2. Installing an Ubuntu 18.04 Distribution

Author: Brandon Rice

Before we jump into the nitty-gritty, please acknowledge the following prerequisites for following along with these tutorials and/or joining the SDRC software team:

Prerequisites

• A laptop computer (Note: Chromebooks probably won't work!)
• A stable internet connection

2.1 - What is Ubuntu

In order to use our programs and contribute to our team, you must use a computer with an operating system from a specific family: Linux. Linux can be thought of as a competitor of Microsoft and Apple, but unlike these two companies, many distributions (or "flavors") of Linux are free and open-source. (Note: Apple's MacOS is actually built upon UNIX/Linux, but is proprietary!)

Ubuntu is a popular free Linux distribution. Our code, which uses Robot Operating System (ROS), was built for Ubuntu (hence the Linux requirement). Ubuntu's user interface is styled more similar to MacOS than Windows. Note: If you are a CS or CSE student at ASU, you will probably use Ubuntu in your upper-level classes!

For users wanting more of a Windows feel and layout, I recommend using Linux Mint as an operating system. I personally enjoy Linux Mint over Ubuntu.

Click on the image above to watch a video on the differences between Ubuntu and Linux Mint!

DISCLAIMER:

ROS was built specifically for Ubuntu. With this in mind, all other operating systems will require special installation steps and configurations to get ROS to work, if at all. The only operating systems that I have personally tested and confirm work with our code are Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Other operating systems may not work!

2.2 Installing Your Linux Distribution Inside a Virtual Machine

Unless you know you will need to use graphics/CPU heavy applications, I suggest you install your Linux operating system on a virtual machine (VM). You may choose to instead install your Linux OS either as your primary OS or as a secondary OS (dual-boot so you still also have Windows/MacOS), but read the following super big disclaimer:

SUPER BIG DISCLAIMER:

By installing an OS over your current OS, it WILL DELETE ALL of your saved files, documents, and memory. The only way to not lose your files is to dual-boot. This means to allocate additional storage for another operating system. This can sometimes be a difficult process depending on your system's manufacturer/model. Because of the risks of losing all of your data, I suggest only dual-booting if you are sure you know what you are doing or if you have a professional dual-boot your system for you!

My preferred VM software is Oracle's VirtualBox, which is also free and open-source. You can download the latest version from their website.

The video linked through the image below (click on the image or this link to view) gives a great and detailed tutorial on how to setup the VirtualBox VM software on a Windows machine. Please view it and follow along. If you would instead like to use Linux Mint, just download the Linux Mint 20 .iso file from Linux Mint's website here.

Repeated for emphasis: Use Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 20, or another OS compatible with Ubuntu 18.04 (not the latest version)!

Click on the image above to watch a tutorial video on installing VirtualBox and Ubuntu!

2.3 Additional Setup

We will need the ability to communicate with other computers on our network when we run our ROS programs. This will allow us, for example, to drive the robot without needing to be plugged in to the robot via Ethernet. Most likely, you also want to be able to run your VM in a large, full-screen resolution. Below is a quick video on how to change your VirtualBox network adapter settings and enable full-resolution, full-screen mode.

Click on the image above to watch a tutorial video on additional setup steps for VirtualBox!