Installing & running Godot on Chrome OS (Linux - beta)

:information_source: Attention Topic was automatically imported from the old Question2Answer platform.
:bust_in_silhouette: Asked By K1NGM4RV

Hi guys, I know it’s a weird topic but bear with me it’s pretty important I think.

I really love the simplicity of Godot (and chrome OS as well!) so I’d like to install & run Godot on my chromebook as well.
I have the Acer R13 chromebook (stable channel) - it’s pretty good and features the Linux (beta) vitual machine → meaning we can install linux apps on a separate partition.

Installing things like Gimp/Inkscape isn’t that difficult and it seems to work perfectly! (people are doing it with “sudo apt-get install ”). Now I’m not a linux expert by any stretch of the imagination but via this method you are installing respective applications from (some) online repository.

The thing is the following: if you download Godot - it’s a file that I can’t execute on my chromebook (at least after trying every method possible for 1.5 hours, I couldn’t). It would be great if someone could help in this department.

I don’t want to touch “Homebrew” (since I’ve seen it in the macOS section) because I think there is a better way to do it (and it would probably fail anyway).

I managed to get Godot 4 to work after installing it via Steam on Linux Penguin. I also successfully used the terminal commands to install version 3.5.2.

Obviously 3.5.2 works better in most cases.

GodotBeginnerRich | 2023-04-13 14:49

:bust_in_silhouette: Reply From: Kyle Guarco

People have succeeded compiling Godot for an ARM target, but with less than desirable results. My suggestion to you is compiling Godot directly from source. Just use these instructions, and tailor them to your platform.

Hi there! That’s a great idea, I think I’m giving it a shot.

Thanks and have a great day

K1NGM4RV | 2019-05-10 06:17

:bust_in_silhouette: Reply From: ludian

It works in Chromebook’s Linux App Mode (crostini VM).

  1. Update to Google Chrome 79.0.3945.86 (Official Build) (64-bit)
  2. Enable Linux App Mode and start it: How to Enable Linux App Mode on Chromebook - Make Tech Easier
  3. Download Godot from the Linux prompt: wget https://downloads.tuxfamily.org/godotengine/3.1.2/Godot_v3.1.2-stable_x11.64.zip
  4. Unzip it: unzip Godot_v3.1.2-stable_x11.64.zip
  5. Run it: ./Godot_v3.1.2-stable_x11.64
    It is recommended that you stop or disable other unnecessary apps and extensions. I’ve found that resizing Godot windows can cause it to crash. But it does work.

Also for better performance enable the “crostini gpu support” in chrome://flags

Kirottu | 2020-01-22 06:43

I didn’t think about that. Thanks!

ludian | 2020-01-22 20:32

I followed all the steps, but it just says:
-bash: ./Godot_v3.1.2-stable_x11.64: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error
and when I execute it in file manager, it just opens a game called plague inc.
I am not sure what is happening, any help would be greatly appreciated!

FluffyPancakes1 | 2022-08-05 10:56

If you get an exec format error, it’s likely because your Chromebook has an ARM CPU but official Godot Linux binaries are only compiled for x86/x86_64.

You’d need to compile an ARMv7 or ARM64 Godot Linux binary to run it on a Chromebook. See Add official Linux ARM/Raspberry Pi editor and export template binaries · Issue #988 · godotengine/godot-proposals · GitHub for details.

Calinou | 2022-08-05 10:59

That comment seems to be for a raspberry pi, and I’m not sure how to do it on my chromebook. It has files such as .pi, and other steps which are not explained, so I’m not too sure what to do.

FluffyPancakes1 | 2022-08-05 18:58

1 Like