Option #3 -- Ubuntu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Installing Ubuntu and external packages
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If you are using the Virtual Computer, you can skip this step.



These instructions were written for Xubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver),
and will probably work for versions of a similar age.  Check
`this page <../appendix/packages.html>`_ for a description of packages
and required versions.


Although you can install regular
`ubuntu desktop <http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop>`_
we are very unhappy with the desktop interface they
are using.  It is moving towards phones and tablets,
and not as useful for running CODAS software.

We recommend `Xubuntu <http://xubuntu.org>`_, because it
has a more suitable desktop environment, which is
adequate (but not flashy)

Using the instructions below, CODAS Python processing has
been thoroughly tested with 18.04.  It may work with newer
versions.


**(1) Download and install an Ubuntu version.**

    Download and install  `Xubuntu <http://xubuntu.org>`_

**(2) Boot the new system, log in and connect to the network.**

    - install the "Synaptic Package Manager".  Type

::

      sudo apt-get install synaptic

Using ``sudo`` allows a regular user to run one command with
administrative privileges (as "root").  You must type your
own password to get a "sudo" command to run.

Synaptic is a graphical tool to manage software packages
on the computer.  The example below uses a command-line
interface but if something does not work (eg. you want to add
a package to improve your virtual machine) you
can use Synaptic to try to identify the new name.

**(3) Install various additional external packages**

The Xubuntu 18.04 installation already has these

- gcc (C-compiler)
- python 3.6

.. NOTE:: We have moved completely to Python 3.  The  graphical editor
   for CODAS data has been rewritten using Qt libraries and has been
   significantly improved, while keeping a similar flavor, and the
   same underlying machinery.


Install additional required packages by typing::


      sudo apt-get install ipython3
      sudo apt-get install python3-dev
      sudo apt-get install mercurial
      sudo apt-get install python3-matplotlib
      sudo apt-get install python3-mpltoolkits.basemap
      sudo apt-get install python3-netcdf4
      sudo apt-get install python3-qtpy
      sudo apt-get install python3-future
      sudo apt-get install python3-qtconsole


Now proceed to the `CODAS-specific <../codas_config/index.html>`_
parts of the installation.