VirtualBox

With VirtualBox^® one can run Sugar on Microsoft Windows, Intel-based Apple Macintosh, or GNU/Linux host computers from within a virtual machine window.

See this VirtualBox overview. VirtualBox is a large software installation with many features and operating system options. A User Manual and other documentation is available online. Those who have not used VirtualBox before, might find it more easy to understand and install than expected.

VirtualBox Downloads: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

(See VirtualBox/Technical for some collected details.)

The following instructions are intended for those Learners interested in using VirtualBox to run Sugar. The process is not fully mature as the technology is evolving both in the VirtualBox and operating system software.

Online IRC support is available from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/IRC

Various VirtualBox experiments may be found on the discussion page.

Sugar disc images

Sugar on a Stick

Below are instructions for running a copy of Sugar on a Stick, available from this Fedora download site, in a VirtualBox window.

See VirtualBox/Preparing a disk image for instructions on building a VirtualBox virtual machine disk from an .iso disk image.

Note:
Prebuilt virtual machines that may be run in VirtualBox are available here: Emulator image files#VirtualBox.

Ubuntu Sugar

See Ubuntu for an installer for use with VirtualBox to set up a virtual machine running Ubuntu with Sugar preloaded.

Install VirtualBox

on Mac OS X

 - the Apple Macintosh operating system

Please help:
Assistance is needed from Macintosh system experts to sort out the peculiarities involved with the operating system and VirtualBox.

1. Download VirtualBox for OS X from here, http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
2. Install it by opening the .dmg.
3. Follow the instructions in the window
   1. Double click VirtualBox.mpkg
   2. If you see a warning about running a program from the Internet, click OK to run it.
   3. Click continue until you see the license popup, click Agree.
   4. Choose location to install, probably something like Macintosh HD, then click Continue.
   5. Click Continue, then Install. Enter password, if required.
4. Now you can run VirtualBox by opening the Applications folder and double clicking on the icon.
5. Next Follow the instructions Setup a Virtual Machine for Sugar on a Stick

   You can watch a screencast video of the rest of the process on a Mac below in the Setup section (click the [show] link.)

on Microsoft Windows

Download from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads.

on GNU/Linux

See http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

For Ubuntu, it is available in Synaptic Package Manager, once you add the the URI, distribution & components to your 3rd-party software sources or enter the following in your /etc/apt/sources.list.

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian <distribution> non-free

Install dkms, as well, so upgrades to your system will update the kernel modules.

(See the Talk:VirtualBox page for experimental installation variations.)

Setup a Virtual Machine for Sugar on a Stick

Notice: Prebuilt VirtualBox 4.1 Appliances are available. Just click "import" on one of the .vmdk or .ovf files.

One may also use these instructions, VirtualBox/Preparing a disk image, to prepare one's own.

You can watch a screencast video of the process with an earlier version of SoaS on a Mac here:

1. In VirtualBox click New
2. Click Next
3. Enter a name "Sugar"
4. Operating System: choose Linux
5. Version: choose Fedora
6. Click Next
7. For memory leave 256 MB
8. Click Next
9. Virtual Hard Disk click Existing
10. Click the little folder to the right of the selection box
    1. A new window pops up
    2. Click Add button in the toolbar
    3. Browse to the location where you extracted the .vdi disk image
    4. Click Open
    5. Click Select
11. Click Next
12. Click Finish
13. Select Sugar on the left
14. Click Start in the toolbar
15. After a minute or two you should see the Sugar screen asking for you name
16. Enter your name
17. Click Done at the bottom of the window. You might have to scroll.
18. From now on you can start VirtualBox and start the "Sugar" virtual machine

Setup a Virtual Machine for Ubuntu Sugar

Use Ubuntu Software Centre to install the virtualbox-guest-utils package, so that your virtual machine display can be resized to fit your computer.

Issues

• Activating the Frame might be a little difficult. The lower 2 corners are easiest and you may want to configure edge activation in the My Settings > Frame panel. With VirtualBox Guest Additions installed (see here), only the bottom edge and corners are available for Frame activation.

• On Mac keyboards, you might wish to change the Virtual Box default key for switching the Sugar cursor to the normal one, as the default key (control right arrow on Mac keyboards) is trapped by Sugar. (Windows and Linux keyboards use Right Ctrl.) You may do this change in File/settings of the Virtual Box menu.

Resources

• http://www.virtualbox.org/
• OLPC:VirtualBox
• How To Install Virtualbox Guest Additions in Fedora Guest (Based on Fedora 8)
• install the virtualbox guest additions

on Debian, Ubuntu, or derived distributions

sudo apt install virtualbox-guest-utils