Additional info on "Intro to Claude" - Installing on CachyOS

Hey y'all,

this is for those among you who look into setting up Claude on a Linux system. More specific it's about CachyOS the Linux distribution that many people currently propose for people who want to switch over from Windows.

Now if you haven't embarked on that journey: Don't rush it, while it's a good thing to consider and while CachyOS seems a great choice for most current Windows users who would like to get away from the Microsoft ecosystem, it's not always possible to do so. Thus: If you want to embark on this journey, I would propose you to check out channels where people help you with that (which is not the focus of "Clief Notes").

Before I get into details. A major difference between installations of software in Linux environments and an Windows is this: Each Linux distribution I ever tried out had something like a software store Though it is not a store as in paying money for getting something valuable... it's more like a part of the operating system from which you install software even if it's not part of Linux itself. The reason why you should use the store is that it automatizes the update of each software you download here. That is not the case if you download the software from some webpage. The store also contains some level of security, that is: It is much less probable that you download some malware from here than if you download "the same" software from a webpage.

On the installation of Claude Desktop: It seems that there is no Claude Desktop for Linux systems.

On the installation of node.js: While you can install Claude without node.js I'll explain it here as Jack did so in his course. (And I think we should all be on the same track to avoid mistakes that are hard to solve just because we forgot something when we started onto the trail.) Use the "application" from the "Start menu" named "CachyOS Hello" (the one that pops up when you log-on to your system > Click the button "Apps Installation > Enter "npm" into the search field for the application you want to install. Alas, looking for node.js will not get you anywhere. (You might need to check out the register "repo" first.) > Check "npm" and "npm-check-updates" > Click the button "Install" > Next you'll get the usual drill with affirming system changes, entering your admin credentials and so on, but that's all you need to do.

On the installation of Claude: Use the "application" from the "Start menu" named "CachyOS Hello" (the one that pops up when you log-on to your system > Click the button "Apps Installation > Enter "claude" into the search field for the application you want to install. (You might need to check out the register "repo" first.) > Check both flags (that is "claude-code" and "ctwm") > Click the button "Install" > Next you'll get the usual drill with affirming system changes, entering your admin credentials and so on, but that's all you need to do.

To check if the installation of npm was successfull, open the "Start" menu, and without further clicking, type terminal. Now you should see some entries. Now these might change over time, so if you try this in a few months it'll probably be a different result. Now both "Alacritty" and "Konsole" are fine, so just click on one of them to get to the terminal aka cli (command line interface). It'll show you some info on your system (e.g. which processor you've got installed) and then there is the actual command line. Just type npm -v and press the enter key. If you get a message like "I'm afraid I can't do so Dave." or "No command by the name npm was found on your system." then the installation is not finished. If so you might have tried to early. Here I'm afraid you'll have to go get some help in a CachyOS forum or (as usual) try consulting Claude.^^ If the result is a number like 6.11.42 then everything is fine. (It's the version of npm that has been installed on your system.)

Now to start Claude and get the API key there is a tiny detail I'd like to add to how Jake explained it: Start a webbrowser first and log in to claude (the url is claude.ai). - Then switch over to the Linux terminal and type claude . It'll first ask you about the color and scheme it should use in the terminal. Choose what so ever you like here. - Next you need to choose your Claude account. When you have chosen it (there's no log-in request at that moment), it'll automatically try to authenticate you (that is like you logging in with your account). To do so, it will try to connect to the Antropic servers via a webbrowser. So your webbrowser should now pop up again and either ask you to log in or (if you already are logged in) it will just ask you to authorize Claude (the one on your terminal). If you click on the button "authorize ..." (and if the log-on-servers by Antropic aren't having problems) then you should soon see a friendly message in the webbrowser telling you that everything is fine and that you can now close "this window". To be sure, switch over to the terminal and here you'll also see a friendly message telling you how everything is fine and now Claude in the Terminal is connected to your account and so you'll now be able to use all the features you paid for. If this fails, you might want to check https://status.claude.com/ Here Antropic publishes info on any problems they are having as well as those they have been facing lately. So if it's a problem on their size, this is the place to consult.

So the last bit is installing VS Code. And now you might already have gone for it and wondered why you didn't find it on the CachyOS app store. Well... it's there. The name is actually NOT vscode but just code. (You'll find it by vscode though, just don't enter a space into the name as in "vs code".) So that's one of those tiny details when switching over to Linux that may hinder you for a moment, but it's no big deal, right? As a development tool it will be in the "Start" menu of CachyOS in the "Development" section. And there you'll also find it as "Code - OSS" not as VS Code. Now for the rest of the set up there is nothing I can add to what Jake hasn't explained. And seeing the part with the extension in the video is much more straight forward than a textual explenation. So I'll stopp here.

Hope this one helped for anyone facing problems.

So enjoy the journey and till next time,

Malcolm

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