Setting Up Your Computer - northern-bites/nbites GitHub Wiki

If you want to work with the Northern Bites' code, you need to set up your computer with the various software and files that support it. Linux is the team's only supported operating system, and since the team is most familiar with Ubuntu, we use that distribution in particular.

Important Note: Our code only supports 32-bit distributions of Ubuntu.

You do have several options as to how you'll actually work in a Linux environment, however. They are:

• Using Parallels on OS X.
  • pros: easy to use, you don't have to reboot to use your mac normally
  • cons: some things are trickier (e.g. compiling may not work as you expect), we don't have a team license
  • Note: We haven't gotten any other virtualization software (VMWare, VirtualHost, etc.) to work properly. You might consider this as a Parallels alternative, but it might take much longer to set up and there won't be as many people on the team who can help.
• Installing Linux instead of or along with another OS, aka dual-booting.
  • pros: has full access to your computer
  • cons: time-consuming installation and setup process with potential for mistakes, switching from one OS to another takes several minutes
• Using a team laptop. Ask if we have one available.
  • pros: already set up and ready to go.
  • cons: you can't keep it.

If you know how you'd like to set up, move on to Installing Linux.