How to install Minecraft Pi edition on a PC/Laptop using Ubuntu

Question

I have tried using the install instructions included with minecraft pi for linux, but it is not working on lubuntu. plus I tried ubuntu and clicked on the tar.gz file to auto install it like I heard ubuntu can do, but no luck. ubuntu said that there was nothing to install. I need help. I really want to try minecraft pi. I would like step by step instructions or a walkthrough please.

Solution 1

As pointed out in some of the comments, the reason it wont run on Ubuntu, or Lubuntu, is that Minecraft Pi is specifically compiled to run on the Raspberry Pi hardware.

It's not a a slightly customized version of the regular, Java based Minecraft, which will run on most platforms where java is available. Rather, it is an an executable program that has been hard-wired for the Raspberry Pi' which has, generally speaking, fewer resources than a regular desktop PC, and also a somewhat different internal operating system structure.

There is really no simple workaround for this. Minecraft-Pi was developed to meet a particular need, which it does awesomely, IMHO. It's just not a general purpose Minecraft client or server.

If you want to achieve the same outcome, namely using Python to create and interact with your Minecraft world, you certainly can, it's just a little bit more work than running mcpi on the Raspberry Pi. A great place to start is this Instructable.

Solution 2

You can't install an archive directly. Follow the steps below.

1. Download the archive (skip if already done)

   cd
   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.minecraft.net/pi/minecraft-pi-0.1.1.tar.gz
   

2. Extract the archive (skip if already done)

   tar xf minecraft-pi-0.1.1.tar.gz
   

3. Change the folder

   cd mcpi
   

4. Start

   ./minecraft-pi
   

   tar xf your_filename

All described in the file mcpi/HOW_TO_RUN.txt

Comments

[Wilf]

Try this question: How can I install Minecraft?. Do you need Minecraft generally on Minecraft Pi specifically?

[Wilf]

Are you using a Raspberry Pi or a normal computer (if so what architecture is it (you can get this from uname -m)

[Ronald Browen]

I am using a 32 bit toshiba satellite laptop with ubuntu 14.04.2

[Ronald Browen]

I cant seem to install Minecraft Pi on my computer but it should be possible because the Raspberry pi runs on Linux distros

[Wilf]

I just tried and I think the problem is that the program has been compiled to use the ARM architecture of the Pi only - not everything that works on 'Linux' works on all linux-es :) (@A.B.)

[Michal Skop]

This seems to me as installing on Raspberry Pi, not on Ubuntu