VCL

VCL is short for "Virtual Computing Lab." Duke University has set up several virtual computing lab images and they can be used to work remotely.

VCL and MATLAB

At present (as of 9/13/2012), the UNIX distribution that is loaded onto the Teer machines has some issues with graphics. As a result, surfaces made in MATLAB with basis coordinates larger than about 15x15 will not render and will instead either crash MATLAB completely or yield an error about an improper installation of OpenGL. If you find you need to create a surface or mesh in the interim, then, you can use the virtual computer lab image for the "Linux Lab Base 2011." This will allow you to access all the commands that existed on the system prior to the start of the Fall, 2012 semester.

Note: because these are old images, several new (i.e. Fall 2012 edition) programs do not exist. Specifically, with respect to using LaTeX, okular and evince are not a part of this installation; rather, to view and print dvi files you would use kdvi.

Using VCL and MATLAB

There are several steps to using a VCL with the MATLAB distribution. The process is slightly more complicated than the Working from home steps but they are similar. They are summarized here (for Windows, Mac, and Linux users) and the latter four are discussed in detail below.

• Install the appropriate software if need be. For Windows users, this means X-Win 32 and PuTTY; for Mac users, this means XQuartz; for Linux users - you're probably all good already...
• Windows only: Start X-Win 32
• Make a reservation at https://vcl.oit.duke.edu/
• Receive reservation confirmation, including the IP address of your virtual machine
• Connect to the virtual machine with X11 forwarding enabled
• Profit

Making a Reservation / Receiving Confirmation

• To make a reservation, point your browser to https://vcl.oit.duke.edu/, log in using your Duke credentials, and then select New Reservation
• Choose the "Linux Lab Base 2011" environment, Now, and a duration of 8 hours (might as well)
• Click "Create Reservation"

In a few seconds, you should receive an e-mail with your reservation confirmation and an IP address.

Connecting to the Virtual Machine

• Start your terminal program (PuTTY or XQuartz terminal or a Linux terminal)
  • For PuTTY users, this part is a little more complicated. Follow the instructions on PuTTY#First_Time except use the IP address you received from the VCL instead of a Teer machine. You can save the session, too, but note that the next time you make a reservation, you will need to change the IP address. All you would need to do then is load the session, change the host address, and open the session.
  • For Mac users, follow the instructions on XQuartz#Creating_a_Remote_Connection except use the IP address you received from the VCL instead of a Teer machine.
  • For Linux users, open a terminal window and then follow the instructions on XQuartz#Creating_a_Remote_Connection except use the IP address you received from the VCL instead of a Teer machine.

You should now come to the command prompt for the virtual machine over which you have been given temporary dominion. Note that these virtual machines access your OIT space just like logging in to Teer machines would.

Profit

And by profit, I mean you can now run UNIX commands just like the good old days. Like

matlab &

will bring up MATLAB and typing

surfc(rand(20))

will actually work.

Questions

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