Requirements for online classes
- Internet connection
- Using two displays and a headset are recommended
- Any remote presentation or teleconferencing can be used that participants are familiar with. The account can be provided either by the client or by Cydrill, as appropriate.
Requirements for the classroom (in case of on-site delivery)
- Internet connection for all participants and the trainer
- Projector or TV with HDMI or VGA connection to present on
- Board or flip-chart with markers of various colors
- Table distribution allowing the trainer to physically access participants’ computers if necessary
Requirements for lab PCs or laptops
- To run the virtual machine, we recommend having a minimum of 8GB of RAM; ideal is 16GB
- Approximately 10GB free space is needed on the HDD for a Linux guest and at least 50GB free space for a Windows guest (the guest OS is determined based on the subject)
- The only tool to be installed on the computers is VirtualBox. See below for details.
- The IDE plugin will connect to Amazon AWS, namely to *.elasticbeanstalk.com and to *.amazonaws.com; make sure to allow these connections through the firewall.
- IMPORTANT: The virtualization support bit (VT-X/AMD-V) should be switched ON in the BIOS/UEFI to support virtualization. Note that privileged access may be needed to access these settings on a managed computer.
- FOR WINDOWS USERS: VirtualBox virtualization may be rather slow if Hyper-V is active. For this reason, we strongly recommend switching Hyper-V off for the duration of the event. This can be done via Turn Windows features on or off (can be accessed for example through Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features). Note that this does not apply to Windows Home, as Hyper-V is not available for it anyway.
- FOR MAC USERS: some guest VMs can be extremely slow in case of Retina displays; to improve performance, /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/Resources/VirtualBoxVM.app should be set to open in low resolution (Get Info / General / Open in Low Resolution).
The virtual machine (lab environment) as well as the Manual (PDF) will be shared via a file sharing service, typically Google Drive. The Manual can be printed or used electronically – as appropriate.
Preparation
- Though it only takes a couple of minutes to install VirtualBox, we strongly suggest doing it in advance, along with downloading, importing, and booting up the virtual machine. This will ensure a smooth start and avoid delays during the actual event that may arise due to any technical issues such as a lack of hard disk space, or a slow network connection.