2.1. OverviewΒΆ

After about 8 years of experience teaching this course with Cygwin as the primary environment for PC users and fink, then Macports for Mac users, I have finally decided to move to a unified platform.

This has been made possible by the emergence of Virtualization Technology, which allows one to use the hardware on a single machine and make several Virtual Machines. Each Virtual Machine (VM), while it is running, shares the CPU, memory, hard drive, and other components of the real hardware.

Since there is a robust FREE Virtual Machine application, and a FREE Unix operating system which comes with all the scientific tools (open-source, of course) we need, AND this system looks the same whether you have a PC or a Mac, it’s like finding the Unified Field Theory that incorporates general relativity and quantum field theory. Well, almost...

So, we have a simple set of steps ahead of us.

  • First we install VirtualBox from Oracle

    This is pretty easy; download the package and click Next a bunch of times as it installs.

  • Then we create a Virtual Machine on which we will do our science

    This is easy too, although you might have to go into your BIOS and make a couple adjustments if you want to use the full power of your 64-bit computer.

    This leaves you with a new-born baby (virtual) machine. No operating system, no files, nothing.

  • Now we install Fedora Linux–Scientific Spin

    Bang! We download the Fedora ISO, put the virtual DVD in the virtual DVD slot, and reboot. Answer a couple questions, make root and user accounts, click Install, go have coffee. When you finish your cup-a-joe, you reboot your VM and you now have a brand new computer asking you to login.

  • Login and look around. Then Configure a few helpful items.

    We will add the Guest Additions, programs which integrate your new VM with your “host” OS (i.e. your PC or your Mac). This gives you “Seamless” integration of the two operating systems, as if all features of both were built into one.

You will also

  • Set up Shared Folders

    so that you can easily access files across your two machines: your original computer that your Mom and Dad bought you <–> and your new VM that you just built from stuff you downloaded from the Internet.

Ready?