ortus-boxlang BoxLang on Chromebooks
Overview
Chromebooks support full BoxLang development through the built-in Linux development environment (Crostini — Debian container). Both Intel and ARM-based Chromebooks are supported.
Requirements
- Chromebook with 4GB RAM minimum (8GB+ recommended)
- Chrome OS with Linux development environment enabled
- At least 2GB free disk space
- OpenJDK 21+
Step 1 — Enable Linux Development Environment
- Open Settings → Advanced → Developers
- Turn on Linux development environment
- Follow the setup wizard (choose 8GB+ storage when prompted)
- Wait for the Debian container to initialize
Step 2 — Open Linux Terminal
- Press Alt + Shift + T to open the Terminal app
- Click the Penguin tab to access the Linux (Debian) environment
Step 3 — System Setup
# Update system and install essential tools
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y \
curl wget git zip unzip \
build-essential \
software-properties-common \
apt-transport-https \
ca-certificates
Step 4 — Install Java 21
Option A — Direct package install (most Chromebooks)
sudo apt install -y openjdk-21-jdk
java -version
Option B — Manual install (if package unavailable)
# Download Temurin JDK 21 (works on both x86_64 and aarch64/ARM)
ARCH=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
if [ "$ARCH" = "arm64" ]; then
JDK_URL="https://github.com/adoptium/temurin21-binaries/releases/latest/download/OpenJDK21U-jdk_aarch64_linux_hotspot_21_latest.tar.gz"
else
JDK_URL="https://github.com/adoptium/temurin21-binaries/releases/latest/download/OpenJDK21U-jdk_x64_linux_hotspot_21_latest.tar.gz"
fi
wget -O /tmp/jdk21.tar.gz "$JDK_URL"
sudo mkdir -p /opt/java
sudo tar -xzf /tmp/jdk21.tar.gz -C /opt/java
# Add to PATH in ~/.bashrc
echo 'export JAVA_HOME=$(ls -d /opt/java/jdk-21*)' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
java -version
Step 5 — Install BoxLang
# Download the BoxLang installer script
curl -fsSL https://downloads.ortussolutions.com/boxlang/install-boxlang.sh | bash
# Verify installation
boxlang --version
# Or use BoxLang Version Manager (BVM) for version management
curl -fsSL https://downloads.ortussolutions.com/bvm/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
bvm install latest
bvm use latest
boxlang --version
Step 6 — Install VS Code
VS Code is available as a .deb package that integrates natively with
Chromebook's Linux environment:
# Download VS Code for Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
curl -fsSL https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | \
gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg
echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg] \
https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y code
Install the BoxLang VS Code extension:
code --install-extension ortus-solutions.vscode-boxlang
Or from VS Code Extensions panel: search BoxLang.
Step 7 — Create Your First App
mkdir ~/my-boxlang-app && cd ~/my-boxlang-app
cat > hello.bxs << 'EOF'
println( "Hello from BoxLang on ChromeOS!" )
println( "Java version: " & createObject("java","java.lang.System").getProperty("java.version") )
EOF
boxlang hello.bxs
Running the MiniServer (Web Development)
# Start the MiniServer in your project directory
mkdir ~/webapp && cd ~/webapp
cat > index.bxm << 'EOF'
<bx:output>
<html>
<body>
<h1>BoxLang on ChromeOS!</h1>
<p>Today: #dateFormat( now(), "long" )#</p>
</body>
</html>
</bx:output>
EOF
# Start the server on port 8080
boxlang-miniserver --port 8080 --webroot .
# Access in Chrome at: http://localhost:8080/
ARM Chromebook Notes
- Use packages tagged
arm64oraarch64for all downloads - BoxLang JAR is architecture-neutral (Java bytecode) — the same JAR works on all platforms
- VS Code detects ARM automatically and installs the correct binary
- The Linux environment on ARM Chromebooks uses
dpkg --print-architecture→arm64
Troubleshooting
command not found: boxlang after install
# Reload shell config
source ~/.bashrc
# Or check if BVM added PATH correctly
echo $PATH | grep -o '[^:]*boxlang[^:]*'
# Manual PATH add if needed
echo 'export PATH=$HOME/.bvm/current/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
java not found
# Verify JAVA_HOME is set
echo $JAVA_HOME
java -version
# If not set, locate the JDK and add to PATH
sudo update-alternatives --config java
Port not accessible from Chrome browser
Chrome OS forwards Linux ports automatically for localhost. If not working:
- Ensure the server is listening on
0.0.0.0or127.0.0.1 - Try restarting the Linux container: Settings → Linux → Restart
- Check Chrome OS Linux port forwarding settings
Out of disk space
Linux environment storage can be expanded:
- Settings → Linux → Disk size → Resize
Development Best Practices on Chromebook
- Store code in Linux home (
~/) — accessible from VS Code and terminal - Use extension settings to point BoxLang extension to the correct binary path
- Access files from the Files app via Linux files → penguin → home
- Use
code .from the Linux terminal to open VS Code in current directory - Keep extensions minimal — Chromebook resources are limited; install only what you need