Installing Python on your VM

The OS that the our VM from EngrIT are running is Ubuntu 16.04. This version of Ubuntu is from 2016 and does not have the latest versions of Python and you’ll need to install a modern version of Python to run the latest Python libraries.

There’s two easy ways to do this:

  • Natively, through the Ubuntu apt package manager,
  • Through a Python distribution like miniconda

Installing with apt

To install Python using apt, complete the following steps on your VM:

  • Run: sudo apt update,
  • Run: sudo apt install software-properties-common,
  • Run: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa and press [ENTER] to confirm the install,
  • Run: sudo apt update,
  • Run: sudo apt install python3.9 python3.9-dev and type Y to confirm the install,
  • Run: curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py,
  • Run: python3.9 get-pip.py to install pip (used to install Python libraries)

When installing using this method, you will always need to run python3.9 to run python files. (Ex: python3.9 hello.py.)

Installing miniconda

You can find details about miniconda on their website.