This tutorial couldn’t be much easier, as a matter of fact you should be ashamed of yourself for even reading this! I’m just kidding, follow the next couple of steps and you’ll be wrestling the mighty python in a matter of minutes.

In the top toolbar go to  ‘Applications > Ubuntu Software Center’

Search for IDLE in the Ubuntu Software Center

Select the package ‘IDLE (using Python-2.6)’, hit the arrow and select ‘Install’ on the next page

After a few seconds, depending on your internet connection and processing power, the installation of IDLE is completed.

To start IDLE go to ‘ Applications > Programming > IDLE (using Python-2.6)’

Now you’re setup and ready to write  your first function…

If you’re new to Python and have little to no programming experience I recommend starting from one of two (or both) places.

Dive into Python and Think Python : How to Think Like a Computer Scientist provide excellent sources for unleashing your inner codeninja. ( Oh and the books are available for free in HTML, PDF and a bunch of other formats).

Go and discover your skills grashopper!

I’ll soon post a guide on setting up Eclipse on Ubuntu 9.10 and configuring the PyDev plugin to use Eclipse as your Python IDE.

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I’ll assume you haven’t already installed any of the necessary packages to run the Arduino IDE.

1. First open a terminal ( Applications > Accesories > Terminal ), paste the following code and hit enter :

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jdk
sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-plugin gcc-avr avr-libc

 
2. Next we need to uninstall Ubuntu’s braille support as it is known to cause conflicts with the Arduino IDE.

To do so go back to the terminal and enter :

sudo apt-get remove brltty

 
3. Now we need to setup Java
GNU’s Java doesn’t support the Arduino so to fix this run the command

sudo update-alternatives --config java

 
This will show you a list of java alternatives installed on the machine.
Select the entry ‘java-6-sun’

4. Now we are ready to download and install the arduino environment

Click here to download version 17 of the Arduino IDE. Alternatively go here to download a specific version.

5. Copy the downloaded file to your home directory ( saved by default in /home/username/downloads )

Extract the downloaded file into your home directory ( right-click > extract here ).

6. To start the Arduino IDE open the arduino-0017 folder and double click the arduino file, when prompted choose Run.

If you want to start the Arduino IDE from the command line, cd into the folder

cd /home/username/arduino-0017

 
and start the IDE with the command

./arduino

I however prefer to have a launcher to quickstart applications.

1. Download this icon to your desktop ( right-click > Save image as… )

2. Open a terminal, go to your desktop and copy the image to /usr/share/icons

cd Desktop/
sudo cp arduino.png /usr/share/icons/

 
3. Next right click the top panel and select Add to panel…

5. Select the first entry ‘Custom Application Launcher’ and hit Add

6.In the Create Launcher window enter

A name for the launcher :

Arduino

 
The command to be executed when the launcher is clicked :

bash -c "cd /home/yourusername/arduino-0017/; ./arduino"

 
And any comment you want to add :

starts the Arduino IDE

 
Now click on the spring icon and go to the /usr/share/icons/ folder and select the arduino.png image.

Your Launcher should look like this

That was it! You’re all setup to hack and thinker with your Arduino on Ubuntu 9.10.

Now run along a go blink some LEDs.

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