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Linux for Biologists
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  • 1. About this book
    • 1.1. Who is it for?
    • 1.2. What you will learn
    • 1.3. The author
  • 2. Getting started
    • 2.1. An overview of Linux
      • 2.1.1. Linux distribution
      • 2.1.2. Desktop environment
      • 2.1.3. This book uses Linux Mint
    • 2.2. Running a Linux desktop
      • 2.2.1. Running Linux as a virtual machine
        • Requirements
        • Importing the virtual machine image
        • Starting the virtual machine
        • Stopping the virtual machine
      • 2.2.2. The Desktop
      • 2.2.3. Changing system settings
    • 2.3. Available software
      • 2.3.1. Files — manage files and directories
      • 2.3.2. Firefox — browse the web
      • 2.3.3. Text Editor — create and edit text files
      • 2.3.4. LibreOffice — edit documents and spreadsheets
      • 2.3.5. Terminal — access the command-line
      • 2.3.6. Screenshot — take screenshots of desktop or windows
      • 2.3.7. Software Manager — install software from repositories
      • 2.3.8. GNU Image Manipulation Program — edit images
      • 2.3.9. Inkscape — create vector graphics
      • 2.3.10. Notes
    • 2.4. Files and directories
      • 2.4.1. Your home directory
      • 2.4.2. Hidden files and directories
      • 2.4.3. Important files in home directory
      • 2.4.4. File and directory names are case-sensitive
      • 2.4.5. Accessing the root filesystem
      • 2.4.6. Transferring files between systems
  • 3. Getting software
    • 3.1. The quick and easy method
      • 3.1.1. Requirements
      • 3.1.2. Finding and installing software
      • 3.1.3. Removing installed software
      • 3.1.4. Updating installed software
      • 3.1.5. Notes
    • 3.2. Python packages
      • 3.2.1. Requirements
      • 3.2.2. Searching for a package on PyPI
      • 3.2.3. Installing a Python package
      • 3.2.4. Updating an installed package
      • 3.2.5. Removing an installed package
      • 3.2.6. Using installed packages
      • 3.2.7. Python virtual environments
      • 3.2.8. Notes
    • 3.3. Perl modules
      • 3.3.1. Requirements
      • 3.3.2. Configuring local-lib module
      • 3.3.3. Searching for a module on CPAN
      • 3.3.4. Installing a Perl module
      • 3.3.5. Using installed modules
    • 3.4. R packages
      • 3.4.1. Requirements
      • 3.4.2. Starting an R session
      • 3.4.3. Installing a package from CRAN
      • 3.4.4. Installing a package from Bioconductor
      • 3.4.5. Updating an R package
      • 3.4.6. Removing an R package
      • 3.4.7. Notes
    • 3.5. Conda packages
      • 3.5.1. Requirements
      • 3.5.2. Installing Conda
      • 3.5.3. Using Conda
      • 3.5.4. Notes
    • 3.6. Debian packages
      • 3.6.1. Requirements
      • 3.6.2. Installing a Debian package
      • 3.6.3. Upgrading installed software
      • 3.6.4. Removing installed software
      • 3.6.5. Notes
  • 4. Using the command line
    • 4.1. Shell and Terminal
    • 4.2. An overview of commands
      • 4.2.1. Command options
      • 4.2.2. Getting help on using commands
      • 4.2.3. date — display current date and time
      • 4.2.4. cd — change directory
      • 4.2.5. mkdir — create new directory
      • 4.2.6. rmdir — remove empty directory
      • 4.2.7. ls — list files
      • 4.2.8. cp — copy files
      • 4.2.9. cat — display contents of files or combine them
      • 4.2.10. less — view and navigate file contents
      • 4.2.11. head — print first few lines of a file
      • 4.2.12. tail — print last few lines of a file
      • 4.2.13. mv — move a file or directory
      • 4.2.14. rm — remove files or directories
      • 4.2.15. echo — display text or values of variables
    • 4.3. Other useful commands
      • 4.3.1. df — report disk usage
      • 4.3.2. du — estimate disk usage of files or directories
      • 4.3.3. find — search for files
      • 4.3.4. free — view free and used memory
      • 4.3.5. locate — find files using their names
      • 4.3.6. which — locate a command
    • 4.4. Editing text files using nano
      • 4.4.1. Create new file
      • 4.4.2. Pasting text from clipboard
      • 4.4.3. Saving changes
      • 4.4.4. Exit nano
    • 4.5. Exercise — using the command-line
      • 4.5.1. Summary of steps
      • 4.5.2. Get sample data
      • 4.5.3. Install NCBI BLAST+ package
      • 4.5.4. Download query sequence
      • 4.5.5. Download protein sequence database
      • 4.5.6. Search database using query sequence
    • 4.6. Notes
  • 5. Galaxy
    • 5.1. Why use Galaxy?
      • 5.1.1. What can you use Galaxy for?
      • 5.1.2. Why run Galaxy on your computer?
    • 5.2. Running Galaxy on your computer
      • 5.2.1. Check system requirements
      • 5.2.2. Getting the latest release of Galaxy
      • 5.2.3. Creating a Python virtual environment
      • 5.2.4. Starting Galaxy
      • 5.2.5. Stopping Galaxy
    • 5.3. Registering a user account
      • 5.3.1. Managing your account
    • 5.4. Granting admin privileges for user
      • 5.4.1. Creating a configuration file
      • 5.4.2. Adding user to list of admin users
      • 5.4.3. Restarting Galaxy
      • 5.4.4. Verifying admin access
  • 6. Reference management
    • 6.1. Installing Zotero
    • 6.2. Collecting references from the web
    • 6.3. Integrating Zotero in LibreOffice
  • 7. Note-taking
    • 7.1. Features of Zim
    • 7.2. Installing Zim
    • 7.3. Creating a notebook
    • 7.4. Taking notes
    • 7.5. Exporting notes and notebooks
    • 7.6. Activating more features using plugins
    • 7.7. Getting help
  • 8. Glossary
  • 9. Credits
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2.2.1. Running Linux as a virtual machine#

To run virtual machines of other operating systems (guests) on your computer (host), you will need to first install a hypervisor — software that runs virtual machines.

Examples of hypervisors include VirtualBox, Parallels, VMware Workstation etc., I will use VirtualBox in this book (Fig. 6).

../../../_images/virtualbox.png

Fig. 6 Main window of VirtualBox#

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  • Requirements
  • Importing the virtual machine image
  • Starting the virtual machine
  • Stopping the virtual machine
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Requirements
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2.2. Running a Linux desktop
Copyright © 2023, Vimalkumar Velayudhan
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