OPS245 Prep

Virtualized Operating Systems

• how it works
• hardware requirements

Workstation Setup

We'll use Linux Mint as a workstation in this course. Download the latest cinnamon release from https://www.linuxmint.com/

Linux Mint has a pleasant and fast user interface, but I can't force you to install it on bare hardware on your laptop, so the instructions are built on the assumption that you're installing it as a VirtualBox VM.

• Start VirtualBox and click "New".
• Set workstation as the name.
• Choose a folder where you'll store the VM's virtual hard drive. If you're using your laptop: you can store it anywhere. If you're using a removable drive: store it in any folder you like on the removable drive.
• Pick Ubuntu (64 bit) as the Linux version. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, so it's almost the same thing.
• Give it at least 4GB of memory, more if you can afford it. Up to 8GB will be worth it if you run Firefox in it with lots of tabs open. Keep in mind that in later labs you will have more VMs to run at the same time. The host and each VM need its own RAM allocated. The total is limited by the size of your physical memory.
• Create a virtual hard drive at least 30GB in size. The default VDI type is fine. A dynamically allocated disk is fantastic and I haven't found it to be any slower than a preallocated ('fixed size') virtual drive.
• You can pick the Linux Mint .iso file before you start the VM, or right after the first time you start it.

The right control key will release the mouse pointer from the VirtualBox window if you need to do something in your host operating system.

Once your VM boots from the ISO file: you can use it, but it is not yet installed. At this point it's running purely from RAM, and any files you create or change will be stored in RAM, which is a volatile type of memory. All your changes will be lost as soon as you power off the virtual machine.

• Start the installer. The icon to do that is on the desktop.
• For keyboard layout you almost certainly want English (US) - that's the type of keyboards they sell in Canada. You can add other language input after the installation is complete if you want to.
• Do install the extra multimedia codecs. It's giving you the default option not to install them because the legal status of some of them is not 100% clear. You and I (being nobodys) can install these without any worries about getting sued.
• On the "Installation type" screen (this screen is really about partitioning and installation destination) leave the "Erase disk..." radio button picked and click the "Advanced features" button. Choose "Use LVM" in the list that pops up.
• Create a user with the same username as your Seneca username. That will make some things easier later.
• Name your computer "workstation". This will be configured as your hostname.
• Wait for the installation to complete.
• When it's done and you reboot - it will ask you to remove the installation media. That's your ISO file which is used as a virtual DVD, and it has already been ejected for you.

That's all it took: your instllation is complete.

Customize your workstation

If you're going to use this VM a lot (and you should): make it comfortable for yourself to use. This section has suggestions which might help, you don't need to do any of this if you don't want to.

• In the main menu you can find the "Display" settings. Pick the largest resolution that will fit on your screen. For example on my 1920x1080 laptop screen: the workstation VM window fits just fine when it's configured to use 1152x864 pixels.
• I don't like having icons showing in my taskbar if those applications aren't running, so I unpin them. Don't need the "Show desktop" button either.
• Right-clicking on the taskbar, "Applets" I change the following for the "Grouped window list":
  • Don't group windows.
  • Button label: Window title
• In "System Settings":
  • Screensaver:
    • Don't start it automatically.
    • Don't lock the computer when it goes to sleep or the screensaver starts.
  • Startup applications, uncheck:
    • Blueman
    • Mint welcome screen
    • Nvidia Prime support
    • Update Manager
  • Change the desktop background.
  • Under "Windows": check "Attach dialog windows to the parent window".
  • Under "Themes/Settings": Do not user overlay scroll bars.
  • Under "Sound/Sounds": Uncheck at least the starting/leaving sounds.
• Click the "System reports" button in the bottom right system tray, and ignore the two reports there (language packs and system restore utility).
• yum install vim so the arrow keys don't do crazy things
• Change this line in /etc/sudoers: %sudo    ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL