Install Miniconda on Linux from the command line in 5 steps

Which one? Conda, Anaconda, Miniconda!!!

Before starting with installation it is essential to clear the terms. Conda, Anaconda, Miniconda.

What is Conda? It is is an open source package management system and environment management system. Similar to pip.

What is Anaconda? There can be no Data scientist who hasn’t installed Anaconda on their computers. Anaconda is software distribution that include helpful software to code.

What is Miniconda? It is the slimmed version that is light on your system and easy to iinstall. Miniconda is handy especially when you are working with virtual systems or Windows sub-systems for Linux (WSL2).

Why I recomend miniconda over anaconda?

I do most of the data science devlopment work on WSL2. For this, I only need python and its environment management system, to manage my virtual environment. Moreover, Anaconda install so many software that are not of my daily use. And, I do not want to spend much time looking at the screen for with installation progress bar

The following 5 steps are presented in the code block. After running the following steps, restart the terminal and mianaconda is ready to go.

# create a directory to install minicaonda in
mkdir -p ~/miniconda3

# download latest miniconda version
wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh -O ~/miniconda3/miniconda.sh

# run the install script
bash ~/miniconda3/miniconda.sh -b -u -p ~/miniconda3

# delete the intall script
rm -rf ~/miniconda3/miniconda.sh

# add a conda initialize to your bash
~/miniconda3/bin/conda init bash

# Verify the installaton 
conda list

Conclusion

Minicoda comes with its advantages such as being light and easy to install. Further, it has most of the utilities of Anaconda. As you see, there is no easy “sudo apt install” for miniconda in Linux. It has to be completely installed from the terminal. Therefore, for the first timers installation can be tricky. With the above 5 commands you are ready to go with miniconda installation. Sucess with playing with Miniconda on your systems.