How to install Slack on a Chromebook
Slack is one of the most popular work collaboration tools out there. If you do work on your Chromebook, you’ll probably want to install Slack. In this guide, we’ll show you how you can get Slack working on a Chromebook.
How to get Linux running on a Chromebook
To use the Linux Slack app on your Chromebook, you will need to enable Linux support. Enabling Linux support on a Chromebook is easy. To start, click on the clock in the Chrome OS taskbar.
Once you’ve selected the clock in the Chrome OS taskbar, find the gear icon, and click on it. When you choose the gear icon, you’ll be able to load up the Chrome OS settings area.
Inside the Chrome OS settings area, find the “Advanced” section, and click on the drop-down arrow next to it. Look through the “Advanced” section for “Developers,” and locate the “Linux development environment” option.
In the “Linux development environment” area, find the “Turn on” button. Selecting the “Turn on” button will download a Debian Linux container to your Chromebook. It’ll also download a terminal application, that you can use to interact with the container.
Once the Chrome OS terminal is done downloading, it should launch. If it doesn’t, launch it from the Chrome OS app menu. When the terminal app is open, find “penguin” and select it with the mouse.
When you select “penguin,” you’ll have access to the Linux container’s command line. From here, run the apt update command to refresh the container’s software sources.
sudo apt update
Once the software sources are up to date, you’ll need to install any pending software updates. You can install these software patches using the apt upgrade command.
sudo apt upgrade
When everything is up to date, you’ll be able to install Linux applications on your Chromebook, like Slack.
How to install Slack on a Chromebook – Deb package
The easiest way to install Slack on a Chromebook is to download the DEB package directly. To download the DEB package to your Chromebook, open up the Chrome OS terminal app, and select “penguin.” With the terminal app open, run the wget command below.
wget https://downloads.slack-edge.com/releases/linux/4.33.90/prod/x64/slack-desktop-4.33.90-amd64.deb
After downloading the Slack DEB package to your Chromebook’s Linux container, you can install the software using the apt install command.
sudo apt install ./slack-desktop-4.33.90-amd64.deb
When the command finishes running in the terminal app, you’ll be able to launch Slack from the “Linux apps” folder in the Chrome OS app menu.
How to install Slack on a Chromebook – Flatpak
Another way to get Slack working on a Chromebook is with Flatpak. Flatpak is a sandboxed application runtime for all Linux operating systems, and it works great on Chromebooks.
To get Slack working as a Flatpak, you need to first install the runtime in the Linux container. Open up the Chrome OS terminal app, and select “penguin,” to load up the command interface.
In the command interface, use the apt install command to install the “flatpak” package. This package is the runtime, and it handles everything application-wise.
sudo apt install flatpak
With the Flatpak runtime set up and installed, you must enable the Flathub app store. Flathub is responsible for delivering Flatpak apps, like Slack. To enable the Flathub app store, run the following flatpak command below.
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Now that the Flathub app store is set up, Slack can be installed on your Chromebook. To install the Slack app, you need to use the flatpak install command below.
flatpak install flathub com.slack.Slack
With the Slack app installed on your Chromebook, you’ll be able to launch it from the Chrome OS “Linux apps” app menu.
Getting started with Slack
To use Slack on your Chromebook, start by launching it from the Chrome OS app menu. Once the app is open, find the “Sign In to Slack” button, and click on it with the mouse.
When you click on the sign-in button, a new browser tab will open. Ensure you have a Linux browser installed, as the Slack app will not be able to detect the Chrome OS browser. Install a browser like Waterfox on your Chromebook, and set it as default for this purpose.
Once the browser tab is open, log into the app using your Slack account information. When you log in, it’ll launch Slack and you can begin using it on your Chromebook.
