Running Shell on Other OS

There are times when you need Unix shell, usually for one-off script or quick test. Here are ways I found to run shell on Chromebook, Android phone, and Windows.

Chromebook

1. Chrome Shell – Type <Ctrl-Alt-T> from Chrome browser or desktop to get “crosh>” command prompt, and then type shell to get a full Bash shell. You have to enable Developer Mode to get access to the shell command. Chromebook can be switched into Developer Mode by pressing <Esc-Refresh-Power> and then follow instructions.
2. Crouton – Install crouton in developer mode. It's a shell script that installs Ubuntu/Debian in chroot environment, so you can switch between Chrome OS and Ubuntu/Debian.
   • Install Ubuntu on a Chromebook
   • Chromium OS Universal Chroot Environment

Android

1. Termux – Install from Play Store. It's Ubuntu-like command-line distro.
   • Termux

Windows

1. BusyBox – There is a BusyBox binary compiled for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.
   • BusyBox for Windows
2. Cygwin – Collection of Unix utilities running natively on Windows.
   • Cygwin
3. Windows Subsystem for Linux (used to be called Bash on Ubuntu on Windows) – Go to Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off, and enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux option. After reboot, download and install Ubuntu from Windows Store.
   • Windows Subsystem for Linux Documentation
4. VirtualBox (or VMware or Hyper-V) – Full VM where you can install any Linux distro.
   • Oracle VM VirtualBox
5. Git Bash – It's part of Git for Windows application.
   • Git for Windows