Install MeLib Libraries on Linux

#1

For those of you using Linux on the Desktop, here is how I installed the MeLib libraries.

Step One, download the zip file from github from this page:
https://github.com/Makeblock-official/Me_Lib_V2.0

Step Two, unzip the Me_Lib_V2.0-master.zip file.
Note: You need to get rid of the parent Me_Lib_V2.0-master directory!!

Step Three, copy everything in this Me_Lib_V2.0-master directory to your /home/$USER/sketchbook directory.

Step Four, make sure you have Arduino-ide 1.0.5 at least and use the menu Sketch – Import Library – Add Library to add the directory with all the makeblock candy.

On the command line after Step Three it should look like this:

paul@xubuntu~$ cd sketchbook/
paul@xubuntu~/sketchbook$ cd libraries/
paul@xubuntu~/sketchbook/libraries$ pwd
/home/paul/sketchbook/libraries
paul@xubuntu~/sketchbook/libraries$ ls -l
total 68
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 iSoftwareSerial
drwxrwxr-x  5 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Makeblock_Demo
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_BaseShield
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_BaseShieldMotorDriver
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_Bluetooth
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_InfraredReceiverDecode
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_LegoBridge
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_LimitSwitch
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_LineFinder
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_MotorDriver
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_ServoDriver
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_SoftBluetooth
drwxrwxr-x  2 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_SoftServoDriver
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 Me_UltrasonicSensor
-rw-rw-r--  1 paul paul  776 Sep  8 12:40 readme.txt
drwxrwxr-x  3 paul paul 4096 Sep  8 12:40 SoftwareServo

@makeblock team:
This topic can be useful on the wiki. Feel free to put it there, you don’t need to give me credit.
(Or can I get an account on wiki.makeblock.com to add an occasional guide?)

#2

Hi, Paulcobbaut, Thanks very much for your contribution. We have uploaded our library, you can visit it here:
https://github.com/Makeblock-official/Makeblock-Library

#3

Thanks for these instructions. My son received mBot in December and since his computer runs Ubuntu, he has yet to play with it. I am so disappointed in it, especially since it was the only gift that he got. I have tried installing MakeBlock in Wine but the bluetooth will not work under any circumstances.

For something supposedly about “fun and creativity” and even calls itself “open source” , it is really disappointing – misleading even – that there is no official Linux support especially for a company that supposedly espouses open source and is supposed to support Scratch 2.0 etc,

#4

@shelagh, @makeblock

Makeblock are partially right with when they mention linux compatibility : even if mblock software (for visual programming) is not working natively on linux, everything else is working normally (through USB). I wrote a small memo here for editing, compiling and uploading arduino code with updated libraries for linux (tested with ubuntu), hope this helps.
Still I agree, it’s a pity that mblock could not be easily installed on linux.

#5

There’s a lot of issues when it comes to Linux and mBlock, like how you can’t emulate it properly in Wine and how issues like this persist. Luckily, the community seems to be growing and hopefully issues will begin to be fixed as a group.

I really do hope we can come together as a community and find out how to make this work. Some of us are already doing it in terms of a wiki, but it might not go far.

#6