Friday, September 24, 2010

Tales of Getting ROS to run on my Ubuntu Laptop

Ok, admittedly much of what I say in this tome actually doesn't have anything at all to do with installing and running ROS, but has everything to do with the Ubuntu Laptop that I own.  My Ubuntu Laptop is an old Gateway 450ROG which I bought second hand from my company after they decided to get rid of them at auction.  I decided to use a different hard disk to put a new copy of Ubuntu and ROS onto.  The steps were as follows:

(1) I originally wanted to use a PATA 250GB drive that I picked up from Micro Center.  Much to my dismay, I have been almost completely unable to install Ubuntu using this drive.  So much for downwards compatibility! I also tried using an 80GB drive that I had lying around that was not being used.  So I went back to the 250GB drive and this time it worked!  The install of Ubuntu 10.04 worked correctly.
(2) Next, I went through the Ubuntu instructions for the install of ROS which involves first adding a sources list to apt-get and getting a key from the ROS site into apt-key.  Once I had that I tried to do an apt-get update which worked.  When I attempted to install ros-cturtle-base I was confronted with a three hour delay brought on by my initial install of Ubuntu onto the drive.  Since I am currently at work, I will have to wait until I get home to accomplish that feat.  However, it looks like I will be more successful now that the Ubuntu install is working correctly.
(3) At home, which has a faster connection than at work, I was able to get the entire Ubuntu Laptop up to speed and install the ros-cturtle-base with no problems.  I have not had a chance to check out the installation yet, but I will probably try out the image processing routines first.  The reason for this is that I do not have to have a robot or various servos connected to check the execution.  I was able to get my Microsoft LifeCam Cinema to work with standard Ubuntu routines so I am hopeful of success over the weekend.

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