diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8ef6839e..23c482eb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,3 +10,6 @@ volestipy.egg-info
 .ipynb_checkpoints/
 .vscode
 venv
+lp_solve_5.5/
+.devcontainer/
+.github/dependabot.yml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 486271ad..13b23af2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,11 +15,22 @@ metabolic network, namely Flux Balance Analysis and Flux Variability Analysis.
 [![Tutorial In Colab](https://colab.research.google.com/assets/colab-badge.svg)](https://colab.research.google.com/github/GeomScale/dingo/blob/develop/tutorials/dingo_tutorial.ipynb)
 [![Chat](https://badges.gitter.im/geomscale.png)](https://gitter.im/GeomScale/community?utm_source=share-link&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=share-link)
 
+
 ## Installation
 
+**Note:** Python version should be 3.8.x. You can check this by running the following command in your terminal:
+```bash
+python --version
+```
+If you have a different version of Python installed, you'll need to install it ([start here](https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-python-3-8-on-ubuntu-18-04/)) and update-alternatives ([start here](https://linuxhint.com/update_alternatives_ubuntu/))
+
+**Note:** If you are using `GitHub Codespaces`. Start [here](https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/setting-up-your-project-for-codespaces/adding-a-dev-container-configuration/setting-up-your-python-project-for-codespaces) to set the python version. Once your Python version is `3.8.x` you can start following the below instructions.
+
+
+
 To load the submodules that dingo uses, run
 
-````unix
+````bash
 git submodule update --init
 ````
 
@@ -39,12 +50,14 @@ rm lp_solve_5.5.2.11_source.tar.gz
 
 Then, you need to install the dependencies for the PySPQR library; for Debian/Ubuntu Linux, run
 
-```
-apt-get install libsuitesparse-dev
+```bash
+sudo apt-get update -y
+sudo apt-get install -y libsuitesparse-dev
 ```
 
-To install the Python dependencies, install [Poetry](https://python-poetry.org/). Then, run
+To install the Python dependencies, to install [Poetry](https://python-poetry.org/), run
 ```
+curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 - --version 1.3.2
 poetry shell
 poetry install
 ```