Linux Quick Start
Explore how to install and configure essential tools like Node and Git on Linux for Ionic and Angular development. This lesson helps you understand multiple installation methods and guides you to choose the best setup for your Linux environment, ensuring your development environment is ready to build mobile apps.
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If you plan to follow along on Linux, the tools should be straightforward.
These steps were tested on Ubuntu Desktop 18.10, Cosmic Cuttlefish, which uses Debian packages. If you use a different version of Linux, you will need to alter these steps to work with your distribution’s package manager.
There are two things you need to install: Node and Git.
Node
There are three ways to install node. Each is valid and has its own positives and negatives. I will try to give you enough information for you to make an intelligent choice. Review them and choose the one you prefer.
The first method is to download directly from nodejs.org itself. Quite frankly, I do not recommend this method. However, if you like installing items from their official locations, feel free to head over to https://nodejs.org and click the big green button. I recommend downloading and installing the LTS, or long-term-support version.
Another way is to install node from the Ubuntu command line. First, check to see if it is already installed by opening a terminal window and typing the following:
node --version
To install it, simply enter the command provided below, and it will get installed.
sudo apt-get install node
Now when you type node --version, you should see that the default Ubuntu version was installed. In my case, I got 8.10. So that is the second way, and it is better than the first, though you probably are not getting the LTS version. Fortunately, there is a third method, which is far more flexible. I describe that in the next section.