Lab setup

CS 111 requires that you build several different projects for the x86. As part of the class we've provided two different environments. You are welcome to use them or setup your own computer to do the labs.

We have created a custom version of Ubuntu that has all of the build tools, emulators, and text editors that you will need to complete the labs. The distribution file is roughly 1GB.

Download (may take a while): ISO cs111-35-ubuntu.iso (~1GB)

To use this distribution, you have three options:

Option 1: Run the image in a virtual machine. The two best options for this are VMWare and VirtualBox. VMware is more polished, but its Mac OS X product costs money (Windows and Linux versions are free). VirtualBox is free.
Here are VirtualBox instructions (which we've checked on a Mac). It looks like this route requires about 3-4GB of disk space total once the virtual machine is fully installed.

1. Download VirtualBox and cs111-35-ubuntu.iso.
2. Run VirtualBox. Click "New" to start the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
3. Name your virtual machine "CS 111" or something similar. For "OS Type" choose Linux and Ubuntu. Give the image at least 512MB of base memory (more recommended).
4. For the Virtual Hard Disk, choose "Create new hard disk." 8GB should be enough. Finish creating the virtual machine.
5. Double-click your new virtual machine to boot it. The "First Run Wizard" should appear. For "Select Installation Media," choose cs111-35-ubuntu.iso (which you downloaded above).
6. Complete the First Run Wizard and boot the virtual machine. When the Ubuntu dialog box appears, install Ubuntu on your (virtual) hard drive. You will need to choose a user name and password.
7. Wait for the installation to complete.
8. When it's done, click the CD image at the bottom of the VirtualBox window and "Remove disk from virtual drive".
9. Select "Reset" from VirtualBox's Machine menu. You should reboot into the virtual machine. Enter your username and password and start working!! You can save stuff; your work will be stored on the virtual hard disk and will reappear when you restart the virtual machine.

Option 2: Install the image file onto a USB stick (at least 1GB). The easiest way to do this is to use UNetBootin. Follow the instructions on their page and use our image file as the source ISO. After install, just make sure that your computer can boot off of a USB stick.

Option 3: Install Ubuntu on your machine. To do this, first follow the previous step and then when booting from the USB stick select the install option.

We have updated the labs to work on the new SEASnet Linux servers. To use these servers, you will need a SSH client and a SEASnet account. Once you have both, you can use the machines by doing the following:

• Run ssh -X username@lnxsrv.seas.ucla.edu. The -X option tells the Linux server to create any GUIs on your client machine, rather than on the server. This will be most important when using the emulators.
• On the Linux server, run the following command: source /u/cs/class/cs111/cbin/share/shellsetup
  This command sets up your PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables to include our code. If you add this line to your ~/.bashrc file (or ~/.cshrc, if you are running tcsh), this will happen automatically every time you log in.
• Compile away.

Simply log in. Make sure you run source /u/cs/class/cs111/cbin/share/shellsetup to set up your PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables appropriately. If you add this line to your ~/.bashrc (or ~/.cshrc) file, this will happen automatically every time you log in.

If you are using Linux, you will first need to install the following standard packages.

• gcc
• g++
• libx11-dev

For the labs, you will require a Qemu installation. We provide a patched version of Qemu: follow these instructions to install it.

For minilabs, use the Bochs PC emulator. The following Ubuntu packages are useful for a Bochs installation (we use the default Bochs):

• bochs bochs-wx bochs-x bochsbios

If you are using OS X, your XCode should suffice for building some of the labs. If not, you'll need to make sure that the above packages are also installed manually.

If you are using Windows, we strongly recommend that you use our custom Linux distribution.