EDrive

EDrive in VirtualBox

The EDrive is a bootable Linux USB drive used in the Mechanical Engineering Bachelor course Signals 4CA00. It boots the Lubuntu distribution, which has a preinstalled version of Matlab and the measurement software QADScope.

The EDrive can also be booted from VirtualBox. VirtualBox is a free open-source virtualizer that allows an operating system (OS) to be run as guest on top of a host OS. In this specific case it means that the EDrive can be run as a guest OS on top of Windows or MacOS (hosts). This document explains how to do this.

The disadvantage of booting the EDrive as a virtual machine is that it doesn't connect with the E/Box hardware. Simulated Experiments, however, can be run from the virtual machine. The simulated experiments are `loopback`, `twomassspring`, `massspring`, `truck` and `twotone`. These simulated experiments are used in the final exam of the course.

Target Audience

This document is written for students who don't have a TU/e laptop and have trouble booting the EDrive USB from their laptop. Running the EDrive as a virtual machine allows these students to be able to run the simulated experiments.

EDrive Image

Download the EDrive image for VirtualBox from: `\\wtbfiler.campus.tue.nl\EBox\Signalen_Virtualbox_EDrive\EDrive.ova`

If you are on a Mac proceed as follows: - Go to a finder window and type CMD + K (or go to Go > Connect to Server). - In the popup window type: `smb://wtbfiler.campus.tue.nl/EBox/Signalen_Virtualbox_EDrive/EDrive.ova`. - Copy `Lubuntu.ova` to a local directory on your Mac.

VirtualBox Installation

1. Download VirtualBox from [1](https://www.virtualbox.org/) and install it.
2. Download the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack from [2](https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) and install it.

Importing the EDrive Image in VirtualBox

In VirtualBox:

1. Go to `File > Import Appliance`.
2. Browse to the location where you saved the EDrive image `EDrive.ova` and select it and then click continue.
3. In the next window you can modify some settings if you wish (e.g. RAM memory for the virtual machine).
4. Click `Import` to import the EDrive image. Importing the image will take a couple of minutes.