Installing Android Development Environment on Ubuntu 11.10

Android is a opensource Mobile Operating System targeted mainly towards smart phones and tablets. Since its debut in 2008, it has been the strong contender for Apple iOS. With currently more than 45% share in smart phones market in U.S., Android is becoming the defacto smart phone/tablet O.S.

From a programmers perspective, Android is a Java framework. Actually, it is quite easy to get started with Android development. Even if you get in to any trouble, being open-source, there are millions of contributors/users out there who are ready to help you out.

In this post I will be discussing about how to install Android Development Environment on Ubuntu 11.10.

Setting up Android Development Environment is a two-step process:

1. You need to install eclipse with ADT plugin.
2. Install Android SDK with necessary platforms.

Installing Eclipse with ADT plugin

• Download and install Eclipse Classic Version or Eclipse Java Developers Version from this site:http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/.
• After downloading is completed, extract the contents.
• Navigate to the extracted folder and double-click on eclipse file.
• Go to Help ->Install New Software and click on Addbutton. A Dialog will pop up. Fill the fields as follows:
  

  Adding Eclipse Repository

  If the above site doesn’t respond, change https:// to http://

• Click Ok to close the dialog. Now you will see Developer Tools check box. Mark the box and click Next.
• Click Next in the next window as well.
• Accept the license agreement and then click on Finish.
• After downloading the plugin, restart eclipse.

Installing Android SDK

• Download the latest SDK package from the site: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.
• After the download is finished, extract the contents of the .tar.gz file
• Now its time to install Android platforms. Go to the tools folder inside the extracted folder and double-click on android file.
• A new window will pop-up with a list of available platforms and libraries.
• Select the platform you want to target and click on Install. If you have trouble finding the required platform, you have a Sort by option at the bottom. Just  select Repository, then you will be able to locate platforms more easily.
  

  Select Android platform

• Now you need to configure ADT Eclipse plugin. Open Eclipse goto Window -> Preferences and click on Android in the left pane. Fill the SDK Locationto point to the location where you’ve extracted the SDK.
  

  Configure ADT

If every thing went well, you’ve successfully installed Android Development Environment in your system.

In the next post I will talk about Android Emulator and how to write basic HelloWorld.apk