NOTE: The VM was built to run on computers with CPU architecture x86_64
and will not run on the Apple Silicon CPUs.
CONTENTS
UPDATE (August 20): It is not certain if running a VM on an APS workstation is permitted. Should it be permitted, instructions will be given here.)
If you are not on a computer at the APS, follow these instructions to set up the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager on a computer where you have permission to install software.
NOTE If you are on the APS VPN, this download will fail at/about 10 GB. Make sure you are not using the APS network to download the file.
You will need:
- Oracle VM VirtualBox software on your host computer: https://www.virtualbox.org/
- Download and install both parts
- VirtualBox platform package for your host computer OS
- Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
- 2 GB RAM reserved for the training VM to use
- 10 GB hard disk space for the downloaded VM image file (can delete the image once installed)
- 40 GB hard disk space for the VM image to use
It is helpful to give the VM image its own CPU core.
Download the latest .ova
file (2021-08-02-epics-bluesky-vm.ova
is about 12.2 GB)
from the download directory on ANL's Box account (anyone with this link may view
and download from this directory):
Downloads: https://anl.box.com/s/dq5xa4b9g7tf4x9tlftyauqdbv9kb6ev
In the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager main window, choose Import Appliance from the File menu and select the downloaded file.
Once imported, the main window will show the EPICS-Bluesky-Simulator (and any other VMs you may have already installed).
term | value |
---|---|
Name | EPICS-Bluesky-Simulator |
Type | Linux |
Version | Ubuntu (64-bit) |
RAM | 2048 MB (increase if you want) |
CPU | 1 (change to 2 if you want) |
Graphics RAM | 16 MB (16MB is OK) |
Hard disk type | VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image), dynamically allocated |
Download URL | Linux Mint |
VDI Size | 40 GB |
Release | Linux Mint 20.1 "Ulyssa" - MATE (64-bit) |
Your name | APS-U EPICS beam line Bluesky Simulator |
Computer's name | apsu-sim |
user | apsu |
password | (see the instructions below) |
Login automatically | Yes |
To get the password for the apsu
account,
- open the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager main window (shown above)
- select the EPICS-Bluesky-Simulator in the left panel
- double-click the Settings gear
- On the General settings, open the Description tab
The account password will be described here (note: password is not shown in the image).
From the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager main window (shown above), select the
EPICS-Bluesky-Simulator in the left panel, then click the green Start arrow
icon to start the VM. Once the VM starts, it should login automatically to the
apsu
account:
Note the VM Manager is provides the menu bar with File, Machine, ... menus
and the bottom-most row of icons (ending with Right Ctrl
). These are not
part of the Linux VM. Consult the VirtualBox documentation for details of these
controls
The Linux virtual machine is inside of the VM Manager controls. The LM
icon
(in the circle) at lower left is a pop-up menu to access a variety of software
installed in the VM. To its right are icons for show/hide the desktop, file
browser, terminal, and web browser, respectively.