Instructions to install klusters on windows (Created by Lucile Belliveau on Dec 20th 2012) (by convention I put a dollar sign before all commands to be typed in the terminal but you should not include it in your actual command) 1. Install virtual box on your windows machine 2. Create a virtual machine using (K)Uubuntu. Create a machine with at least 20GB of hard drive (I tried with the required minimum of 10GB but the installation failed. 15 GB could be sufficient), and allocate enough RAM to run Klusters. Boot the machine on a Kubuntu .iso file : in virtual box, go to the settings of your new virtual machine, go to the storage tab, and load the .iso file as a CD, checking the 'live CD/DVD' button. IMPORTANT : you should use Kubuntu and not another linux distribution as you will need KDE Start the virtual machine and complete the installation. Remove the live CD from the drive (in Virtual Box settings) to avoid any conflict on the next boot. At this point, if the mouse pointer is misbehaving you should consider turning pointer integration off (see tips) or going to step 4. 3. Install Klusters on the virtual machine On the virtual machine : Open a terminal (look for 'konsole' in the start menu (the blue K at the bottom left of the screen)) Set a root password : $ sudo passwd this will prompt you to define a new password that you will need for all important tasks. Get the kdelibs4c2a packages (if you're using Kubuntu 11.1 or a more recent version) : $ sudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list Add the following line at the end of the text file (without the $) : $ deb http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty main universe Save and close kate window. Back in the terminal : $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install kdelibs4c2a Remove the line from the sources.list : $ sudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list and remove the line we just added. Save and quit Kate. Back to the terminal : $ apt-get update Download the .deb file for Klusters from the internet (http://klusters.sourceforge.net/). If you already have it on your windows machine you might want to do steps 4. and 5. now. With the File Manager GUI (start menu -> File manager or type $ Dolphin in the termianl), find the .deb file of klusters Right click on it and select 'Open With' then 'QApt Package installer' Click 'install package' Test the installation by typing in the terminal : $ klusters Congratulations, you installed Klusters on your windows machine ! Now let's do a few steps to increase user comfort : 4. Install Virtual Box Guest Additions This will allow to share folders between the real and the virtual machine and the virtual machine to run more smoothly. In the real machine : Find the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso virtual CD. It is in the directory where you installed Virtual Box (ex : C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox) Put the CD in your virtual machine's drive (Settings, storage tab). In your virtual machine : Install DKMS (will pre-configure the kernel correctly apparently) In a terminal type : $ sudo apt-get install dkms Install the VBoxGuestAdditions from the CD : go to the location of your cd, probably typing something like $ cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS* run the installation script $ sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run 4. Set up shared folders between your real and your virtual machine In your real machine : In virtual box, go to settings, shared folders tab. Click the new folder icon. Choose the path of the folder you want to share on the real machine (ex : C:\Dropbox), give it a name (ex : Dropbox), check the 'Make Permanent' box, don't check the other boxes. Click OK. The advantage of the manual mounting method below is that we get to choose the mounting point on the virtual machine. If you don't care you can check the 'Auto Mount' in settings/shared folders and it will arrive in /media/sf_Dropbox. In your virtual machine : Create the directory where you want your shared folder to be. For example : $ mkdir /home/lucile/WindowsDropbox Modify a script that runs after each startup to mount the shared folders (modifying fstab apparently doesn't work so choose rc.local instead) : $ sudo kate /etc/rc.local This will open a text editor window. After the heading comments and Before 'exit 0' add this line (without the $): $ mount -t vboxsf -o uid=1000,gid=1000 Dropbox /home/lucile/WindowsDropbox The uid and gid options allow the mounted folder to be owned by the user and not by root, 'Dropbox' is the name I gave the shared folder in Virtual Box settings, '/home/lucile/WindowsDropbox' is the full path where I want to mount the shared folder (it's better to specify the full path rather than using ~ as this command may be run by root and not by the user at start up). Save and close the Kate window. Restart your virtual machine and check if the files have arrived in the designated folders. $ cd /home/lucile/WindowsDropbox $ ls Some tips : - Repeat step 4. as much as you like to share various folders between your machines. - Switching your virtual machine to Seamless mode is quite nice, especially when you want to use your whole screen for one virtual machine application like klusters (on top of your virtual machine window : view -> seamless mode or Host+L) - Disable cursor integration (mouse with arrow at the bottom right of your virtual box windox) if the mouse movements are erratic. Likely to happen when virtual box guest additions are not installed. - Don't try to compile klusters from source (.tar.gz file) on KUbuntu or on another distribution as it will be painful if you're not an expert (you will need many additional libraries and will have to figure out which). Enjoy !