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Kristina Gillooly
9,546 Pointswithout the treehouse console to launch, how do we do coding in windows 8?
this may be a stupid question, but i am confused....where on our own computers can we do commands/coding etc if we use windows 8?
10 Answers
Wes Heath
3,023 PointsI think that would be a good way to go. Linux is really popular among developers. It would be a useful skill to know and it would be easier to follow along in many courses. And really it's not much different from Windows or OSx (at least Ubuntu isn't).
Installing it is super easy. If you can use git and design a web page, setting up a virtual machine is a snap. I use VMWare Player for virtual machines. VMWare has many products, but VMWare Player is the free one you probably want. Virtualbox is also good.
VMWare Player - https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_player/7_0
When I visited this link it only showed VMWare Player for 64 bit machines. Make sure your OS is 64 bits or find a 32 bit version instead.
There are many Linux distributions, but Ubuntu is one of the most popular and beginner friendly: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Then you just install VMWare Player like any other program. In VMWare Player there will be an option to create a new virtual machine. You just select that option and then tell it where the Ubuntu file you downloaded is. VMWare will take it from there and create a new virtual machine and then install Ubuntu. It will actually detect what OS you're trying to install and simplify the process. Then you can use the Ubuntu virtual machine in full screen as if it were the computer you're working on. I do practically all of my development work on a Ubuntu VM and it's great. As a bonus, if you totally mess up your virtual machine, you can just erase it and install a new one.
Wes
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 PointsHi kristina ,
I don't have Windows 8 but when I followed the console basics I used the Ms DOS prompt in Windows 7.
If you can access with the command cmd in the start menu you should be able to access a command prompt and experiment with with most if not all of the commands taught in the course. :-)
Kristina Gillooly
9,546 PointsI am able to open up the Command Prompt on windows 8 but every time i try a command it does not work........so, say i have opened my command prompt....and it says microsoft windows version 6.3.9600 and than my user name....C:\users\kmg> and then i type ls for example.....it just says 'ls' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file......
am i missing the big picture here?
thanks for your help
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 PointsIs it the Git command Line you want with?
If so, do a search for the website for instructions on how to install Git or any system you're trying to use with windows :-)
Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Christopher Loyd
Courses Plus Student 5,806 PointsKristina,
'ls' is the linux command to list the directory/files you're currently in, however, it's not native to Windows.
The Windows equivalent of this command would be 'dir'
If you're looking for the Git Command Line, it should install by default - and will most likely add a shortcut to your desktop.
Wes Heath
3,023 PointsHi Kristina,
Command Prompt is what you are looking for on Windows 8 (or any version of Windows). However, keep in mind that in many courses the instructors are using Bash, which is a Unix shell. Unix shells are the standard command line environment on Macs or Linux operating systems. Command Prompt, while the same thing in principle, is Windows version. So, for example, "ls" is not a valid command. The equivalent command in Windows is "dir". Some things translate - "cd" is the same - but much of it does not.
There is also Powershell, which is also on Windows, and for some reason "ls" works. But Powershell is not a Unix shell (I don't think).
I'm not certain about Git bash... I haven't used it on Windows, but I'm assuming it's geared just toward doing git stuff, not general system level stuff. But I could be wrong.
I'm a Windows user myself. However, development in general seems to involve a little less red tape in Linux. So since I started learning code I've been doing it on an Ubuntu virtual machine. So all of the command line stuff I know about is in Bash. Despite using Windows all the time, I know next to nothing about the Windows command line (except for what I remember being a 10 year old with a DOS machine - stuff like "dir").
Anyhow, something you may want to consider - you can download virtual machine software (like VMWare or Virtualbox) and Linux for free. It may be slightly intimidating at first, but it's all pretty easy to use. And once you have it set up, it will be much easier to follow along with development stuff in general on the internet.
Wes
Kristina Gillooly
9,546 PointsThank you....I think i am grasping it now......so, you suggest downloading both the virtual machine software and also downloading Linux?
where do i download Linux? i feel i will download a virus if i do not know where to go.....
Guillermo Kuhl
23,460 PointsShort of adopting Linux, I recommend installing Cygwin to traverse your files on your windows machine. The commands are similar to Unix. https://www.cygwin.com/. I recommend Sublime as a text editor. http://www.sublimetext.com/. And I recommend using Node.js to serve files locally, so that you can see your work in a browser. I recommend Google Chrome for a browser. http://www.google.com/chrome/. Treehouse has a course on Node (which I have yet to take, but I will soon!)
Kristina Gillooly
9,546 Pointsi have Git bash.....is that going to allow me to do the same things as command prompt would?
Fábio Tavares da Costa
11,985 PointsGo to Bitnami.
Here is a VMware/Ubuntu 14.04.
https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/virtual-machine
It's a LAMP Stack, Linux, Apache, mySQL and PHP.
Install and run. It's free for users.
Fábio Tavares da Costa
11,985 PointsKristina,
At Cloud 9 you will run a Ubuntu machine + a really nice IDE for free in your browser. Soon, you will have this option too: https://bitnami.com/stack/cloud9-ide
Hassam Uddin
8,204 Pointsstart menu --> "cmd" --> either option. Be noted though, that the windows console is different than what this course is teaching, it can do most of the same things though. It runs batch instead of unix/bash.
David Monger
370 PointsI know now what you are feeling, kristina, .... lot's of different suggestions that get you more confused. :D
Uros Tadic
5,167 PointsFor anyone having the same issue, you can watch this video -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_DpFhT_euI It will teach you how to set up ubuntu on virtual machine.