Bioinformatics: How to install BioLinux 5.0

Bioinformatics: Tutorials and Lessons: How to install BioLinux 5.0

As i described before in this BioLinux 5.0 post, Biolinux 5.0 is a linux (ubuntu) environment that have +500 Bioinformatics softwares installed in it, and its free for all Bioinformatics students or researchers.

There are 4 ways to have BioLinux 5.0 working on your computer:

1- Install it directly in your computer with an empty hard drive.

2- Install it in dual boot with another operating system (Windows for example).

3- Install it on a virtual machine like VMware Workstation.

4- Download the virtual appliance directly, and play it with a virtual machine player.

- The first method doesn't work for all people because most of them have Windows already installed on their computers.

- The second method is good but people are afraid to damage their first operating system.

- The third method is great, but it takes some time to install it and configure it on the virtual machine.

Most of the newbies in the bioinformatics field think that installing Linux is a little bit complicated then installing Windows, so in this post i recommend you to use the 4th method, which is the easiest and the simplest even for someone who never installed a linux operating system.

The first thing to do is downloading the BioLinux 5.0 appliance from HERE.

The second thing is to extract the archive into your hard drive.

The third thing is to download the free VMWare Player from HERE.

The last thing is to open the file that have the extension " *.vmx " with VMWare Player.

Here is an overview of the operating system BioLinux 5.0 appliance :


Appliance Type:

Community

Description:

Guest OS config:
Distro: Bio-Linux 5.0 (Ubuntu 8.04.1 - Hardy Heron)
Kernel: 2.6.24-23-generic
Desktop WM: GNOME 2.22.3
Filesystem: ext3
Releasedate: January 12 2009

Virtual Machine config:
Virtual Disk: 40GB
Used Space: 6 GB
Networking: NAT
VMwaretools: 7.8.4-126130 installed
Resolution: Dynamic (default=1152x864)

Following tested and works:

- USB Mouse, USB Pendrive, USB Printer
- Sound (vmware ensonic driver)
- Video/Video (Firefox on CNN.com and Youtube.com)
- Internet (network: eth/dhcp)
- Cut n' Paste Drag n' Drop between Host/Guest installed and works perfect.

root ID: sudo
Password: bagside

Download: http (US server)
Compression: 7z

Features & Benefits

Standard install.

Pricing

Free

If you have any questions please comment.