In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of installing IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition on your Chromebook. IntelliJ IDEA is a powerful integrated development environment (IDE) primarily used for Java development, but it also supports many other programming languages.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, please note that this tutorial is specifically for Chromebooks with an Intel or AMD CPU that support Linux Apps. Unfortunately, this method won't work on Chromebooks with an ARM64 architecture CPU.

Video Tutorial

We recommend following along with the video tutorial above for a visual guide to the installation process. The steps and commands used in the video are detailed below for your convenience.

Step-by-Step Installation Guide

1. Enable Linux Apps on your Chromebook

If you haven't already enabled Linux Apps on your Chromebook, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Chromebook's Settings
2. Click on the "Advanced" section
3. Select "Developers"
4. Click on "Turn On" next to "Linux development environment"
5. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the setup

2. Update your Linux container

Open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt update

This command updates the list of available packages and their versions in your Linux container.

3. Install required packages

Next, we'll install some necessary packages:

sudo apt install kmenuedit libnss3 default-jdk

This command installs a menu editor (kmenuedit), a required library (libnss3), and the default Java Development Kit.

4. Download IntelliJ IDEA

Now, let's download the IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition:

wget https://download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIU-2024.1.1.tar.gz

This command downloads the IntelliJ IDEA package directly from the official JetBrains website.

5. Extract the downloaded package

Once the download is complete, extract the package:

tar -xf ideaIU-2024.1.1.tar.gz

This command extracts the contents of the downloaded archive.

6. Launch IntelliJ IDEA

To start IntelliJ IDEA, use the following command:

./idea-IU-241.15989.150/bin/idea.sh

This launches the IntelliJ IDEA application.

7. Add IntelliJ IDEA to your application menu

To make it easier to launch IntelliJ IDEA in the future, we'll add it to your application menu:

kmenuedit

This opens the menu editor. Follow these steps in the menu editor:

1. Choose a category for the new menu item
2. Click on "New Item"
3. Choose a name for the desktop entry (e.g., "IntelliJ IDEA")
4. Set the command to the path of the idea.sh file (e.g., /home/username/idea-IU-241.15989.150/bin/idea.sh)
5. Save the launcher

Additional Resources

For more detailed information about using IntelliJ IDEA, you can refer to the Google Doc used in the tutorial.

Visit the official IntelliJ IDEA website for comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and support.

Chromebook Compatibility

To check if your Chromebook supports Linux Apps, refer to our list of All Currently Supported Chromebooks with Linux Apps (Crostini) support.

If you're in the market for a new Chromebook, take a look at our Chromebook comparison and Buyers Guide to help you make an informed decision.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully installed IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition on your Chromebook. This powerful IDE opens up a world of development possibilities, allowing you to work on Java projects and much more, right from your Chromebook.

Remember, the Linux environment on your Chromebook provides a great platform for development. Don't hesitate to explore other development tools and languages to expand your coding capabilities.

If you encounter any issues during the installation process or have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out through a YouTube comment on our tutorial video. We're here to help!