Linux VM Installation

Lab projects need a Linux installation to compile and test. All lab submissions will be evaluated on Ubuntu 24.04 x86_64 arch. 

We recommend using the x86_64 arch as the development architecture to avoid any potential problems. We haven't fully tested other platforms such as arm, aarch64, etc..

This document and guide mentioned above are for your reference. You don't necessarily have to follow any of these to prepare the environment, as long as you have your setup and are confident that the toolchain you prepared meets the lab requirements.

If you currently don't have access to a Linux machine, there are two ways:

1. The easiest way is to use virtual machines on your laptop.

• Multipass [Recommended]

• VirtualBox

• VMWare

Allocate at least 40 GB of storage space. 

2. Another way is to use a cloud service. Many cloud services provide free VM trials. These are a few resources. The instructor hasn't tested or verified these services. You may be surprised by a huge bill if you are not careful. 

• Oracle: https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/FreeTier/freetier_topic-Always_Free_Resources.htm

• AWS (for 12 months): https://aws.amazon.com/free/?all-free-tier.sort-by=item.additionalFields.SortRank&all-free-tier.sort-order=asc&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Types=tier%2312monthsfree&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Categories=categories%23compute

• Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com/free/docs/free-cloud-features#compute

If you use Multipass to set up the VM, you can follow the Multipass + VS Code setup tutorial to configure your development environment and use VS Code to connect to your Linux VM for daily development.