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You can download and install VirtualBox *before* the tutorial or use the installation files that are on the USB drives that will be distributed at the beginning of the tutorial. You can download the software from VirtualBox downloads.
Use these directions to install VirtualBox.
If your host machine is any linux system, both virtualbox
and virtualbox-dkms
packages must be installed. Also check to make sure you have exFAT filesystem drivers. Windows and Mac systems should have it by default. On Ubuntu, the packages required are exfat-utils
and exfat-fuse
.
We recommended that your computer has at least 20 to 30 GB of free disk space and preferably 8 GB of RAM.
During registration, you will receive a 16 GB USB drive with an OVA file called “CIDER2018.ova” and the installation files for VirtualBox. This image contains the software for all CIDER tutorials. Copy it onto the laptop you are going to use for the tutorial.
Alternatively, you can also download the virtual machine frome here: CIDER2018 Virtual Machine. Note that this file is over 5GB in size and will take a long time to download (it is not recommended to do this during the tutorial as the Wifi will be unable to provide sufficient speed for multiple simultaneous downloads).
We use VirtualBox to run a separate ('guest') operating system inside your normal (or 'host') operating system. For this tutorial we use a Lubuntu 16.04 linux inside the virtual machine, because it provides a reasonably intuitive interface, and importantly is relatively lightweight, keeping the size small, and the machine relatively fast.
The virtual machine contains the following users for the individual tutorials:
As a first step select any of the above users and login to the system. Note that all of the users listed above do not require a password. Lubuntu separates the common 'Start' menu in the bottom left corner of the screen from the 'Shutdown/Reboot/Switch user' menu in the bottom right corner of the screen, but otherwise the layout of file explorer and menus should be vaguely familiar to all users of 'Windows'/'MacOS'/'generic Linux' users.
The majority of the work in the tutorials will happen in the linux terminal, and if you are not used to working in the terminal, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with some basic commands:
ctrl
+alt
+t
, or double-clicking on the LXTerminal
shortcut on the desktopexit
and pressing entercd
followed by the directory name (or cd ..
to move up one directory). Just typing cd
and pressing enter brings you back to your home directory. Most tutorials will happen in the directory 'Desktop' and some subdirectory of it.Tab
once or twice and the terminal will try to auto-complete the command you were typing (very useful for long or unknown filenames!)ls
leafpad
for a simple text editor)
The virtual machine has all required software installed, but if you are familiar with linux and you want to install additional packages (e.g. your favorite text editor), do it as cideradmin
, using the password cideradmin
:
su cideradmin
sudo apt-get install <package name> to install ubuntu packages.
Now simply start the CIDER2018 virtual machine and log into the user required for your current tutorial.