1. Install Virtual Box (use the latest version, 5.04)
2. Download the .ova virtual machine to your computer (link)
3. Import the downloaded virtual machine to Virtual Box (double click the downloaded .ova file or select File→Import Appliance in Virtual Box)
4. Accept the recommended appliance settings for CPU, memory etc (or change if you want if you know what you are doing) – this will take a couple of minutes
5. Start the VM (double click the VM in Virtual Box)
6. Install the “Guest Additions” in the VM (this will get you clipboard sharing between your OS and the VM and other nice things)
   1. With the VM open, click on Devices → Install Guest Additions CD image (in the Virtual Box menu)
   2. Open the new folder that shows up with the terminal
      1. Open a terminal window using the “LXTerminal” shortcut in the desktop
      2. Navigate to the “Guest Additions” folder:

          cd /media/student/VBOXADDITIONS_5.0.4_102546 

         Note that the exact version numbers could be different. Write up up to the first letters of VBOX.. and use TAB to autocomplete.

      3. Run the LinuxAdditions program by executing

         sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

         in the terminal. Remember that the password is 'student'

      4. Restart the VM to let changes take effect (VirtualBox Machine→Reset)
7. Update the 16.410 configuration (here)

User name: student
password: student

The following command updates the data in your 16.410 VM. You will need to do this every time we release new problem sets or when instructed to do so (for example to install new software required for the course).

In the VM, open a terminal (double click the LXTerminal shortcut in the desktop) and run

sudo update_intro_to_autonomy

(Note that this will take a while the first time…)

This will install the Python and Jupyter/IPython system (with all required dependencies) and put a shortcut in the desktop (16.410/413 PSets).

If you have followed all the previous steps, Jupyter/IPython should be running in the background already.

To start using the Jupyter notebook, all you need to do is double click on the 16.410/413 PSets desktop shortcut (or alternatively, open Firefox and navigate to http://localhost:8888/

If, for some reason, Jupyter stops working, you can restart the service by executing the following commands:

service intro-to-autonomy-ipython-notebook stop
service intro-to-autonomy-ipython-notebook start

Alternatively, you can just restart the VM.

For tips/documentation on how to use the Jupyter/IPython notebook, go here