In this blog post, I will show you how to install Ubuntu 22.04, the latest version of the popular Linux distribution, as a virtual machine on a Windows PC using VMware Workstation Player.
If you use VirtualBox, use about 12GB of memory, 50GB for the storage size, and 4 CPU Processors.
Also when you first start up the virtual machine, you are going to want to make sure your user has sudo privileges. Do this by typing the following commands:
whoami
The command above gets your username.
su -
sudo adduser [username] sudo
Replace [username] with your username.
reboot
Download and Install VMware Workstation Player
First, we need to download and install VMware Workstation Player.
VMware Workstation Player is a free virtualization software that allows you to run multiple operating systems on a single computer. This can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as testing new software, running development environments, or learning about other operating systems.
Click on the downloaded file, and follow the prompts to install VMware Workstation Player.
Download the Ubuntu 22.04 ISO File
Now you need to go to this page, and download the Ubuntu 22.04 iso file. You will see a button that says “Download 22.04” or something similar.
You can download this iso file to wherever you would like on your computer.
An ISO file, also known as an ISO image, is a single file that contains an exact copy of the Ubuntu Linux 22.04 operating system.
Create a New Virtual Machine
Open VMware Workstation Player and click on “Create a New Virtual Machine.”
Click the “Browse” button and locate the .iso image of Ubuntu 22.04 that you downloaded earlier.
Click Next.
Enter the Full Name, Username, and Password, and then click Next.
Name the virtual machine and select where you would like to store it on your computer.
Click Next.
Choose a maximum disk size. I will use 50GB.
Select “Split virtual disk into multiple files”.
Click Next.
Stick with the default option of “Power on this virtual machine after creation.” Then click Finish.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install Ubuntu 22.04 on your virtual machine.
Once the installation is complete, exit your new Ubuntu 22.04 virtual machine.
Now go to the following folder: Go into the VMWare settings on the C drive (C:\Users\*****\Documents\Virtual Machines\(whatever you have named your virtual machine), and open the configurations file in Notepad.
Change
usb.restrictions.defaultAllow = “FALSE”
To:
usb.restrictions.defaultAllow = “TRUE”
If that line isn’t there, add it at the bottom of the file.
Restart VMware Workstation Player.
On the left part of the panel, right-click on the name of the virtual machine, and click “Settings”.
On the Hardware tab, click Memory.
Change the settings so that you have more memory. I set mine to 16384 MB.
I also set the Processors to 4.
Click OK.
On the Hardware tab, click USB Controller.
Make sure “Show all USB input devices” is checked.
You can also put a checkmark in “Share Bluetooth devices with the virtual machine”.
Click on your Virtual Machine and click “Play virtual machine”.
In this blog post, I will explain the step-by-step process for installing Docker on an Ubuntu Linux system. As a reference for you, here are the official instructions.
At the end, I will explain in detail how Docker is used in robotics.
Uninstall Old Versions of Docker
The first thing you need to do is to uninstall any outdated versions of Docker that might be lurking on your computer.
Open a terminal window, and type the following command:
for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove $pkg; done
You might get a message back saying that you have none of those packages installed. That is just fine.
Docker is a tool that allows you to package your software, including all its dependencies, into a standalone unit called a “container.” You can then deploy this container on any machine that has Docker installed, regardless of the underlying computer that is being used.
Docker is used in robotics for a number of reasons, including:
Reproducibility: Docker containers allow you to create a reproducible development environment for your robotics project. This means that you can be confident that your project will run the same way on any machine that has Docker installed.
Portability: Docker containers are portable, meaning that they can be easily moved from one machine to another. This is useful for developing and deploying robotics applications on a variety of platforms, including embedded devices, cloud servers, and robots.
Scalability: Docker containers are lightweight and efficient, making them ideal for scaling robotics applications. You can easily start and stop multiple containers on a single machine, or deploy multiple containers across a cluster of machines.
Here are some specific examples of how Docker is used in robotics:
Developing and testing robotics software: Docker can be used to create isolated development environments for robotics software. This allows developers to work on different components of a robotics project in parallel, without worrying about conflicts with other dependencies. Docker can also be used to test robotics software on different platforms, without having to install all of the necessary dependencies on each platform.
Deploying robotics applications: Docker can be used to deploy robotics applications on a variety of platforms, including embedded devices, cloud servers, and robots. This makes it easy to scale robotics applications and deploy them to production environments.
Running ROS 2: Docker is often used to run ROS 2. You can find the official ROS 2 Docker repository here on DockerHub.
If you are looking to simplify your development and deployment of software on to robots, I highly recommend you learn Docker.
In this project, we will get started on our Robot Operating System (ROS) programming journey by installing Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a popular distribution (i.e. flavor) of the Linux operating system and is fully supported by ROS, the most popular framework for writing robotics software. If you have a Windows PC (I have Windows 11), I recommend you install a VirtualBox first and then install Ubuntu in the Virtual Box. I’ll show you how to do all that below.
The process for installing Ubuntu has a lot of steps, so hold on tight, don’t give up if something goes wrong, and go slowly so that you get your installation setup properly. Let’s get started!
Requirements
Here are the project requirements:
Install Ubuntu
Install Virtual Box
Install Ubuntu on VirtualBox
Learn Important Linux Terminal Commands
You Will Need
The following components are used in this project. You will need:
Check Ubuntu Releases to find the latest version of Ubuntu that has long term support (LTS). As of this writing, the latest release is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish). You can download 22.04 if you want, but I will download Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) since I need it for my ROS 2 Galactic work.
Click on the latest release of Ubuntu, and download the 64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image (.iso file). The download process will take a while since it is a large file.
Before installing Ubuntu, you need to install Virtual Box. Virtual Box extends the capabilities of your host computer (i.e. your laptop or desktop PC) by enabling you to install and run an operating system in a new environment on top of your current operating system (Windows 11 in my case). The environment the new operating system will run in is known as a virtual machine (or guest).
Select the platform package for Windows hosts to download the executable (.exe) file.
Detailed installation instructions for all operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris) can be found in the instruction manual. Let’s go through the steps.
Double-click on the executable file.
Click Next to begin the installation process.
Click Next to install the VirtualBox in the default location.
Click Next to choose the default features.
You will see a warning about network interfaces. Ignore it, and click Yes to proceed.
You are now ready to install VirtualBox. Click Install to proceed.
Click Finish to run VirtualBox.
You can optionally delete the original executable file for VirtualBox (the one with the .exe extension). You don’t need it anymore.
Type in a descriptive name for your operating system. You can stick with the default machine folder. The machine folder is where your virtual machines will be stored.
Also, select the operating system that you want to later install (Linux in this case).
Click Next to proceed.
The default memory size for me is 1024 MB. That is not enough. Raise it to 6470 MB, and then click Next to proceed.
Make sure “Create a virtual hard disk now” is selected, and click Create.
Select “VirtualBox Disk Image (VDI)”, and click Next.
Choose a Fixed size virtual hard disk so that you have better performance, and click next.
You can stick with the default hard disk space (10GB as of the time of this writing) or go with something like 50 GB. I went with 50 GB. I also prefer to save my hard disk on my D drive (which has more space than my C drive). Then click Create.
Double-click on the left panel where it says “Ubuntu 18.04.” A startup window will appear.
Click the Folder icon next to Empty and select the Ubuntu image you downloaded earlier in this tutorial. It is a .iso file. You can make sure that your .iso file is somewhere in your C drive (doesn’t have to be on your Desktop). Then click Start to proceed.
You might get an error that looks like this.
Click Close VM.
Enable Virtualization Technology on Your Computer
The error above arises because virtualization technology is disabled on your computer by default. We need to enable it. Let’s do that now.
Go down to the search area on your computer in the bottom left of your screen, and searched for “Advanced Startup”.
Click “Change Advanced Startup Options.”
Click Restart Now.
Click Troubleshoot.
Click Advanced Options.
Click UEFI Firmware Settings.
Click Restart to change the UEFI Firmware Settings.
Click F10 BIOS Setup.
Press the right arrow to go to System Configuration.
Scroll down to Virtualization Technology.
Press Enter to select Enabled.
Press the down arrow and then Enter to select Enabled.
Press F10 to save and exit.
Press Enter on Yes to save the changes.
Your computer will reboot.
Double-click on the VirtualBox icon to start it.
Click on the left panel of the window to start the Ubuntu virtual machine. Or you can just click Start in the toolbar.
You should see the Ubuntu window appear.
Install Ubuntu
Click on “Install Ubuntu” to install Ubuntu.
Click “Continue” to save the keyboard layout. The default English one is fine.
Keep clicking Continue through all the prompts. The options you want selected as you go through the prompts are the following:
Download updates while installing Ubuntu
Erase disk and install Ubuntu
You will get to a point where you will need to set your time zone. It will be a big map of the world that should automatically detect your location.
Type in a computer name and pick a username and password. I select the “Log in automatically” option.
When installation is complete, click “Restart Now.”
If you get a message that says “Please remove the installation medium. Then press ENTER,” just press ENTER.
When you reboot, you will go to the Ubuntu desktop.
If at any time you want to exit Ubuntu, go to File → Close. You will be given the option to save your machine state so that you can pick up where you left off the next time you login to Ubuntu.
Two additional notes….when you power up your VirtualBox, it is a good idea to go to Settings → Display and change your Video Memory to 128 MB. This will give you ample video memory.
Also go to Settings → System → Processor, and adjust the number of CPUs to 4.
If you at any point in the future run out of hard drive space for your virtual machine, you can move it to another drive (e.g. D drive) by following this article at Tech Republic.
Here are the complete settings on my Windows machine.
Getting Used to Ubuntu
Similar to the C drive in Windows 10, Linux has a file system (everything branches from the / symbol). You can find it by clicking the icon of the file cabinet on the right side of the desktop. It is the third icon down in the image below.
Click “Other Locations.”
Click “Computer.”
You will see all the files. For example, the path to the bin file is /bin
You can find popular software applications for download in the Ubuntu Software module. It is the sixth icon in the left-hand panel.
Linux Terminal Commands With the Ubuntu Command-Line Interface
We could certainly navigate around Ubuntu using the graphical user interface, but we would miss out on being able to run advanced processes for ROS. This is where the Terminal application comes in handy. The Terminal application is the Ubuntu command-line interface and is similar to the Command Prompt on a Windows 10 system. It enables us to use Linux terminal commands.
To open the Terminal, click the bottom left where you see those nine white dots and search for “Terminal” at the top.
Click on Terminal.
If you do a Google search for “common Linux terminal commands,” you should find some nice cheat sheets to use as a reference. Let’s try a few common commands below.
The following command retrieves a list of all the files and folders in the current directory.
ls
If you want to change to the desktop, type:
cd Desktop
If you want to get the path to the current directory, type:
pwd
To go up one directory, type:
cd ~
To update the list of packages, type:
sudo apt-get update
The sudo keyword enables you to run a command as an administrator.
At this stage, it would be useful for you to install htop, an interactive system-monitor process-viewer and process-manager. To install it, type the following command:
sudo apt-get install htop
If at any point you want to remove it, you can type the following command:
sudo apt-get remove htop
To run, htop, you type:
htop
You can reboot the system using the following command:
sudo reboot
Finally, to shutdown the system, you type the following command:
