Set Up Ubuntu for ROS 2

Use this reference once, before starting the ROS 2 Package Guide. The commands below are intentionally exact because package installation is not the creative part of this project.

Windows: Open an administrator PowerShell window and run:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

Restart if Windows asks, then launch Ubuntu 24.04 from the Start menu. Complete the Linux username and password prompt. All later Linux and ROS commands belong in that Ubuntu terminal, not PowerShell.

Ubuntu Linux: Open your normal terminal and continue below.

macOS: Use an Ubuntu 24.04 virtual machine or a remote Ubuntu 24.04 computer. ROS 2 Jazzy packages in this guide target Ubuntu so the development environment matches the Raspberry Pi.

Run this setup on every Ubuntu machine that will use ROS 2: your computer now, and the Raspberry Pi later.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y locales software-properties-common curl
sudo locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

sudo add-apt-repository universe -y
sudo apt update
export ROS_APT_SOURCE_VERSION=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/ros-infrastructure/ros-apt-source/releases/latest | grep -F "tag_name" | awk -F'"' '{print $4}')
curl -L -o /tmp/ros2-apt-source.deb "https://github.com/ros-infrastructure/ros-apt-source/releases/download/${ROS_APT_SOURCE_VERSION}/ros2-apt-source_${ROS_APT_SOURCE_VERSION}.$(. /etc/os-release && echo ${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-${VERSION_CODENAME}})_all.deb"
sudo dpkg -i /tmp/ros2-apt-source.deb

On the development computer, install the desktop tools and RViz:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ros-jazzy-desktop ros-dev-tools
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

ros-jazzy-desktop includes RViz and the desktop tools.

On the Raspberry Pi later, install the smaller robot package set instead:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ros-jazzy-ros-base ros-dev-tools
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

The Pi does not need to render RViz, so ros-jazzy-ros-base leaves more of its limited memory and storage for the robot. The official Ubuntu deb installation instructions are the source of truth if a command changes in a future release.

Every fresh terminal needs the ROS environment loaded:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker

Leave that running. Open a second Ubuntu terminal, source ROS again, and run:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 run demo_nodes_py listener

The listener should report messages from the talker. Stop both with Ctrl+C.