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1.2 Environment Setup

What You'll Learn

Prepare your Ubuntu system for drone development:

  • Update system to latest packages
  • Install essential development tools
  • Create organized workspace structure
  • Verify everything is ready for ArduPilot SITL

Time: 15-20 minutes

Prerequisites

Before starting, you must have completed:

  • ✅ 1.1 Prerequisites and Setup
  • ✅ Ubuntu 22.04 LTS installed and booted
  • ✅ Internet connection working
  • ✅ System meets minimum requirements

Update Your System

Why Update First?

Before installing anything, ensure your system has: - Latest security patches - Updated package repositories - Bug fixes and improvements

This prevents compatibility issues later.

Update Commands

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run: 

sudo apt update

What this does: Updates the list of available packages and versions.

Expected output: 

Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease [119 kB]
...
Reading package lists... Done

✅ Success: No errors, shows "Reading package lists... Done"

Now upgrade installed packages: 

sudo apt upgrade -y

What this does: Downloads and installs updates.

This takes: 5-15 minutes depending on pending updates.

Expected output: 

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
...
The following packages will be upgraded:
  [list of packages]
...
Setting up [package names]...

✅ Success: Completes without errors

Clean Up

Remove unnecessary packages: 

sudo apt autoremove -y
sudo apt autoclean

What this does: Frees disk space by removing unused packages.

Reboot (Important!)

sudo reboot

Why reboot? Kernel updates require restart to take effect.

After reboot: Open terminal again and continue.

Install Essential Development Tools

Install Required Packages

ArduPilot and ROS2 need these tools: 

sudo apt install -y \
    build-essential \
    git \
    python3 \
    python3-pip \
    python3-dev \
    curl \
    wget \
    nano \
    net-tools \
    tree

What these are: - build-essential — C/C++ compiler (for building ArduPilot) - git — Version control (to clone ArduPilot) - python3 — Python runtime (ArduPilot SITL uses Python) - python3-pip — Python package installer - python3-dev — Python development headers - curl, wget — Download files from internet - nano — Simple text editor - net-tools — Network diagnostics - tree — Directory structure visualization

This takes: 2-5 minutes

Expected output: 

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
...
Setting up build-essential...
Setting up git...
...

✅ Success: All packages installed without errors

Verify Installation

gcc --version
git --version
python3 --version
pip3 --version
tree --version

Expected output:

Verify Installation

gcc (Ubuntu 11.x.x) ...
git version 2.34.x
Python 3.10.x
pip 22.x.x from ...
tree v1.8.x

✅ Success: All tools show version numbers

📁 Create Workspace Structure

Why Organized Workspace?

Having a clear structure prevents: - Files scattered everywhere - Forgetting where you saved things - Conflicts between different projects

All SimToFly work will be in one place: ~/simtofly_ws/

Create Main Workspace

mkdir -p ~/simtofly_ws
cd ~/simtofly_ws

What this creates: Main folder for all SimToFly work.

Create Subdirectories

mkdir -p logs missions scripts ros2_ws

What each folder is for: - logs/ — Flight logs and telemetry data - missions/ — Mission files and waypoints - scripts/ — Helper scripts and tools - ros2_ws/ — ROS2 workspace (Phase 2)

Note: We'll create the ardupilot/ folder in Section 1.3 when we clone ArduPilot repository.

Verify Structure

tree -L 1 ~/simtofly_ws

Expected output:

Verify Structure Output

/home/your-username/simtofly_ws
├── logs
├── missions
├── ros2_ws
└── scripts

4 directories, 0 files

✅ Success: Four directories created

Add Workspace Environment Variable

Make it easy to access workspace from anywhere: 

echo 'export SIMTOFLY_WS=~/simtofly_ws' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

What this does: Creates a shortcut variable to your workspace.

Test Workspace Variable

echo $SIMTOFLY_WS
cd $SIMTOFLY_WS
pwd

Expected output:

Test Workspace Variable

/home/your-username/simtofly_ws

✅ Success: Can access workspace via $SIMTOFLY_WS

System Check and Verification

Create Verification Script

Let's create a script to check everything is ready: 

nano ~/simtofly_ws/scripts/check_environment.sh

Paste this script: 

#!/bin/bash

echo "=========================================="
echo "SimToFly Environment Check"
echo "=========================================="
echo ""

# Check Ubuntu version
echo "Checking Ubuntu version..."
if lsb_release -d | grep -q "22.04"; then
    echo "✅ Ubuntu 22.04 detected"
else
    echo "❌ Wrong Ubuntu version. Need 22.04"
    lsb_release -d
fi
echo ""

# Check disk space
echo "Checking disk space..."
AVAILABLE=$(df -BG / | tail -1 | awk '{print $4}' | sed 's/G//')
if [ "$AVAILABLE" -gt 30 ]; then
    echo "✅ Sufficient disk space: ${AVAILABLE}GB available"
else
    echo "⚠️ Low disk space: ${AVAILABLE}GB available (need 30GB+)"
fi
echo ""

# Check RAM
echo "Checking RAM..."
TOTAL_RAM=$(free -g | awk '/^Mem:/{print $2}')
if [ "$TOTAL_RAM" -ge 7 ]; then
    echo "✅ Sufficient RAM: ${TOTAL_RAM}GB"
else
    echo "⚠️ Low RAM: ${TOTAL_RAM}GB (recommended 8GB+)"
fi
echo ""

# Check essential tools
echo "Checking essential tools..."
TOOLS=("gcc" "g++" "make" "git" "python3" "pip3" "tree")
for tool in "${TOOLS[@]}"; do
    if command -v $tool &> /dev/null; then
        echo "✅ $tool installed"
    else
        echo "❌ $tool NOT installed"
    fi
done
echo ""

# Check workspace structure
echo "Checking workspace structure..."
DIRS=("logs" "missions" "scripts" "ros2_ws")
for dir in "${DIRS[@]}"; do
    if [ -d "$HOME/simtofly_ws/$dir" ]; then
        echo "✅ $dir directory exists"
    else
        echo "❌ $dir directory missing"
    fi
done
echo ""

# Check internet
echo "Checking internet connection..."
if ping -c 1 google.com &> /dev/null; then
    echo "✅ Internet connection working"
else
    echo "❌ No internet connection"
fi
echo ""

echo "=========================================="
echo "Environment check complete!"
echo "=========================================="

Save and exit: Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter

Make Script Executable

chmod +x ~/simtofly_ws/scripts/check_environment.sh

Run Verification

~/simtofly_ws/scripts/check_environment.sh

Expected output:

Run Verification

==========================================
SimToFly Environment Check
==========================================

Checking Ubuntu version...
✅ Ubuntu 22.04 detected

Checking disk space...
✅ Sufficient disk space: 45GB available

Checking RAM...
✅ Sufficient RAM: 8GB

Checking essential tools...
✅ gcc installed
✅ g++ installed
✅ make installed
✅ git installed
✅ python3 installed
✅ pip3 installed
✅ tree installed

Checking workspace structure...
✅ logs directory exists
✅ missions directory exists
✅ scripts directory exists
✅ ros2_ws directory exists

Checking internet connection...
✅ Internet connection working

==========================================
Environment check complete!
==========================================

✅ All checks pass: Your environment is ready!

⚠️ Some checks fail: Review and fix issues before continuing.

Final Checklist

Before moving to next section, verify:

  • System fully updated (apt update && upgrade)
  • Rebooted after updates
  • Essential tools installed (gcc, git, python3, tree)
  • Workspace structure created (~/simtofly_ws/)
  • Verification script runs successfully
  • All checks in verification script pass

All checked? You're ready for ArduPilot SITL!

What You Accomplished

  • ✅ Updated Ubuntu to latest packages
  • ✅ Installed development tools (gcc, git, python3)
  • ✅ Created organized workspace structure
  • ✅ Set up workspace environment variable
  • ✅ Created verification script for future checks
  • ✅ Verified environment is ready

Your system is now ready for ArduPilot SITL installation!

Next Steps

Continue to 1.3 ArduPilot SITL Installation where we'll: - Clone ArduPilot source code - Install ArduPilot dependencies - Build SITL simulator - Launch your first virtual drone - Test basic commands

Common Questions

Q: Do I need to run the verification script every time?

A: No, just once now to confirm setup. Run it again only if something breaks later.

Q: Can I use a different workspace location?

A: Yes, but stick with ~/simtofly_ws/ for consistency with this tutorial. If you change it, you'll need to adapt all commands.

Q: The update took very long, is this normal?

A: Yes, first update after fresh Ubuntu install can take 15-30 minutes depending on internet speed and pending updates.

Q: I got errors during apt upgrade, what do I do?

A: Read the error message carefully. Common fixes: - Run sudo apt --fix-broken install - Try sudo dpkg --configure -a - Reboot and try again - Search the specific error online

Q: Why don't we create the ardupilot folder here?

A: We'll clone ArduPilot directly in Section 1.3, which automatically creates the ardupilot/ directory. Creating it now would cause confusion with nested paths.

Troubleshooting

"Unable to locate package" errors

Cause: Package repositories not updated

Solution: 

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y [package-name]

"Permission denied" when creating directories

Cause: Trying to create in protected location

Solution: Make sure you're creating in your home directory (~/), not system directories like /opt/ or /usr/.

Verification script shows "command not found"

Cause: Script doesn't have execute permission

Solution: 

chmod +x ~/simtofly_ws/scripts/check_environment.sh

Terminal changes don't apply

Cause: Didn't reload bashrc

Solution: 

source ~/.bashrc

Or close and reopen terminal.

Some packages fail to install

Cause: Broken dependencies or repository issues

Solution: 

sudo apt --fix-broken install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y [package-names]

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