3 NeuroDebian Virtual Machine
4 ===========================
10 For those who are not yet running a Debian-based operation system we offer a
11 `virtual machine`_ that can be used with `VirtualBox`_, allowing users to benefit
12 from a Debian-based research environment on other operating systems.
13 This virtual machine initially comes as a compact Debian installation that can,
14 once installed, be equipped with a large variety of neuroscience software with
15 just a few mouse clicks (e.g. AFNI_, Caret_, FSL_, PyMVPA_).
17 .. _virtual machine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine
18 .. _AFNI: http://afni.nimh.nih.gov/afni/
19 .. _Caret: http://brainvis.wustl.edu/wiki/index.php/Caret:About
20 .. _FSL: http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl/
21 .. _PyMVPA: http://www.pymvpa.org
27 * `NeuroDebian 6.0.4 image (32bit)
28 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/NeuroDebian_6.0.4_i386.ova>`_ [~558MB]
30 *This image should work on virtually all systems that are supported by*
31 VirtualBox_ *and can be used whenever the, otherwise preferable, 64bit image
32 is not compatible with a host machine.*
34 * `NeuroDebian 6.0.4 image (64bit)
35 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/NeuroDebian_6.0.4_amd64.ova>`_ [~573MB]
37 *This image only works on 64bit host machines with active hardware
38 virtualization support. The should include all recent Apple hardware and most
39 64bit Windows systems.*
41 Virtual appliances above carry guest additions for 4.x series of the
42 VirtualBox. If you still have VirtualBox 3.x, use previous 6.0.2
45 * `NeuroDebian 6.0.2 image (32bit)
46 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/neurodebian_6.0.2_i386.zip>`_ [~545MB]
48 * `NeuroDebian 6.0.2 image (64bit)
49 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/neurodebian_6.0.2_amd64.zip>`_ [~560MB]
53 This older virtual appliances are distributed as a `zip` file. Please
54 extract all files from the `.zip` file, using appropriate software
55 for your operating system.
59 You can verify that you have downloaded archives correctly using
61 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/MD5SUMS>`_ . You can also verify
62 the authenticity of the `MD5SUMS
63 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/MD5SUMS>`_ itself using `gpg
65 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/MD5SUMS.gpg>`_ signed with
66 NeuroDebian archive key.
68 * `VirtualBox download page <http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads>`_ (Windows, Linux, Mac,
71 *This webpage offers installers of the VirtualBox application, as well as the
79 * Updated shipped virtualbox-ose guest-utils and guest-x11 to 4.0.4
81 6.0.3 -- 12 Jun 2011 [Superseded in the archive by 6.0.4]
83 * Updated to Squeeze 6.0.1
84 * Updated VirtualBox guest additions to 4.0.4 from backports.debian.org
85 * Appliance is available as a single file (.ova) ready for the import
94 The virtual machine contains an installation of `Debian 6.0 (squeeze)`_ with a
95 GNOME_ desktop environment. All installed software comes from standard Debian
96 packages, or prospective Debian packages from NeuroDebian. This means that all
97 contained software is readily available for any system running a Debian
98 operating system (or a recent Ubuntu release). The virtual machine can be seen
99 as a showcase of what Debian for neuroscience research feels like. Moreover,
100 once downloaded this virtual machine can be kept up to date, just as any other
101 Debian installation. Using convenient graphical package management tools users
102 will benefit from security bug fixes provided by the Debian project for the
103 whole operating system, as well as from software updates for
104 neuroscience-related packages.
106 .. _Debian 6.0 (squeeze): http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze
107 .. _GNOME: http://www.gnome.org/
113 The following video shows how to get the NeuroDebian virtual machine running
114 on your machine. The installation is shown for Mac OS X. It should, however, be
115 very similar on a Windows box. If you cannot watch the video, please take a
116 look at the written instructions below.
120 <iframe title="YouTube video player"
121 class="youtube-player"
125 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eqfjKV5XaTE?hd=1"
126 frameborder="0"></iframe>
128 First download and install a recent version of VirtualBox_. VirtualBox is a
129 virtualization software that is freely available for Windows, MacOS X, Solaris,
130 and Linux. VirtualBox comes with a comprehensive manual that should answer
131 potential questions regarding installation and maintenance.
133 .. _VirtualBox: http://www.virtualbox.org
135 Next, download the most recent version of the NeuroDebian virtual machine from
136 the Downloads_ section. Start VirtualBox and select "Import Appliance" from the file
139 .. image:: pics/vm_import_app.jpg
141 The next dialog will ask you to choose a virtual machine. Please navigate to the
142 extracted NeuroDebian download and select the `.ova` (or extracted
143 `.ovf` for older appliances shipped as `.zip`) file.
145 .. image:: pics/vm_import_wizard.png
147 You can finish importing of NeuroDebian by clicking on *next* a couple of
148 times. There is no need to change anything, as we will get through the
149 settings in a second. Importing of the virtual machine will take a short
150 while, as it is distributed in a compressed format that now gets extracted
151 (total extracted size about 2 GB). Once imported, the NeuroDebian virtual
152 machine will appear in the list of available machines. Do **not** start it yet,
153 but select NeuroDebian and hit the *Settings* button. In the following dialog
154 you'll have a chance to configure the machine. You can assign the amount of RAM
155 that should be made available to it (for serious fMRI data processing, please
156 allow at least 2 GB). If you have a recent computer with multiple CPU cores,
157 you can also decide how many cores should be used by the virtual machine.
159 .. image:: pics/vm_add_host_folder.jpg
161 However, most important is the *Shared Folders* setup. Shared folders allow the
162 virtual machine to access the local harddrive of the host computer. This is an
163 easy way to access data on the computer without duplicating it or using the
164 network to access it. The virtual machine is preconfigured to access a shared
165 folder named labeled "host". Click on the *add* button to select a folder that
166 shall be accessible by the machine (e.g. your home directory) and put "host" as
167 the folder name and mark it to be auto-mounted. Note, the folder name is simply a label. Your directory will
170 .. image:: pics/vm_host_folder.png
172 If you have a large screen you should increase the display memory to
173 32 MB in the *Display* settings. Also you might like to enable the
174 support for 3D Acceleration
176 .. image:: pics/vm_settings_display.png
178 Finally, close the settings dialog. You have now completed the setup, and you
179 can start the virtual machine by hitting the *Start* button. A new window will
180 appear showing the boot process. After a short while the NeuroDebian desktop
181 will appear, and a setup wizard will guide your through the final steps of the
182 configuration. You can now explore the system. The virtual machine is connected
183 with your host computer, and shares its Internet connection. Via this
184 connection you can update the contained software packages at any time.
186 .. image:: pics/vm_settings.png
188 The virtual machine logs yourself in automatically. The name of the virtual
189 machine user is `brain` and the password is `neurodebian`. The *root* password
190 is also `neurodebian`. In most cases, however, you should not be forced to type
191 the password, since `sudo` is configured to work without it.
195 For increased security you might want to change the default password. You can
196 do so by opening a terminal window and running the ``passwd`` command.
199 Working with the virtual machine
200 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
202 The next video is a demonstration of some basic desktop integration features.
203 It shows how to use the virtual machine in full-screen and seamless mode, shared
204 folder access, software installation, as well as suspending and resuming the
209 <iframe title="YouTube video player"
210 class="youtube-player"
214 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OV7fYSEoOeQ?hd=1"
215 frameborder="0"></iframe>
218 .. _chap_vm_troubleshooting:
223 Updating the VM or installing new packages doesn't work.
225 The VM uses as service that tries to figure out the best/closest package
226 repository for you. In some network environments this service might not work
227 well, or not at all. To check if this is a problem, you can modify the
228 respective configuration by hand. Edit ``/etc/apt/sources.list`` (you need to
229 use ``sudo`` for that) and replace the package repository URL with a mirror
230 close to you. A comprehensive list of mirrors is available at:
231 http://www.debian.org/mirror/list
233 Pick one and replace all ``geomirror.debian.net`` URLs with the new mirror
234 URL. For example, in Canada you might want to change::
236 deb http://i386-geomirror.debian.net/debian squeeze main non-free contrib
240 deb http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main non-free contrib
242 Only modify lines that refer to ``geomirror`` (all of them), but do **not**
243 modify entries for ``security.debian.org``.
245 I cannot hear sounds played in the virtual machine.
247 By default the sound is muted. To enable playback launch the mixer applet by
248 clicking on the mixer icon in the task bar. Unmute the master volume control.
249 Now click on the "Volume control" to load the channel mixer dialog. Unmute
250 the "Master" and "PCM" channels and raise the volume as desired. You should
251 now be able to hear sounds played within the virtual machines through your
252 host computer's speakers.
254 I have upgraded VirtualBox from 3.x series to 4.x, and my VM lost
255 mounted host directories.
257 NeuroDebian VMs prior 6.0.3 were shipped with guest additions from
258 3.x series of VirtualBox and some initial versions of VirtualBox in
259 4.x series have failed to mount host directories properly.
260 VirtualBox 4.0.8 seems to work fine with guest additions from 3.x
261 series. If you nevertheless want to upgrade guest additions within
262 NeuroDebian VM, please rebuild the version available from the
265 sudo apt-get install -y linux-headers-2.6-amd64 # or -686 for 32bit
266 sudo apt-get install -y -t squeeze-backports virtualbox-ose-guest-kdms \
267 virtualbox-ose-guest-utils virtualbox-ose-guest-x11