06: Setup for Linux or WSL

The installation and setup instructions were created in July 2022 and are updated whenever there's a change that makes them incorrect. If you find that these instructions are wrong then please comment on this lesson and I'll fix whatever you find. Be sure to triple check that you are actually finding something wrong and aren't simply making a mistake.

Required Software for Linux

If you run Linux, (not WSL), you will need to download and install the following software:

• NodeJS LTS -- LTS means "Long Term Support" and as of January 2021 that is version 18.12.1. These lesson should work with Node after version 14.
• Chrome -- You will need to install all of the major browsers for testing and development. If you already have it installed then be sure to update it.
• Firefox -- Firefox is another browser you need to install. If you already installed then be sure to update it.

I'm assuming you already know how to use a text editor if you're on Linux, so I won't tell you one to install.

A Text Editor for WSL

The one problem with WSL is it's all terminal based, meaning you have no graphics and barely any mouse usage. For this reason I don't recommend people actively code with it unless they already know how to use a decent terminal based text editor like Vim or Emacs. Both editors have a steep learning curve, but if you put in the time they become very powerful programmer's editors. I personally use Vim and I'm a code destroying demon with it, but I've also been using it for 15 years.

A lighter alternative is the nano text editor which will work for small amounts of editing or to get started, but eventually you should graduate to the next level of editors and try to learn Vim or Emacs.

Accessing Windows from WSL

If you want to use Visual Studio Code from inside windows, but want to work with your code using WSL, then you can access your C drive by doing this inside WSL:

cd /mnt/c/

If you are storing your LJSTWH code in Windows at C:\Users\zed\Projects\ljsthw then you would type this in WSL:

cd /mnt/c/Users/zed/Projects/ljsthw

Confirming Your Installation

To confirm you've installed everything correctly attempt the following tasks:

• Start either a Terminal in Linux or the WSL terminal.
• Type node --version and you should see a number like 18.12.1 or close to it.
• Type git --version and you should see something close to 2.19 but closer to 2.37.1 is preferred.
• Start Chrome and make sure it works.
• Confirm Firefox works too.
• Make sure the text editor you want to use works as well.

If you can do all of these tasks then everything should be installed and ready to use. If not then confirm you actually installed the software correctly. The video for this lesson shows how to install the software on Windows and perform all of these checks. It might have clues for your own installation.