Quantum Mobile

Hands-on material

The hands-on material can be found here: https://github.com/materialscloud-org/hubbard-koopmans-2022

Instructions on setting up the Quantum Mobile

Computer programs are not always so easy to install. One of the easiest ways to deal with this issue in the context of learning the use of a new tool is to provide the necessary codes pre-installed inside of a self-contained working environment called "Virtual Machine" (VM). These virtual machines can be run with its own programs, libraries, files, and with limited points of contact with the "external device" that is being used to run it (your physical computer).

To set this up, you will first need to download and install VirtualBox (the latest version). This is the program that we will use to run the virtual machine. Then you also need to download the so-called Quantum Mobile virtual appliance for this event “quantum_mobile_Hubb-Koop_2022.ova” (~6 Gb of disk space), and import it into VirtualBox. The alternative source to download the Quantum Mobile is this one:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s7t72kne5mriadp/quantum_mobile_Hubbard_Koopmans_2022.ova?dl=0.

To do so you have to:

1. Install and open VirtualBox.
   Important notice 1: VirtualBox does NOT work on new Apple machines (i.e. ones with the M chip and thus ARM64 CPU architecture). We ask the participants to use one of the supported host Operating Systems listed here.
   Important notice 2: There might be issues with the VirtualBox 7.0.2 on Mac (e.g. MacosX Catalina 10.15.7). To solve this problem, please use VirtualBox 6.1.

2. In the VirutalBox select File -> Import Appliance (see Fig. 1 below).
   You can also have a look at the VirtualBox documentation here, section 1.15 “Importing and Exporting Virtual Machines”.

3. From the file dialog, go to the directory where you downloaded the virtual appliance and select the file quantum_mobile_Hubb-Koop_2022.ova.

4. Click Import to open the Appliance Settings screen.

5. Choose a base folder. The base folder specifies the directory on the host in which to store the imported VMs. Note: you need to have at least ~20 GB of disk space on your computer.

6. Click Import to start the procedure (this might take a few minutes).

After importing the virtual appliance, you should see the VM appearing in the list on the left. Select it and press the "Start" button (green right arrow) to run the Quantum Mobile. You should see what is shown in Fig. 2. Once the Quantum Mobile is up and running, you can change the size of the icons on the Quantum Mobile window by going to View -> Virtual Screen 1 -> “Scale to 200%”.

If you have any problems with the steps described above, please see the "Troubleshooting" section below!

Toubleshooting

If you have any problems when performing the steps described above, please try to find a solution on the Troubleshooting page. You can also consult the FAQ section of Quantum Mobile. If you do not find a solution to your problem, you can write to the “virtual_machine” section on Slack (all accepted participants will be added to a dedicated Slack channel for the tutorial). We will try to do our best and help you to solve these issues, but we cannot guarantee support to everyone due to a very large number of participants. Therefore, we rely on you and hope that you can figure it out on your own.

Creating a shared folder

If you want to copy files from your computer to the VM and vice versa, you will need to create a shared folder. This is needed since the VM does not see the files of the external device. In order to move files into and out of the VM you will need to create a "shared folder": a folder in the external machine (i.e. the VM) that will appear in the internal machine (i.e. you computer) as if it was an external device (like a pendrive). To do this, first create a folder on the Desktop of your computer called “VM”, then open VirtualBox and select the Quantum Mobile virtual machine on the left menu and click "Settings" (make sure you are not currently running the virtual machine). Click on to the "Shared Folders" section and click on the button to add a new shared folder (it is on the right, it has a folder and a plus sign in it) to arrive at the menu shown in Fig. 3. Select the field "Folder Path", go to the recently created folder "VM" and click on "Open": the "Folder Name" field should now say "VM" (if it doesn’t, write it now), and you should check the "Automount" checkbox. Finally, in the "Mount point" field you should write "/home/max/Desktop/SHARED" and then click the "Ok" button. The next time you log into your virtual machine, you should see the shared folder in your desktop and be able to both read the files inside of it and add new files to it.