How to Download & Install the Arduino IDE
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I’m really excited to have you guys here and today we’re going to talk about how to download and install the Arduino IDE.
One of the coolest things about Arduino is the fact that it’s easy to use and get started. The software is free, so that’s one benefit. The hardware is also open source and easy to use.
We’re going to start by downloading the Integrated Development Environment or IDE for short. From now on, we’re just going to call it the IDE for simplicity’s sake.
Downloading the Arduino IDE
To download the IDE, we need to point our browser at arduino.cc.
I’m using a computer running Windows 7 with Firefox. The procedure to download and install the Arduino IDE should be pretty similar if not the same on Windows 8, Windows 10 and also Mac.
So, let’s go ahead and download and install the IDE. Once I visit the site, I’m going to go to software and then downloads. Then we need to scroll down a little bit, and here we can see the latest version of the IDE. Also notice there are versions for Windows, Mac, and even Linux.
Figure 1: downloading the Arduino IDE. I suggest using the Windows Installer version (if you’re running Windows). Notice there are downloads for all modern versions of Windows, Mac, and even Linux.
I’m going to go ahead and use the Windows Installer and this is what I suggest you do.
Next, you may get a chance to contribute and donate to the cause if you want to. If not, just click download.
Save the file somewhere you can get to it easily, like the desktop. Depending on your internet connection speed, this may take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes.
Installing the Arduino IDE
Once you download the file go ahead and open it. Agree to their terms, and for now just leave all of the boxes in figure 2 as they are by default and click next.
Figure 2: for now, leave these boxes as they are by default. We’ll customize the IDE later.
Next, you’ll see where it’s going to install. Again, I suggest you just leave the install path as is unless you have a good reason not to and then click Install. The install itself can take a while depending on your system. If you want to see how the progress is coming, just click the show details button; it’ll show you the details as far as what it’s doing.
If you’re installing the IDE for the first time on your computer, a box may pop up asking you to install drivers from Arduino and/or Adafruit. You need these drivers, so be sure to click yes and install them. You may be asked to install drivers several times.
And that’s all there is to it!
On the desktop you’ll see the shortcut to open the Arduino IDE.
Figure 3: Arduino IDE shortcut.
In the next tutorial we’ll go over the IDE in more detail and talk about some customization options. Stay tuned!
A quick note: we all know technology changes quickly as do websites. This tutorial is accurate at the time of writing, but I cannot guarantee that Arduino will not change their site or process. If you run into trouble, go to the Arduino website for the most up-to-date information on downloading and installing the IDE.
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