How to install the Pulsar code editor on Chrome OS

Pulsar is a continuation of the now-defunct Atom code editor. It is community-driven, open-source, and an excellent coding tool. In this guide, we’ll go over how you can install the Pulsar coding text editor on your Chromebook.

How to enable Linux on your Chromebook

Pulsar requires the Linux developer environment on Chrome OS enabled to run on a Chromebook. To enable it, start by clicking on the clock icon in the Chrome OS dash. Then, inside the clock area, find the gear icon and select it with the mouse.

After selecting the gear icon, the Chrome OS Settings window will appear. From here, find the “Advanced” section, and click on the arrow next to it to reveal its settings. Select the “Developers” option.

In the “Developers” area, you’ll need to locate “Linux development environment” and select it with the mouse. After choosing this option, find the “Turn on” button, and select it. When you click on “Turn on,” Chrome OS will download and install a Debian LXC container on your Chromebook in which you can run programs in.

Along with setting up the LXC container, Chrome OS will also download and launch the Chrome OS terminal. Inside of the Chrome OS app, find the “Penguin,” option, and click on it. “Penguin,” allows users to run terminal commands inside of the Linux container.

With the Linux container open in the terminal, use the apt update to refresh Linux’s software index. Refreshing the index makes it possible to check for new updates to install.

sudo apt update

After everything is up to date, you must install all pending software upgrades. To do this, run the following apt upgrade command. Keep in mind, this process may take a bit of time to complete.

sudo apt upgrade

Once everything is up to date, Linux is ready to use on your Chromebook.

How to install Pulsar on a Chromebook – DEB

Perhaps the best way to get Pulsar working on a Chromebook is by downloading and installing the DEB package. To get your hands on the latest Pulsar DEB package, open up the Chrome OS terminal, and select “Penguin.”

After choosing “Penguin,” enter the following wget command to download the latest Pulsar DEB package. The download should be relatively quick as the DEB package isn’t very big.

wget https://api.cirrus-ci.com/v1/artifact/task/6401794893414400/binary/binaries/pulsar_1.105.2023052200_amd64.deb

Once you’ve downloaded the latest Pulsar DEB package to your computer, you can install it using the apt install command. This command will install the package and take care of any dependencies it needs to run the program.

sudo apt install ./pulsar_1.105.2023052200_amd64.deb

Once this command finishes running, the Pulsar application will be installed and available to use on your Chromebook in the “Linux apps” folder in the app launcher.

How to update

Keeping Pulsar up to date is pretty important. If you prefer to keep Pulsar up to date at all times, consider installing the Flatpak release of the app instead. Flatpak is automatically updating, so there’s no hard work involved in getting the latest Pulsar.

How to install Pulsar on a Chromebook – Flatpak

Another way to get Pulsar on a Chromebook is as a Flatpak from the Flathub app store. To get it working on your system, you’ll need to first install the Flatpak runtime on your computer. Open up the Chrome OS terminal, and select “Penguin.”

Once the terminal is open and ready to use, run the apt install command and install the “flatpak” package.

sudo apt install flatpak

With the Flatpak package installed on your system, you’ll need to enable the “flathub” app store. You’ll be able to enable the Flathub app store with the following flatpak remote-add command.

flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

With the Flathub app store enabled on your system, you’ll be able to install the Pulsar app on your Chromebook using the flatpak install command.

flatpak install flathub dev.pulsar_edit.Pulsar

How to update

Pulsar is under active development and is constantly being updated. To keep this program updated on your Chromebook, do the following. First, open up the Chrome OS terminal. Once it is open, use the flatpak update -y command.

The “flatpak update” command will tell Flatpak to check for updates and install them. This process takes a few minutes (especially if you have many apps installed from Flathub.org.)