Project Setup Guide

This guide will help you set up the project, launch the development environment, and start JupyterLab for your work. Please follow the steps below to get started.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

1. Docker Desktop

   • First, check and see if docker is already installed by searching for Docker desktop in the windows search bar. If it is installed, start it and continue to step 2. If it is not installed, continue with the rest of this step, step 1.
   • If it wasn't already installed, download and install Docker Desktop from the official website.
   • Follow the installation instructions for your operating system (Windows). If it asks you if you want to install WSL2, select yes.

2. Github Desktop

This class will make use of git (a tool for managing versions of your code) and github (a cloud service that stores your code). We call code that is managaed by git a repository, or repo for short. Git (and github) are industry standard platforms for creating, maintaining, sharing, and releasing code. In this class, we will walk you through using git and github from the Github Desktop application.

• First, check and see if github desktop is already installed by searching for github desktop in the windows search bar. If it is installed, start it and continue to step 3. If it is not installed, continue with the rest of this step, step 2.
• Download and install Github Desktop. You can follow Github's setup guide for their software here: https://docs.github.com/en/desktop/installing-and-authenticating-to-github-desktop/setting-up-github-desktop

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Setting Up the Project

1. Clone or download the project repository to your local machine. To do this, open the Github desktop app and click File>Clone Repository>URL. Then, paste this URL into the URL line: https://github.com/UtahNeuroroboticsLab/NeurorobotClass. Use the local path line to choose whatever local directory you want to save this class' files to on your computer. This will be your project directory. Hit clone.
2. Navigate to the project directory in File Explorer.

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Launching the Development Environment

1. Open Docker Desktop and ensure it is running.

2. In the project directory, use the provided start.bat file to start the development environment. Simply double-click the start.bat file in the project directory. This script will handle all setup and installation. The first time you run it, it may take a few minutes to complete. Ensure you have an active internet connection for this step.

3. Once the environment is ready, JupyterLab will automatically start. The terminal will display a URL similar to the following:

   http://127.0.0.1:8888/lab?token=<your_token>
   

   If JupyterLab does not open automatically, copy and paste this URL into your web browser to access it.

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Saving Your Work

• All work done within the jupyter directory will be saved on your local machine. This is the directory JupyterLab opens to by default.

• Important: Any work done outside of the jupyter directory will not be saved and will be lost when the container is stopped or removed. Always ensure your work is saved within the jupyter directory.