Your computer's main operating system is Windows, but it has a 'virtual machine' running Linux Ubuntu.
What is a virtual machine? This is basically a simulation of a computer. The software 'VirtualBox' can simulate different operating systems. We're using a virtual machine to provide a Linux environment in which to perform the work required for this unit.
What is Linux Ubuntu? Linux is a basic operating system, but you can add various configurations or collections of software to give it different behaviours etc. These are then released as 'distributions'. There are many different Linux distributions, but Ubuntu is the most popular due to its relative similarity to Windows.
This guide will show you how to log on to the Linux virtual machine.
Log in to Windows with your username/password as normal. Open up VirtualBox
Choose the Ubuntu image - this is the virtual machine that we will be using. Double click
The VM should load up, you can log in using the following information:
Username: User1
Password: Florida$Sun
You are now logged in! It should look like this:
You can make this 'full screen' by pressing right ctrl + f. You can get out of the fullscreen by pressing right ctrl + f again.
The main things you'll be using are:
- a browser (e.g. Firefox)
- RStudio
- Konsole, command line interface software
- Atom, text editor
To find any of these applications
- Press the
Windowskey on the keyboard, it brings up a search bar. Alternatively, click on the Ubuntu icon in the top left corner. - Type in the application, e.g. "RStudio", once it finds it, press enter
Try opening up Atom and Konsole. You can drag to the edges to snap to arrange.
If you type something into the Atom text editor and press F5 it should "send" that line to the Konsole, without you having to copy and paste.