Setting up the software – distribution and packages

It is recommended to use one of the following or later stable version Linux distributions. As mentioned in the previous section, they can always be installed as a guest OS on a Windows or Linux host system, with the clear first choice being Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS Desktop. The following screenshot shows you the recommended version and the user interface:

Figure 1.6 – Oracle VirtualBox 6.1 running Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS as a guest VM

The preceding version – Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Desktop – is the version of choice for this book, at least.  The two primary reasons for this are straightforward:

• Ubuntu Linux is one of the, if not the, most popular Linux (kernel) development workstation environments in industry use today.
• We cannot always, for lack of space and clarity, show the code/build output of multiple environments in this book. Hence, we have chosen to show the output as seen on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Desktop.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Desktop is a good choice too (it has Long-Term Support (LTS) as well), and everything should work. To download it, visit https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop.

Some other Linux distributions that can also be considered include the following:

• CentOS 8 Linux (not CentOS Stream): CentOS Linux is a distribution that's essentially a clone of the popular enterprise server distribution from RedHat (RHEL 8, in our case). You can download it from here: https://www.centos.org/download/.
• Fedora Workstation: Fedora is a very well-known FOSS Linux distribution as well. You can think of it as being a kind of test-bed for projects and code that will eventually land up within RedHat's enterprise products. Download it from https://getfedora.org/ (download the Fedora Workstation image).
• Raspberry Pi as a target: It's really best to refer to the official documentation to set up your Raspberry Pi (Raspberry Pi documentation: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/). It's perhaps worth noting that Raspberry Pi "kits" are widely available that come completely pre-installed and with some hardware accessories as well. 

If you want to learn how to install a Raspberry Pi OS image on an SD card, visit https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/.

• BeagleBone Black as a target: The BBB is, like the Raspberry Pi, an extremely popular embedded ARM SBC for hobbyists and pros. You can get started here: https://beagleboard.org/black. The System Reference Manual for the BBB can be found here: https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Dev/Beagle/BBB_SRM_C.pdf. Though we don't present examples running on the BBB, nevertheless, it's a valid embedded Linux system that, once properly set up, you can run this book's code on.

Before we conclude our discussion on selecting our software distribution for the book, here are a few more points to note:

• These distributions are, in their default form, FOSS and non-proprietary, and free to use as an end user.
• Though our aim is to be Linux distribution-neutral, the code has only been tested on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and "lightly" tested on CentOS 8, and a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ running the Raspbian GNU/Linux 9.9 (stretch) Debian-based Linux OS.
• We will, as far as is possible, use the very latest (as of the time of writing) stable LTS
  Linux kernel version 5.4 for our kernel build and code runs. Being an LTS kernel, the 5.4 kernel is an excellent choice to run on and learn with.

It is interesting to know that the 5.4 LTS kernel will indeed have a long lifespan; from November 2019 right up to December 2025! This is good news: this book's content remains current and valid for years to come!

• For this book, we'll log in as the user account named llkd.

It's important to realize, for maximized security (with the latest defenses and fixes), that you must run the most recent Long Term Support (LTS) kernel possible for your project or product.

Now that we have chosen our Linux distribution and/or hardware boards and VMs, it's time we install essential software packages.