Install Vizier In Virtualbox Ubuntu VM

Vizier Installation Guide for Windows 10

by Kevin Lin & Calvin Kyi

Introduction
Downloads
Setting up the Virtual Machine
- Virtual Machine Performance and Shared Folder Settings
Running the Virtual Machine
- Installing Ubuntu Linux
- Navigating Linux's Filesystem with Terminal and Setting Up Working Directory
  - Terminal
  - Choosing a Working Directory
Linux Terminal Installations
Installing Vizier
Other Tips
Credits
References
- Module References

Introduction

Getting Vizier up and running is no trivial matter that can eat up weeks of development time especially for anyone with not much technical experience. The purpose of this document is to provide at least one detailed and organized guide to installing Vizier with the least amount of frustration as possible. The only disadvantage to following this guide is that you may be performing extra steps compared to doing things on your own.

For the most simpliest method I know at the moment for getting Vizier ready, you must not skip any step detailed here. Please read the instructions carefully and if your errors/issues are extremely off from the potential errors pointed out the step in question, contact the TA(s) and/or instructor as soon as possible.

In the next section, we will begin the pre-requisite downloads that are vital for this method to run smoothly.

Downloads

Note: You may have problems with this method if you have Linux on Windows already because it may make Oracle VM VirtualBox unable to find your virtual machine.

You should download or update to the most updated version of:

Please make sure you have at least 10 GB of disk space and 8 GB of RAM for the virtual machine to run smoothly.

For this guide we will be using Oracle VM VirtualBox Version 6.0.18r136238 and Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS.

Setting up the Virtual Machine

Once you have downloaded Oracle VM VirtualBox and Ubuntu LTS, install Oracle VM VirtualBox (I will shorten this to VirtualBox from now on) by running the .exe file you downloaded. After completing the installation, open VirtualBox and navigate to the Machine tab at the top.

Click on New and fillout the form fields accordingly:

This step's purpose is to create a new virtual machine. It does not matter what you name the virtual machine. We will be proceeding with Linux and Ubuntu (if your system is 32-bit then please make sure your version of Ubuntu is set to 32-bit). Set your memory size to at least 2048 MB – in this picture I set it to 4096 MB in the event my virtual machine needs it to run smoothly during development.

After filling out the fields, click Create at the bottom and then click Create once more on the next dialog box.

Next, we will go through our new virtual machine's settings to make sure it can run smoothly and so we have the ability to move files between Windows and the Linux operating systems (this is to allow coders to move their saved work to their actual filesystem if they need to).

Virtual Machine Performance and Shared Folder Settings

Right click on your virtual machine and click Settings

Performance Settings

It is possible to not have to increase the performance settings to have the virtual machine run smoothly.

Next, make sure your settings are set to the fields in these following screenshots:

These settings are for shared clipboard and drag and drop features that are helpful when using virtual machines.

Here, you want to have at least 2 CPUs for the processor.

And you also want to have enough video memory allocated for a smooth visual experience.

Setting the Ubuntu TSL Virtual Optical Disk File

At the bottom there is a blue diamond with a green plus symbol you can click to add a new IDE Controller if your default storage device settings are not the same as the image below.

Click the blue disk icon on the right and Set the Controller: IDE to the Ubuntu TSL .iso file we downloaded via Choose Virtual Optical Disk File (This step is just navigating to the file we downloaded)

The result after setting the controller:

Shared Folder Settings

Click the blue folder with the green plus icon on this screen to add a shared folder

Click the drop down menu arrow on the right side of the Folder Path field and select Other in order to choose the folder in your Windows's filesystem to be the folder that is shared between your Windows and Linux operating system. Make sure to check only Auto-mount.

After completing the above step, click OK and OK to close out the settings window.

Next, we will begin the process of running the virtual machine and go over concerns and errors you may face in the rest of this process.

Running the Virtual Machine

When I was going through this process I had really bad, slow, and unstable internet, so I cannot say for certain that you will experience the same thing as I did. As a precaution, if any part of running the virtual machine or installing process within the Linux environment inside the virtual machine does not seem to be progressing along or is very slow, do not panic and close anything or abort commands unless told otherwise. Doing so may completely force you to redo everything from scratch if you are unable to recover.

Installing Ubuntu Linux

Now, double left click the virtual machine in VirtualBox to start it. This will boot up Linux/Ubuntu for the first time and will take some time to setup. Once everything loads, you will be asked to go through the operating system installation setup. Please choose a hostname and a password that is simple because you will have to enter your password later on multiple times. Most of the other default settings should be correct. If you are given a warning about deleting the contents on the disk if you choose to proceed with the installation, click Yes.

Navigating Linux's Filesystem with Terminal and Setting Up Working Directory

This section discusses the introduction of navigating Linux's filesystem with Terminal and setting up your working directory for Vizier.

Terminal

In order to navigate Linux's filesystem, you will need to use an application called Terminal which can be opened by right clicking the desktop and selecting Open Terminal

Please read through the navigation commands in a guide on Linux or ask TA(s) for help.

After completing the Installing Guest Additions section under Linux Terminal Installations, you will gain access to your shared folder, which will be located in /media/sf_<folder name>. Use this shared folder to take things out or put things in if need be. Be sure to complete the Installing Guest Additions section if you want to make your life easier with the Shared Clipboard and Drag n' Drop features. If you also plan on exporting files from Vizier, you will need a way to retrieve the files.

Choosing a Working Directory

A working directory is a term for a folder where the files you are working with are in. Personally, I recommend choosing a convenient place for your working directory as well as installing all the Terminal Installations later on in this folder. If you were to search how to install many of the things needed for Vizier, you may have things installed all over the place. That is why the main purpose of this guide is to keep you organized.

By default when you open your terminal, if you execute ls you will see a bunch of directories starting with Desktop and so on.

As you can see there is a vizier folder in this default directory (which we can navigate to from anywhere in Linux via the command cd ~/ . I recommend doing something similar and having your working directory here in this convenient place.

Create the directory here by executing the command mkdir vizier

Congratulations! You have now reached the most complicated and longest part of the installation process. The next section will be broken up to many sections to account for the many things that need to be installed in order for Vizier to be able to be hosted properly.

Linux Terminal Installations

In this section, we will install many things for Vizier to work so please follow along carefully and do not skip a single section. As a reminder, if you come across an error that is completely erroneous, please contact TA(s) and get help immediately. Do not panic and close anything or abort commands unless told otherwise. Doing so may completely force you to redo everything from scratch if you are unable to recover.

If some of the sudo apt install commands do not work it may be because the -y flag is causing errors. If removing -y does not solve your issue, please get help immediately.

Updating Ubuntu Packages and Removing Packages

In the event that something goes wrong with installing something in the future sections, you will have to perform the following commands to update what packages you can install:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

If you need to remove a package:

sudo apt remove thePackageName

For instance, sudo apt remove curl

Installing Guest Additions

Taken from Tecmint's Guide to Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions in Ubuntu

Perform the following commands in sequence:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install build-essential dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Installing pip3

Taken from Linuxize's Guide to Installing pip on Ubuntu 18.04

Perform the following command (for repetition's sake I will no longer say this line):

sudo apt install python-pip -y

To verify if you install it succesfully:

pip –version

Installing python3

Taken from Python Documentation for Installing on Linux

python3 -V

If the above command outputs Python 3.X.X, you most likely do not need to install or update python3 and you can move onto the next section. If not, perform the command below:

sudo apt install python3 -y

Installing Vizier

Continue with the main guide to installing Vizier.

Other Tips

I recommend going into the settings of the Linux OS and turning the sleep mode for the display settings to Never so you do not have to re-login if you are idle for 5 minutes.

Credits

Special thanks to Sanchit for providing the original set of instructions that allowed me to structure this guide. The hardest part about this installation were the errors that popped up during the final command in the Running Vizier section which lead to all of the Linux Terminal Installations section. Besides that, I had also tried doing this within Windows OS but I was not able to get pass an error before getting to the module installation phase.