Getting Started Coding for my Android Dev Phone 1

Figured I was due to spend some time setting up a Linux VM and learning how to program my Android Dev Phone 1.  Eclipse is what is recommended, so I thought I’d give that a try first.  So, with the help of Suse Studio, I quick built myself a VM with Java 1.6 (Aside:  I love Suse Studio, I can provision a VM in minutes).  I figured it would be pretty straight forward.  The docs on the Android Developer site for installing ADT plug-in seem pretty straight forward and simple, and I remember Eclipse having a very rich ecosystem of plug-ins that were easy to install (something I wish Visual Studio had – hint, hint Microsoft).

However, I ran into some hiccups with the provided documentation.

The first annoying one was item #4 in the list for Eclipse 3.4.  You’re directed to enter the location https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/ for the location of the ADT plug in.  This did not work for me.  The location I had to use was  https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/site.xml.  There is a chance https might not work for you, then use http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/site.xml.

After overcoming that hurdle, I tried to do the Hello World sample.  This did not work out so well – Eclipse crashed.  Turns out that the default packages for Eclipse provided by OpenSUSE doesn’t have the Web Standard Tools, which is a requirement for using ADT.  So, I went back and uninstalled Eclipse, and download the tarball from the Eclipse website.  Then I installed and setup the ADT plug.