You can develop your own robots and other hardware with Arduino. You can do this even when booting the computer from a USB stick.
With Xubuntu Live USB, you must use ‘newgrp dialout’ after adding yourself to the dialout group. Then Arduino IDE works normally.
Boot Xubuntu Live USB
Get a Xubuntu Live USB stick. (I tested with xubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso on an 8 GB usb3 stick).
Put your USB stick to a computer and turn it on. Usually, you must press some key when computer starts to boot from USB. For example in some HP desktops, click F9 while computer boots, then choose your USB stick from the menu “Kingston Datatraveller…”.
On Grub (Linux) boot menu, always choose “Try…”. Choose “Try…” even if you are going to install the system.
Install Arduino IDE
Open terminal. You can press UglyKey-T or choose Accessories: Terminal from the top-left mouse icon menu.
You can install Arduino just like any other program in Linux:
$ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get -y install arduino
Arduino uses USB cable to connect to your computer. You must add yourself to ‘dialout’ group to get full access to USB:
$ sudo adduser $(whoami) dialout
On a live USB, you can’t log out and back. But luckily, you can start a new shell that has your new group. Arduino IDE must be started from this shell (from command line) so that it can use your new dialout group.
$ newgrp dialout $ arduino
Arduino IDE opens.
Hello World, Blink!
Connect Arduino to your computer with a USB cable. (For this test, I used Arduino UNO and a USB male-A male-B cable). Arduino “ON” LED is lit (mine is green).
In Arduino IDE menu, select File: Examples: 01. Basics: Blink. To compile (“verify”) and upload it, choose File: Upload.
Arduino IDE asks about USB. Select the default, usually …ACM0.
LED 13 should slowly blink now. Arduino LED 13 is permanently on the board (mine is orange).
Next, Bots and Gadgets!
Blink? The world is yours now!
First, try changing the blinking speed. Next, innovate and build your own prototypes.
See you at BotBook.com!
Update: improved description