Debian virtual appliance

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This "virtual appliance" should run on systems where VirtualBox can be installed (i.e. Linux, Apple Mac OSX, Microsoft Windows, Solaris). It is a Debian GNU/Linux stable distribution with Gerris, basilisk, emacs, octave etc... preinstalled and preconfigured. On 64-bits Intel/AMD systems (i.e. most systems these days) with support for hardware virtualization this should be nearly as fast as a full installation on the system (but should be easier).

To try it: 

sudo apt-get install virtualbox
  • Download the virtual appliance file gerris.ova (1.7 GB)
  • Start the VirtualBox graphical interface
  • Use the "File -> Import Appliance" menu. Select the gerris.ova file and follow the instructions
  • You should then see a "gerris / Powered Off" logo; select it and click on "Start" in the toolbar
  • The login is user: gerris, passwd: gerris

Contents

Hardware virtualization

Note that some machines disable hardware virtualization by default. To turn it on, you need to go into the BIOS before booting the machine.

32-bit systems

If your machine uses only a 32-bits processor and/or does not support hardware virtualization, you may need to use the 32-bits virtual appliance file gerris_32bits.ova, instead of the file above.

French (or non-US) keyboard

By default the virtual systems are configured for a US (qwerty) keyboard. If you use a French (azerty) keyboard, click on the American flag in the top-right corner to switch to the French keyboard layout. You can also add other layouts if you right-click on the flag and select the "Properties" menu.

Apple keyboard

Apple Macs have strange keyboards. To set the correct mappings go in "Applications Menu -> Settings -> Keyboard -> Layout" and select "MacBook/MacBook pro" in the "Keyboard model" drop-down menu.

Shared folders

By default the virtual machine does not share any folder with the host system. To make it easier to transfer files between the two systems, one can setup shared folders. To sum up, you need to

  1. Create a folder on the host system for example call it "myshared"
  2. In VirtualBox select "Settings" -> "Shared Folders"
  3. Click on the "+" icon on the top-right corner
  4. For "Folder Path" select the "myshared" folder
  5. Select "Auto-mount"
  6. Click "OK" twice
  7. Start the virtual machine
  8. On the virtual system, the shared folder should be accessible as "/media/sf_myshared"
Retrieved from "http://gfs.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Debian_virtual_appliance"
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