Installing the Arduino IDE on Ubuntu 8.04 is pretty easy, you just need to make sure that you have 3 packages installed.
- gcc-avr
- avr-libc
- sun java
Technically, you should be able to get away with the gcj java runtime, but if you have a bug with the IDE, you’ll be encouraged to install Sun jre right off the bat. So, with that, install the compiler and libraries first.
sudo apt-get install gcc-avr avr-libc
Next, Sun Java
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre
And lastly, download the arduino IDE, unzip it and run it. I like to store my code in my dropbox accountto keep things safe and synched between machines.