer as a Debian package is much easier, as it just requires one command. However, that version of Prusa isn’t as up-to-date as what can be installed via Flathub as a Flatpak. So, if you need the latest updates, this is the way to go.
To start the installation process, you must install the “flatpak” package. This package handles all runtime information and configurations for Flatpak programs. You can install it with the following apt install command.
sudo apt install flatpak
With the Flatpak runtime setup, you need to set up the Flathub app store. Flathub has the latest version of Prusa Slicer, so enabling it is important. You can enable it with the following flatpak command.
