Installing Cisco Packet Tracer on Ubuntu 24.04

Cisco Packet Tracer 8.2.2 can be easily installed on Ubuntu 22.04, but newer versions require extra work.
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Introduction

I’m currently completing a course that has a module which requires the use of Packet Tracer 8. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be an issue, as the binaries provided from the Cisco Networking Academy (NetAcad) site can be installed on Windows and macOS without too much fuss.

However, I try to use Linux wherever possible, and I was keen to avoid having to switch operating systems just to use a single piece of software, especially as they provide a .deb package for Ubuntu 22.04 (and derivatives such as Linux Mint 21.x).

All my machines (at the time of writing) use Linux Mint 22.1, which is based on Ubuntu 24.04, so I figured I’d note down what I had to do to get it installed.

How-To

  1. Make sure you have downloaded Packet Tracer from your NetAcad account. You also need this to be able to use the software once installed.
  2. Open the .deb file in Gdebi (or Captain on Mint 22.1). You will see an error noting that the dependency on libgl1-mesa-glx can not be satisfied. This is because this (transitional) package was obsoleted in Ubuntu 23.10. Close Gdebi/Captain.
  3. Download libgl1-mesa-glx from the Ubuntu security repository. Open it in Gdebi/Captain and install it.
  4. Now re-open Packet Tracer in Gdebi/Captain. You should now be able to install it, as well as any other dependencies. Accept the EULA when asked.
  5. Done!

Remarks

Despite having to mix packages from different Ubuntu releases, Packet Tracer seems to be working as well as you can expect.

It can sometimes be a bit unstable, but others on my course have noted similar issues on Mac and Windows computers. I guess that’s just the nature of the software.