ONELAB virtual machine
Contents
Introduction
ONELAB is a software tool to make multi-code scientific simulations. To see how it works, a number of open-source simulation software should be made available on your computer. As a one-size-fits-all solution for all non-native clients, a virtual machine has been designed to be independent of the specifies of your system, and to have models and solvers installed with minimum user interaction. The ONELAB virtual machine is installed by following the steps described below.
Install the virtual machine
- Step 1 - Install VirtualBox on your computer
- Install VirtualBox on your system from the Oracle VirtualBox website. Download the binary package suitable for your operating system and the latest VirtualBox Extension Pack (There are 2 files to download), and follow the installation instructions.
- Step 2 - Configure Network connection between host and virtual machine
- Launch VirtualBox. From the VirtualBox menu, access the network settings (under Windows: VirtualBox > File > Settings > Network ; under OSX VirtualBox > Preferences > Network) and check in the "Host only Network" tag that the interface "vboxnet0" is selected. If not, add it by clicking on the "+" icon.
- Step 3 - Download the ONELAB virtual machine package
- by following the link: ONELAB virtual machine OVA package
- Step 4 - Import the OVA package in VirtualBox
- From the VirtualBox Menu "File", import the downloaded OVA package. A new virtual machine entry entry appears in the left panel.
- Step 5 - Start the ONELAB virtual machine
- Start the virtual machine by double-clicking its entry in the left panel. Enter "olvm" for login and "olvm" again for password (without quotes). Beware the default keyboard layout is Belgian. You can switch to the English (US) layout by clicking on the keyboard icon in the upper bar of the login screen, and selecting "Keyboard Layout Settings". Use the "Show Layout Keyboard" utility to find available special characters. When logged in, you are ready to continue with ONELAB models. If Ubuntu offers to upgrade, decline.
- Step 6 - Stop the ONELAB virtual machine
- When done with the simulations, the virtual machine must be shut down properly. Click for that on the "gear" icon in the upper bar and click on "Shut down".
The virtual machine is a second computer running on your system. They share screen, mouse and keyboard. It is also convenient to have them share a folder. This allows easy communication of files and data between the host to the virtual machine.
To share a folder, you first need, if need be, to shut down the virtual machine, and create the folder to be shared on the host. Then, enter the settings panel of the virtual machine and select the "Shared folders" tab. Click on the "+" icon and browse to the shared folder on the host system. As the "Folder name", write "OLVM" (without quote), and check the "auto mount" box. The shared folder is mounted on /media/sf_OLVM but, with the special name "OLVM", a link to the shared folder will be available directly as "SHARED" on the desktop of the virtual machine.
Troubleshooting
- The harmless OpenGL warning "Failed to connect to host" when launching Gmsh in a terminal can be safely disregarded.
- On older versions of Windows, you might have to explicitly enable virtualization in the bios.
- There is a well-known conflict (generating an error message when saving a file) between gedit and folders shared with a Windows host. As a workaround, backup files should be enabled in gedit settings, disregard error message and always save twice (More information on that: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gedit/+bug/34813?comments=all).
- VirtualBox does not yet fully support the MacBook Pro Retina screen. If you experience display problems, launching VirtualBox in low resolution. Right click on the VirtualBox icon in the Application folder, select "Properties" and tick the "Open in low resolution" box.
