AIMS Desktop

Getting started

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 00:11:02 +0100

Download AIMS Desktop

AIMS Desktop can be downloaded from https://desktop.aims.ac.za/download.

AIMS Desktop is a large download (over 3GB), if you’re reading this from a mobile connection, you might want to download it on a broadband connection instead.

Preperation

AIMS Desktop installs a new operating system to your computer. It can be installed alongside an existing system such as Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, BSD or another GNU/Linux system.

Installation Media:

You will need a USB disk that is at least 4GB large. Preparing it as an installation disk for AIMS desktop will overwrite all the data that’s on there, so if you have important files on that USB disk, you should move it to a safer location before writing the installer to disk.

If you’re familiar with the dd command, you can use that from your Linux or macOS system to write the command directly to a raw USB device.

If you’re using Windows and don’t have access to a Linux device, you can download the Rufus USB tool at https://rufus.akeo.ie/ which makes writing USB disks from Windows really easy and that tool has been confirmed to work with AIMS Desktop media.

Prepare your system:

The AIMS installer will do most of the work, however, here are some tips:

Back up your system. Even though there is a very small risk of data loss, it’s recommended that you make a full backup of your system before installing. The installer in AIMS Desktop is widely used and tested, but making a backup will also protect you against human error.
Disable secure boot. AIMS Desktop doesn’t yet support secure boot. If your laptop has this enabled, you should disable it in the firmware before commencing installation. You will have to consult the manual for your laptop or do an internet search for how to do this on your machine.
Ensure you have enough power. AIMS Desktop will take some time to install. If you’re using a laptop computer, ensure that you are connected to a power source.

Installation

For the most part, the installation of AIMS Desktop is very simple. It uses a graphical installation tool called Calamares (https://calamares.io) which guides you through the entire installation process.

One aspect to be mindful though, especially if you’re dual-booting, is to be aware of the boot method that your computer uses. Newer computers use UEFI, while older computers use BIOS/Legacy boot mode.

We’ve made it really easy to identify which method your computer uses to boot up. When you start the AIMS Desktop live USB disk, it will show you the boot method in brackets.

Booting in Legacy/BIOS mode to the left, booting UEFI mode to the right. The red underline has been added to these images for emphasis.

When you press enter on either boot mode, it will start loading the live environment, and you should see a loading screen similar to the one below. Startup will take a few seconds to a few minuted depending on what kind of computer you have.

AIMS Desktop startup screen

When it has finished booted up, you will be presented with the AIMS Desktop Live environment. The live environment can do a lot more than just install AIMS Desktop, you can also use it to test whether hardware supports the system, try out the software on AIMS Desktop, or show it to a friend.

AIMS Live Desktop

The installer icon is the first one after the main menu button on the top left side, as highlighed below. Click on this button if you’d like to proceed installing AIMS Desktop.

Installer button, as highlighted above

You will then be greeted by the installer. If you’re unsure about some options like region, keyboard layout, etc, then you can change it again in the settings manager after installation.

Installer welcome screen

Select the language that you would like to use during the installation, then click on next.

Then, choose your location and timezone. The city that designates your timezone might not be the actualy city you’re in, and is often the capital of your country.

Time zone settings

Next, we’ll select a keyboard layout. Normall, you’ll want to select a keyboard layout that closest match your physical keyboard layout. In some cases, you might want a different layout to match another computer you’re using. The keyboard image in this screen will adapt so that you have a preview of the option you have chosen, and you can also type test it in the typing space at the bottom.

Keyboard settings

Next, we have to allocate some space to install AIMS desktop to. The most basic method of installation is to use the entire disk for AIMS Desktop. Do do that, you can choose the “Erase disk” option.

If you have another system installed, you can also choose to resize that system to make space for AIMS Desktop, or to replace an existing partition with AIMS Desktop. In the future we’re planning to add an advanced partition section to this guide for using manual partitioning.

Partitioning screen

In the next step, we’ll configure your first user for this system. This user will also be an administrator user.

Full name: You can enter your full name or part of your name in this field.
User name: The user name must not start with a capital letter, can not container numbers, spaces or other special characters. Examples of user names are mohammed, yasmine, sarah, mehdi.
Computer name: This is a name that you can use to identify the computer. It must also be lowercase alphabetical characters, but you can also use a dash, eg: mohammed-pc, sarah-laptop, yasmine-macbook, mehdi-x280.
Password: Your password protects access to the computer. Use a password that won’t be easy to guess. A password such as password or latitude or anything you would find in a dictionary would be too weak. Instead, you might want to consider using a phrase for a password, ideally something that is easy to remember but wouldn’t exist in normal conversation, eg: Bunnies drink water in October.

User setup screen

Before the installer starts making changes to your system, it will present a summary where you can review the changes it will make. It’s a good idea to look at least at the partitioning summary, especially if you want to keep an existing system installed as well.

Summary of installer actions about to take place

When you’re ready, click next to proceed with the installation.

Remember to plug in

If you’re installing on a laptop device and haven’t yet connected it to a power source, then it is highly recommended you do so before continuing.

Installation progress

The rest of the installation is automated. On a fast computer, will take around 10 minutes to complete. On a slower computer, it might take as much as an hour.

…

Configuration

Options

Configuration Guide

Wed, 09 Mar 2016 19:56:50 +0100

Download AIMS Desktop

…

Coming soon.

Troubleshooting guide

Wed, 09 Mar 2016 19:56:50 +0100

Troubleshooting guide

Roadmap

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 13:08:11 +0300

AIMS Desktop follows the Debian releases and we aim to release a new major version along with every major Debian release. We also aim to release at least an updated version with the beginning of the academic intakes at AIMS (which happens in January and August every year). Since Debian releases aren’t entirely predictable, this means that there will typically be 3-4 AIMS Desktop releases during a Debian release cycle depending on Debian’s release dates.

2017.1 (based on Debian 9)

This is our first public, Debian-based release. In the past, AIMS Desktop was based on Ubuntu. We changed to Debian for its friendlier licensing conditions. In this release, we aim to match the futures and usability of previous AIMS Desktop releases.
This release will feature Sagemath and Jupyter Notebook installed directly from the Debian archives.
The goal is also to have this release available on this site, world-wide available for free to anyone who would like to use it.

2017.2 (based on Debian 9)

First major update to 2017.1 based on user feedback.
More details to follow.

2018.1 (based on Debian 9)

We aim to have proper packaging for R Studio.
More details to follow.

2019.1 (based on Debian 10)

We aim to include the AIMS Desktop meta-packages in the Debian repositories so that we can build AIMS desktop entirely from the Debian repositories. The goal is that we buidl AIMS Desktop entirely from Debian packages and gain the status of a pure blend (https://www.debian.org/blends/).
More details to follow.

License

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 20:10:46 +0200

AIMS Desktop

AIMS Desktop is free to use for anyone whether it’s for educational, private or commercial use.

It is based on Debian, and made up out of a large collection of software each with their own specific licensing. To read the license for each software package, you can find it in the copyright file under /usr/share/doc for each package.

More information about Debian licensing and its social contract: https://www.debian.org/social_contract

Website powered by Hugo

This website is powered by Hugo, a static website generator written in Go.

https://gohugo.io

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Website theme

This website’s theme is based on “Meterial for Hugo”.

http://themes.gohugo.io/theme/material-docs/

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

AIMS Desktop

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 11:27:13 +0100

Welcome to AIMS Desktop

AIMS Desktop is a collection of software that allows you to do mathematics and science on your computer easily and efficiently. You need no exising software on your computer, AIMS Desktop installs an entire operating system that you can install standalone, or dual boot with Microsoft Windows or Apple macOS.

It is maintained by AIMS (The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences), a pan-African network of centres of excellence enabling Africa’s talented students to become innovators driving the continent’s scientific, educational and economic self-sufficiency.

AIMS Desktop is free for anyone to use for educational, non-profit or commercial purposes. (See: Software Licences for more information)

Note: This site is work in progress

We’re planning to launch this site along with the AIMS Desktop 2017.1 release in June of 2017. In the meantime, you will likely find some missing content on this site.

Features

Debian-based operating system with Gnome desktop environment
Math and Science: Sagemath, Octave, …
Connectity: Firefox, Thunderbird, …
Productivity: LibreOffice Writer, Calc…

See the getting started guide for instructions how to get it up and running.

Acknowledgements

The AIMS Desktop project is maintained by AIMS South Africa and contributors.

Meet the team.

### Jan Groenewald Jan is IT Manager at AIMS South Africa and have worked on various forms of AIMS Desktop since 2003. He conducted the first deployment of desktops at AIMS using Debian Sarge and since then also contributed to Sagemath upstream packaging. Jan maintains AIMS meta-packages and focusses on science software and software used for academic purposes in the system.

Jonathan Carter

Jonathan works part time at AIMS South Africa and maintains the PPA infrastructure, build scripts, installer packages, this site and settings packages included in AIMS Desktop. Jonathan is currently a Debian Maintainer in the Debian project.

Kyle Robertze

Kyle does intern work at AIMS and have worked on extensions to improve desktop usability, installer improvements, …. He’s also a Debian contributor and maintains packages in the Debian archive.

Kafui Odzanga Dake

Kafui is the IT Manager at AIMS Ghana and have worked on package selection as well as QA on AIMS Desktop.