Debian Linux from within Chrome OS on chromebook plus

In my previous post I explained how to dual boot linux/Chrome OS on a chromebook plus.  Just recently, I learned that Google has implemented a method of running arbitrary code within virtual machines on Chrome OS.  More specifically, Google has implemented a virtual machine that supports the Debian operating system.  More details on this functionality can be found here:

https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md

It is relatively simple to enable this functionality that will give you a terminal window that accesses a Debian virtual machine.  The top level steps are:

1) Change to the developer channel in chrome - this can be accomplished by going into Chrome OS settings, going into "About Chrome os (click three lines upper left)", detailed build info, the click change channel.  More details can be found here (same link as above):

https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md

and here:
https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1086915?hl=en

2) Open a chrome tab and go to chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-crostini-ui find Experimental Crostini option and select Enabled from the drop down then reboot


3)  Your system will download an OS update.  Mine took several minutes before it actually downloaded and installed the update so be patient.  Once it has downloaded and installed, reboot. Once rebooted , open your Settings and you will see a new Linux (Beta) section above the Google Play Store section.   Click Turn On.

4)   The native Chrome OS terminal window app will now be accessible in your app drawer.  The Debian virtual machine (VM) is now loaded  and running.  It took my system quite a few minutes before the terminal window, after clicking the icon, to come up for the first time.

Once loaded, I tested the VM by installing octave by running the following commands from within the new terminal window :

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install octave


If you have problems, here are some other descriptions of the process:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Crostini/comments/8t7yjp/how_i_made_crostini_terminal_on_my_cb_work/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Crostini/comments/8o1u2o/chromebook_plus_linux_beta_quick_how_to/

https://9to5google.com/2018/06/03/how-to-enable-linux-apps-beta-chrome-os-android-basics/