Getting started on Windows

Revision as of 01:13, 30 March 2021 by S.wales (talk | contribs) (Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL))

NCI Virtual Desktop (VDI)

NCI's virtual desktops (VDI) are an easy way to connect to NCI facilities from desktop computers. VDI provides a Linux desktop in a window, running on NCI's cloud

Check NCI's VDI documentation for the current installation and setup instructions https://vdi.nci.org.au/help

Advantages:

  • Access to NCI's /g/data filesystem
  • Conda and Matlab (see NCI documentation) available
  • No compute time/SU charge
  • Doesn't require a powerful home computer

Disadvantages:

  • VDI servers are shared between multiple users
  • Requires network connection

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a way to have a Linux environment on your Windows computer, without having to install and switch between different operating systems.

For up-to-date WSL installation instructions, see Microsoft's documentation at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10

Advantages:

  • Runs on your own computer

Disadvantages:

  • Large size (~2GB for base install)

Windows Terminal

Windows Terminal is a nicer command line interface for Windows than the default Power Shell program, with more customisation options. It integrates with WSL, letting you use it to start Bash terminal sessions

Windows terminal can be installed through the Windows app store, further details at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/

X11

In order to show remote windows from Gadi on your own screen you'll need an X11 server program running on your computer.

If X11 isn't running, you will get errors when starting programs that bring up a new window, e.g:

saw562@gadi-login-04 ~ $ xclock
Error: Can't open display:

There are a few different X11 server programs available for Windows, including:

* https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/

VSCode & Power Shell SSH

VS Code is a nice code editor that can run on Windows, Mac and Linux. You can edit code locally, or use plugins to remotely connect to servers over SSH. It also integrates with WSL, allowing you to edit code in the Linux environment.

Windows includes its own version of SSH that you can use directly from Power Shell. Visual Studio Code can use this to connect to Gadi from your Windows computer. You will need some special options when creating a SSH key with Power Shell SSH:

ssh-keygen -t ecdsa -b 521 -f .ssh/id_ecdsa

You can also use the Power Shell SSH to connect to Gadi, bypassing WSL, but that may have problems running X11 windows

https://code.visualstudio.com/

Other Alternatives

Putty

https://www.putty.org/

Cygwin

https://www.cygwin.com/