How To Install the Arduino IDE for Teensy on Ubuntu 16.04

In my quest to build a full featured and open telescope controller, I settled on OnStep by Howard Dutton. This is built using Teensy, which is a board similar to Arduino.

One of the challenges was building a development environment for Teensy on my Linux desktop, running Xubuntu 16.04. Although there is a version of the Arduino IDE in Ubuntu's repositories, it is version 1.05. The Teensyduino extension to the IDE requires specific versions, and the minimum is 1.06.

So, I had to install the Arduino IDE and Teensy's extensions manually, as follows:

I am assuming you will be using a 64bit version of Linux.

Installing Dependencies

First, install the dependencies:

$ sudo aptitude install gcc gcc-avr avrdude avr-libc default-jre libjna-java librxtx-java 

Installing the Arduino IDE

Then, download the Arduino IDE, version 1.8.5.

You then have to decide where you will have the IDE installed, I used ~/arduino.

cd ~

tar -xJvf arduino-1.8.5-linux64.tar.xz 

mv arduino-1.8.5/ arduino

Installing Teensyduino

Download the TeensyDuino package for Linux 64bit.

Next, run the Teensyduino package. When prompted, select the arduino directory above.

chmod +x TeensyduinoInstall.linux64 
./TeensyduinoInstall.linux64 

You are now done with the Arduino IDE, and can use any Teensy board.

You can point to the directory that has your Arduino/Teensy project, and open it in the IDE, and click 'Verify'. This should compile the package for you, and prompt you to download on the board.

Installing Additional Libraries

Only for the simplest of projects one would use an Ardunio or Teensy by itself. For most projects, one would use additional hardware components.

For these additional components, you need the library for the specific hardware that you are using.

For example, if you want WiFi in your project, you will probably use a generic ESP8266 WiFi adapter. In this case, you need to do the following:

• Start the Arduino IDE.
• From the menu, go to 'File' then 'Preferences'.
• Under 'Additional Board Manager URLs', copy and paste the following URL:
  http://arduino.esp8266.com/staging/package_esp8266com_index.json
• Then go to 'Sketch', 'Include Library', 'Manage Libraries'
• From there, find and install the "Generic ESP8266" library.
• Then in the IDE again, load your project's sketch then select 'Tools', 'Board', 'Generic ESP8266 Module'.
• Click on the 'Verify' button, and it should compile your project with ESP8266 support.

Enjoy ...