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 6.0.3 image (32bit)
28 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/NeuroDebian_6.0.3_i386.ova>`_ [~556MB]
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 6.0.3 image (64bit)
35 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/NeuroDebian_6.0.3_amd64.ova>`_ [~571MB]
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 You can verify that you have downloaded archives correctly using
55 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/MD5SUMS>`_ . You can also verify
56 the authenticity of the `MD5SUMS
57 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/MD5SUMS>`_ itself using `gpg
59 <http://neuro.debian.net/debian/vm/MD5SUMS.gpg>`_ signed with
60 NeuroDebian archive key.
62 * `VirtualBox download page <http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads>`_ (Windows, Linux, Mac,
65 *This webpage offers installers of the VirtualBox application, as well as the
73 * Updated to Squeeze 6.0.1
74 * Updated VirtualBox guest additions to 4.0.4 from backports.debian.org
75 * Appliance is available as a single file (.ova) ready for the import
84 The virtual machine contains an installation of `Debian 6.0 (squeeze)`_ with a
85 GNOME_ desktop environment. All installed software comes from standard Debian
86 packages, or prospective Debian packages from NeuroDebian. This means that all
87 contained software is readily available for any system running a Debian
88 operating system (or a recent Ubuntu release). The virtual machine can be seen
89 as a showcase of what Debian for neuroscience research feels like. Moreover,
90 once downloaded this virtual machine can be kept up to date, just as any other
91 Debian installation. Using convenient graphical package management tools users
92 will benefit from security bug fixes provided by the Debian project for the
93 whole operating system, as well as from software updates for
94 neuroscience-related packages.
96 .. _Debian 6.0 (squeeze): http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze
97 .. _GNOME: http://www.gnome.org/
103 The following video shows how to get the NeuroDebian virtual machine running
104 on your machine. The installation is shown for Mac OS X. It should, however, be
105 very similar on a Windows box. If you cannot watch the video, please take a
106 look at the written instructions below.
110 <iframe title="YouTube video player"
111 class="youtube-player"
115 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eqfjKV5XaTE?hd=1"
116 frameborder="0"></iframe>
118 First download and install a recent version of VirtualBox_. VirtualBox is a
119 virtualization software that is freely available for Windows, MacOS X, Solaris,
120 and Linux. VirtualBox comes with a comprehensive manual that should answer
121 potential questions regarding installation and maintenance.
123 .. _VirtualBox: http://www.virtualbox.org
125 Next, download the most recent version of the NeuroDebian virtual machine from
126 the Downloads_ section. The machine is distributed as a zip file. Please
127 extract this file, using appropriate software for your operating system.
128 Once extracted, start VirtualBox and select "Import Appliance" from the file
131 .. image:: pics/vm_import_app.jpg
133 The next dialog will ask you to choose a virtual machine. Please navigate to the
134 extracted NeuroDebian download and select the `.ovf` file.
136 .. image:: pics/vm_import_wizard.jpg
138 You can finish importing of NeuroDebian by clicking on *next* a couple of
139 times. There is no need to change anything, as we will get through the
140 settings in a second. Importing of the virtual machine will take a short
141 while, as it is distributed in a compressed format that now gets extracted
142 (total extracted size about 2 GB). Once imported, the NeuroDebian virtual
143 machine will appear in the list of available machines. Do **not** start it yet,
144 but select NeuroDebian and hit the *Settings* button. In the following dialog
145 you'll have a chance to configure the machine. You can assign the amount of RAM
146 that should be made available to it (for serious fMRI data processing, please
147 allow at least 2 GB). If you have a recent computer with multiple CPU cores,
148 you can also decide how many cores should be used by the virtual machine. If
149 you have a large screen you should increase the display memory to 32 MB in the
152 .. image:: pics/vm_add_host_folder.jpg
154 However, most important is the *Shared Folders* setup. Shared folders allow the
155 virtual machine to access the local harddrive of the host computer. This is an
156 easy way to access data on the computer without duplicating it or using the
157 network to access it. The virtual machine is preconfigured to access a shared
158 folder named labeled "host". Click on the *add* button to select a folder that
159 shall be accessible by the machine (e.g. your home directory) and put "host" as
160 the folder name. Note, the folder name is simply a label. Your directory will
163 .. image:: pics/vm_host_folder.jpg
165 Finally, close the settings dialog. You have now completed the setup, and you
166 can start the virtual machine by hitting the *Start* button. A new window will
167 appear showing the boot process. After a short while the NeuroDebian desktop
168 will appear, and a setup wizard will guide your through the final steps of the
169 configuration. You can now explore the system. The virtual machine is connected
170 with your host computer, and shares its Internet connection. Via this
171 connection you can update the contained software packages at any time.
173 .. image:: pics/vm_settings.jpg
175 The virtual machine logs yourself in automatically. The name of the virtual
176 machine user is `brain` and the password is `neurodebian`. The *root* password
177 is also `neurodebian`. In most cases, however, you should not be forced to type
178 the password, since `sudo` is configured to work without it.
182 For increased security you might want to change the default password. You can
183 do so by opening a terminal window and running the ``passwd`` command.
186 Working with the virtual machine
187 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
189 The next video is a demonstration of some basic desktop integration features.
190 It shows how to use the virtual machine in full-screen and seamless mode, shared
191 folder access, software installation, as well as suspending and resuming the
196 <iframe title="YouTube video player"
197 class="youtube-player"
201 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OV7fYSEoOeQ?hd=1"
202 frameborder="0"></iframe>
205 .. _chap_vm_troubleshooting:
210 Updating the VM or installing new packages doesn't work.
212 The VM uses as service that tries to figure out the best/closest package
213 repository for you. In some network environments this service might not work
214 well, or not at all. To check if this is a problem, you can modify the
215 respective configuration by hand. Edit ``/etc/apt/sources.list`` (you need to
216 use ``sudo`` for that) and replace the package repository URL with a mirror
217 close to you. A comprehensive list of mirrors is available at:
218 http://www.debian.org/mirror/list
220 Pick one and replace all ``geomirror.debian.net`` URLs with the new mirror
221 URL. For example, in Canada you might want to change::
223 deb http://i386-geomirror.debian.net/debian squeeze main non-free contrib
227 deb http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main non-free contrib
229 Only modify lines that refer to ``geomirror`` (all of them), but do **not**
230 modify entries for ``security.debian.org``.
232 I cannot hear sounds played in the virtual machine.
234 By default the sound is muted. To enable playback launch the mixer applet by
235 clicking on the mixer icon in the task bar. Unmute the master volume control.
236 Now click on the "Volume control" to load the channel mixer dialog. Unmute
237 the "Master" and "PCM" channels and raise the volume as desired. You should
238 now be able to hear sounds played within the virtual machines through your
239 host computer's speakers.
241 I have upgraded VirtualBox from 3.x series to 4.x, and my VM lost
242 mounted host directories.
244 NeuroDebian VMs prior 6.0.3 were shipped with guest additions from
245 3.x series of VirtualBox and some initial versions of VirtualBox in
246 4.x series have failed to mount host directories properly.
247 VirtualBox 4.0.8 seems to work fine with guest additions from 3.x
248 series. If you nevertheless want to upgrade guest additions within
249 NeuroDebian VM, please rebuild the version available from the
252 sudo apt-get install -y linux-headers-2.6-amd64 # or -686 for 32bit
253 sudo apt-get install -y -t squeeze-backports virtualbox-ose-guest-kdms