.. _computing_options:

================================
Computing Options 
================================

All of the software we will use is open source, and it might be most
convenient to get everything running on your own laptop.  This should be
possible if it's a Mac or Linux machine.  Windows does **not** work well for
some of the things we'll be doing with Clawpack. (But you could run a Linux
virtual machine on a Windows computer, see :ref:`vm`.)

See :ref:`software_installation` for some tips on installing.


.. _options_smc:

SageMathCloud
--------------

SageMathCloud (SMC) is a freely
available cloud computing resource developed by the Sage Team, led by
Prof. William Stein in the UW Mathematics Department.  You can easily create
an account at `SageMathCloud <https://cloud.sagemath.com/>`_.

All of the software needed this quarter is installed on SageMathCloud, with
the exception of Clawpack.  (A version of the PyClaw tools are installed,
but we will need a more recent version, and the Fortran packages.)

SMC might be particularly useful for collaborating with other students, e.g.
during lab sessions or on the project.  However, you should also be able to
use Git for collaboration.

For some tips on using it, see :ref:`smc`.


.. _options_vm:

Virtual Machine
---------------

If you want to be able to compute on your own computer but don't want to
try installing all the necessary software packages 
individually, or if you have a Windows machine,  another option is to
run a *virtual machine* using the `VirtualBox
<https://www.virtualbox.org/>`_ software.  See :ref:`vm`
for more information.