Good Day everyone, after many hours of research and anxiety I would like to share my experience with downloading the UpWork Desktop for Chromebook. I would first like to thank
Active Member Stephanie M for her post (https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Working-UpWork-Desktop-App-On-ChromeOS/td-p/561049),
Jerami for his post (http://www.jerami.net/using-upwork-desktop-app-on-a-chromebook-linux-virtual/) and Google Support (https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9145439/set-up-linux-on-your-chromebook?hl=en).
Without them I would have been completely lost and given up on becoming a freelancer before I even started.
- Begin by going into your chrome book settings and select About Chrome OS to identify if your Chromebook is a 32 or 64 bit as well as check for updates.
- Staying in settings select Advanced and then select to Developers. You should see “Linux development environment,” and select Turn On. Follow the on-screen instructions and give it a few minutes to run. Check the Google Support link about LINUX to find out which environment they are currently running on Chromebook (Debian 10 (Buster) environment)
- A terminal window ( ) should open, this is where you can run Linux operations but before that you will have to update your Linux. In the open terminal window type the following: sudo apt-get update then hit the enter key once it stops processing then upgrade installed components by typing the following: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade and hit the enter key once again. It may ask to continue ( y-yes/ n-no) at some point so type Y and the enter key to continue. Once all of this is complete, restart your Chromebook before going onto the next step.
- Now open the Download the New UpWork Desktop App page for Linux (https://www.upwork.com/ab/downloads/os/linux/) and select the correct download version for your Chromebook. For mine it was the Debian-based 64-bit Standard. Then download to your Chromebook in My Files > Downloads.
- Double tap the file and your Chromebook should acknowledge it and launch Linux. Follow the on-screen prompts to continue the setup and installation of the UpWork Desktop App.
- Once complete, open and run the UpWork Desktop App following the on-screen instructions for logging in your account.
Hope this has been helpful to anyone else struggling with using UpWork with their Chromebook. I love my device and after being unemployed since the pandemic began in March 2020 I was not going to give up on my first freelancing opportunity so easily. Please feel free to correct or update anything I have written here this was based on my experience and limited knowledge of IT type scenarios.
