How to install the Eclipse IDE on Chrome OS
The Eclipse IDE is essential software for Java and Javascript developers. If you do development on your Chromebook and need access to the Eclipse IDE, here’s how to install it.
How to enable Linux on Chrome OS
Before you can install Eclipse IDE on your Chromebook, Linux must be enabled. Start by clicking on the clock icon in the Chrome OS dash. After you’ve selected the clock in the Chrome OS dash, find the “gear” icon, and select it with the mouse. This button will take you to the Chrome OS settings area.
Within the Chrome OS settings area, find “Advanced” and click on the arrow beside it. Upon clicking the arrow, Chrome OS will present a variety of Advanced options. Browse through the options until you find “Developers.” Select it, and within the “Developers” area, locate “Linux developer environment.”
In the “Linux developer environment” area, the “Turn on” button is what you need to find and click. This action will prompt Chrome OS to download a Debian Linux container to your Chromebook and set up the Chrome OS terminal.
Once the download is complete, Chrome OS will introduce a terminal app. In this terminal app, look for “Penguin,” and select it with the mouse. Selecting “Penguin” allows terminal access to the Debian container in Chrome OS.
Inside the terminal, issue the apt update command to update the Linux container’s software sources. Updating software sources is important, as
sudo apt update
With the Linux container’s software sources updated, it is time to install software upgrades for the container. You can install the software upgrades on your system by running the apt upgrade command.
sudo apt upgrade
With everything up to date, you are set to install Eclipse IDE, and a plethora of other Linux apps on your system.
How to install Eclipse IDE on a Chromebook
The Eclipse IDE is easy to set up on a Chromebook thanks to Flatpak. Everything required to run this IDE is bundled within the Flatpak package, including the necessary runtimes. Thus, there is no need to install Java Runtime Environment or any other software to use it.
There are two Eclipse IDE applications compatible with Chromebook: the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers and the Eclipse IDE for Web and JavaScript. In this guide, we will demonstrate how to set up both versions on your Chrome OS device.
Eclipse IDE for Java Developers
To install the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers, start by opening up the Chrome OS terminal app. You can open up the Chrome OS terminal app by searching for “Terminal” in the Chrome OS app menu.
Once the terminal app is open, search for “Penguin,” and click on it with the mouse. After selecting “Penguin,” you’ll have access to the Chrome OS Debian Linux container.
Inside of the Chrome OS Debian Linux container, use the apt install command to set up the “flatpak” package. This package is required to install Eclipse IDE for Java Developers.
sudo apt install flatpak
With the Flatpak package enabled and installed, you must set up the Flathub app store. This app store will allow you to install Eclipse IDE for Java Developers. To enable it, run the following flatpak remote-add command.
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
With the Flathub app store enabled you can install the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers app using the flatpak install command below.
flatpak install flathub org.eclipse.Java
With the command above run, you can launch the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers app from the “Linux apps” folder in the Chrome OS app menu.
Eclipse IDE for Web and Javascript
If you need to install the Web and Javascript version of Eclipse on your Chromebook instead of the Java Developers one, we’ve got you covered. To start, you’ll need to set up the “Flatpak” runtime. You can do that with the command below in the Chrome OS terminal.
sudo apt install flatpak
With the Flatpak runtime enabled on your Chromebook, you must enable the Flathub runtime on your system. You can do this with the flatpak remote-add command below.
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
With the Flathub app store enabled on your system, you can install the Eclipse IDE for Web and Javascript app using the command below.
flatpak install flathub org.eclipse.Javascript
Once installed, the Eclipse IDE for Web and Javascript app is available in the “Linux apps” folder in the Chrome OS app menu.
