Arduino/Flora IDE for Linux Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[mrex]

Hi All,

I was reading the tutorial for flora (just got mine yesterday) and I see links for a special version of the Arduino IDE for Flora for Windows and Mac, but none for Linux. Is there a linux version out there? Can I just take the relevant files out of the Mac version and recompile/place them in the correct locations in the linux version of the Arduino IDE?

I have a feeling I'm missing something very simple here, but I plugged in the flora, and I don't see it listed in the Tools > Boards section of the IDE...

Signed,
Confused Mrex

(Thanks!)

[mrex]

Well, I seem to have solved my problem!

After spending the last few hours reading, studying, and comparing things it turns out I can get the linux version of the IDE to program the Flora by simply editing one file, and copying one folder. In a nutshell, I had to:

1 -- Download the Adafruit version of the IDE and unzip it to a new folder.

2 -- Add the extra entries from the Adafruit version of boards.txt to hardware/arduino/boards.txt in the linux version. This defines the Adafruit Flora, as well as other Adafruit boards.

3 -- copy the variants/flora folder to arduino/hardware/arduino/variants in the linux version.

Testing

I tested this by creating the test file from the tutorial, compiling/downloading it, and making sure it ran. It seems my board came with this program already downloaded, as D7 started blinking as soon as I plugged the Flora into a USB port.

When I downloaded the tutorial version, I saw the RX/TX leds blink, saw the board reset it self, and say D7 blinking at exactly the same rate. However, I then modified the delay from 1 second down to 100 milliseconds, and downloaded it again, noting that D7 now blinked 10 times faster.

Caveats

Of course, I may have missed something, I'm very new to Arduino. And if I did, please post! But I carefully diffed all the folders in both the Adafruit Mac version and the Arduino Ubuntu version of the IDE, and these were the 2 key differences I saw.

There are different executibles, Mac plist and other extra files, but they don't seem to matter. The IDE itself seems to be extensible and designed to allow new boards to be added without having to recompile anything. See here for more info:

http://code.google.com/p/arduino/wiki/Platforms

In any case, thanks for reading, and I hope this helps anyone else getting started with Flora under linux.

-- Happy Mrex

[adafruit]

oops you got to it before we did, thats all you need!

[jamworks]

I have several Floras and I only run Ubuntu. I currently use Arduino IDE 1.03 I have downloaded the MacIDE( very large) looked at it and can't find the indicated files and folders to move to my working IDE. Can you indicate again, as clear and complete as possible .... how can I use my Adafruit Flora under linux (Ubuntu). I have used my IDE with the micro with no problems (same u324 processor)

[mrex]

jamworks,

Get your paths right.

Sounds like you are having a hard time finding the right folders in the Mac version. The Mac version has many extra folders and files that are related to the way the Mac deals with files. But the key is this:

"???/Adafruit-Arduino.app/Contents/Resources/Java/" in the Mac archive maps to "???/arduino-1.0.3" on Ubuntu. I use the "???" to indicate that I don't know the absolute path for your machine, it depends on where you installed things. But for me, the Ubuntu version is at /home/mrex/arduino-1.0.3 and the Mac version is at /home/mrex/Flora-IDE.

Search for both boards.txt and the flora folder in the Mac version. Once you find them you should be able to make the changes as I outlined above.

Sorry, that's all I have time for tonight. Good Luck!

-- Mrex

[jamworks]

Thanks Mrex for the quick reply....I don't have the Mac version installed....I just unzipped it in a temp folder. The only path I sees is

jamworks@jamworks-Satellite-L650:~/jtemp/Adafruit-Arduino.app/Contents/Resources/Java/Hardware/Tools

only thing in the tools folder is some avr stuff....no sign of adafruit or flora except in the Java/Libraries...these are the examples/code stuff.

A search of the folder Adafruit-Arduino.app show no file boards.txt.... I'm not on the right track here!

Thanks again for your reply....The idea of having to download a huge Mac file to find a few small files/folders (boards.txt and the flora folder to make the Flora IDE run under Ubuntu seems very wrong ;-)

[mrex]

Oh Lord Jamworks,

I think I've probably confused you more than anything, and at the same time yer close.

First, I didn't install the Mac IDE on my ubuntu box, because you can't install Mac software under Ubuntu.

(Hey Everyone Else, no comments about VirtualBox and Hackentosh's, okay???)

Instead, I just downloaded and unzipped it to my home folder. I unzipped it here:

/home/mrex/FloraIDE_Mac/

Then I browsed through the folders under there, and the two locations I'm referring to are as follows on my box:

/home/mrex/FloraIDE_Mac/Adafruit-Arduino.app/Contents/Resources/Java/hardware/arduino/boards.txt
/home/mrex/FloraIDE_Mac/Adafruit-Arduino.app/Contents/Resources/Java/hardware/arduino/variants/flora

Note these are case-sensitive.

Note there is also a /home/mrex/FloraIDE_Mac/__MACOSX folder on my box. You have one too, probably at "~/jtemp/__MACOSX". That is the resource fork for the Mac version. Stay out of there, that way LIES MADNESS AND CONFUSION. And empty folders and no files.

On the Ubuntu side, I have:

/home/mrex/arduino-1.0.3/

The destinations are:

/home/mrex/arduino-1.0.3/hardware/arduino/boards.txt
/home/mrex/arduino-1.0.3/hardware/arduino/variants/flora

You seemed to make it to "~/jtemp/Adafruit-Arduino.app/Contents/Resources/Java/Hardware/Tools". That's close, but not quite right. First off, it shouldn't be "Hardware" it should be "hardware", note the lower case "h". And it shouldn't be "Tools" it should be "tools", again note the lower case "t".

At "~/jtemp/Adafruit-Arduino.app/Contents/Resources/Java/hardware" you should see both an "arduino" and a "tools" folder. Ignore the "tools" folder, what you want is under "arduino". If you don't see the arduino folder, delete your copy and download and unzip again.

Once again, I'm out of time, but I hope this helps. Take your time, browse carefully through your unzipped copy of the Mac IDE, and I guarantee you'll find the files you need.

As long as you stay on the path.

-- Mrex

[jamworks]

Again thanks for the reply......The actual problem was my copy of the Mac IDE....as you suggested I downloaded it again and it had the Arduino folder as indicated....but not in the downloaded file I was using. The files and bits copied with no problems and now I have a Flora IDE.

The case worries where just me mistyping ...

Thanks again for your help and my project will begin

jamworks

[mrex]

*** Xlent ***