[racket] Installing DrRacket on Chromebook

[Peter Drake]

I've got a student trying to install DrRacket on a Chromebook. She has Ubuntu installed, but we can't tell what version because 

lsb_release -a

Gives:

bash: lsb_release: command not found

We tried the instructions at

http://linuxg.net/how-to-install-drracket-on-ubuntu-12-04-ubuntu-12-10-and-ubuntu-13-04-by-the-command-line-interface/

But these failed because the echo "deb... commands came back with:

bash: /etc/apt/sources.list: No such file or directory

Does anyone know how to do this?

--

Peter Drake
https://sites.google.com/a/lclark.edu/drake/

[Asumu Takikawa]

Hi Peter,

On 2015-01-29 16:52:36 -0800, Peter Drake wrote:
> I've got a student trying to install DrRacket on a Chromebook. She has
> Ubuntu installed

I recommend following the instructions on this page here:

https://launchpad.net/~plt/+archive/ubuntu/racket

Instead of the example location they include in the instructions, try
using "ppa:plt/racket". The following command should do it:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:plt/racket

and then you will want to run "sudo apt-get update" and
"sudo apt-get install racket" or use the graphical package manager that
comes with Ubuntu.

Do let me know if you have any problems, or if you find any bugs in the
packaging itself.

Cheers,
Asumu
____________________
Racket Users list:
http://lists.racket-lang.org/users

[Peter Drake]

Thanks for the advice, Yuhao and Asumu. I forwarded them to my student and got back:

Thanks for the suggestions.
I tried following the instructions on launchpad.net with no luck (I got "sudo: add-apt-repository: command not found"). 
I then tried to reinstall Ubuntu, skipping the first few steps because I had already backed up my data, created a restore image for Chrome OS, and enabled developer mode when I first got my Chromebook. 
Typing "sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -t kde" into the terminal gave back: 
"sh: Can't open /home/chronos/user/Downloads/crouton"
At this time, I'm not up for the process of wiping all of my data and reinstalling crouton, seeing as how I have work saved for other classes and affairs, will have to connect to [the college's] internet again (a lengthy process), etc. so it just seems like redoing all of this will put me at more of a disadvantage than benefit for one class.
If this is still a problem, I may try again in the near future when I have more time.

I may make another attempt if I get more students trying to do this in the future.

[Asumu Takikawa]

On 2015-01-30 07:50:36 -0800, Peter Drake wrote:
> I tried following the instructions on [1]launchpad.net with no luck (I

> got "sudo: add-apt-repository: command not found").

It looks like this script is provided by the package
"python-software-properties" on Ubuntu, so it should be possible to
install it with "sudo apt-get install python-software-properties".

Also, it may be worth trying one of the stock installers available from
the Racket homepage. These are just self-installing shell scripts, so it
doesn't require apt to be set up:

http://download.racket-lang.org/

[Darren Cruse]

Unfortunately I don't have it with me and it's been awhile (so I'm forgetting the details) but I've installed drracket on my Acer chromebook that I run Ubuntu 14.04 on.  I run it simultaneous with ChromeOS via "crouton".

I was thinking I installed with apt-get the first time, and later realized that was not the latest version, so I re-installed using the Ubuntu shell script from http://download.racket-lang.org/ that Asumu just mentioned.

[Yuhao Dong]

This sounds like her Ubuntu installation is horribly broken. Are there
other problems with her computer?

On 01/29/2015 07:52 PM, Peter Drake wrote:
> I've got a student trying to install DrRacket on a Chromebook. She has
> Ubuntu installed, but we can't tell what version because
>
> lsb_release -a
>
> Gives:
>
> bash: lsb_release: command not found
>
> We tried the instructions at
>
> http://linuxg.net/how-to-install-drracket-on-ubuntu-12-04-ubuntu-12-10-and-ubuntu-13-04-by-the-command-line-interface/
>
> But these failed because the echo "deb... commands came back with:
>
> bash: /etc/apt/sources.list: No such file or directory
>
> Does anyone know how to do this?
>
>
>

[Darren Cruse]

@Peter I was just snooping at my chromebook relative to these messages - /etc/apt and /etc/apt/sources.list are on my machine - googling it does appear they're fundamental to using apt (apt-get).  I suspect Yuhao is right that her machine is messed up somehow.

But I also did remember more about how I installed it last time - not using apt-get.  I'd definitely downloaded the shell script from http://racket-lang.org/download/.  I would think this would/should work on her machine if it's a somewhat recent version of ubuntu and if her machine isn't just terribly/totally messed up.

I'd chosen the "Distribution" of "Racket" and the "Platform" of "Linux x86_64 (Ubuntu precise)".

Which gets to:  http://mirror.racket-lang.org/installers/6.1.1/racket-6.1.1-x86_64-linux-ubuntu-precise.sh

(I just realized I thought you'd said she was on ubuntu 12.04 which is "Precise" - but did I misread that?  If you're unsure of the ubuntu version - I'd just try it!  A lot easier than upgrading the OS!!)

Once racket-6.1.1-x86_64-linux-ubuntu-precise.sh downloads it's truly just a script you run from a terminal window - there's a little bit of explanation in comments at the top of the script but I *think* I simply did:

$ sh racket-6.1.1-x86_64-linux-ubuntu-precise.sh

It ends up putting a link to drracket in /usr/local/bin, which is probably in her path (so "drracket" alone should start it), but even if not after it installs she should be able to start it from a terminal with:

$ /usr/local/bin/drracket

Hope maybe this helps,

Darren