Diary - Using Ubuntu on Mac OS (Apple silicon M1)

If I had to pick just one thing that became most inconvenient after leaving the lab, it would be that the Linux computer that only I could use disappeared. I have no personal GPU either… There are so many open-source projects that run on Ubuntu, so even when I want to try out various tutorials, there are many times it just won’t work. But I’d always thought I couldn’t dual-boot my precious MacBook, yet it’s so inconvenient I can’t stand it. There’s also the option of using a VM, but I found a slightly more convenient method. It’s Multipass.

What is Multipass?

Multipass is a virtual machine solution provided by Canonical, the developer of Ubuntu. It’s a virtual machine solution Canonical created in 2019. It supports a Terminal-based interface, but in exchange its advantage is very low resource consumption.

I was immediately drawn in by the phrase very low resource consumption? and decided to install it.

The installation method is simple.

brew install --cask multipass

Still, it takes quite a while because you have to install the linux images. Once installation is complete, you can look up the list of images.

multipass find

The fun part is that it provides ROS. It makes me wonder if robotics has come this far. (Did I run away and abandon it for nothing?)

The image I wanted was 18.04, which doesn’t show up here. But additional installation is possible, so don’t worry.

# multipass launch [Image] -n [VM name] -c [CPU cores] -m [memory] -d [disk space]
multipass launch 18.04 -n linux -c 4 -m 4G -d 20G

Through the command above, install Ubuntu 18.04 under the virtual machine name “linux.” For memory, disk space, and CPU count, just pick appropriately as you see fit. (The more you use, the more your MacBook’s performance drops while it’s running.)

Now you can access the linux shell and use Ubuntu 18.04.

# multipass shell [VM name]
multipass shell linux

Oh yeeahhh~~

Using Multipass in vscode

Since I can’t code without VScode, I’ll look into how to work on the multipass environment through vscode.

First, create a public key for the ssh connection.

ssh-keygen -t rsa

Just press enter to skip through all the prompts that come up (key generation location, passphrase). Then you can confirm that a ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub file has been created. If you open it, you can confirm that the public key has been generated. Now, using the public key, create a yaml file. The contents of the yaml file are as follows.

groups:
  - vscode
runcmd:
  - adduser ubuntu vscode
ssh_authorized_keys:
  - ssh-rsa <public key>

Just copy the generated public key into the public key field. Use this yaml file to launch the VM again.

multipass launch 18.04 -n linux -c 4 -m 2G -d 20GB --cloud-init vscode.yaml

It’s now set up to allow ssh access through vscode! Then check the virtual machine’s IP with the command below.

multipass info linux

Now go back to your local location and configure the ssh config. Open the ~/.ssh/config file and add the content below.

With this, you can access the ubuntu virtual machine through ssh! Finally, mount the local storage.

multipass mount [desired local path] [VM name]:[VM path]

After a successful mount, a “permission denied” error may occur, which is due to the MacBook’s permission issue regarding disk access. You can resolve it by going to Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Full Disk Access and granting permission to multipassd.

Now you can use the ubuntu environment through vscode on your MacBook!

Uninstall

If you keep the multipass environment running, it eats up memory, so it’s good to turn it off when not in use.

multipass stop linux # Stops the virtual machine
multipass delete linux # Removes the virtual machine from management
multipass purge # Completely deletes the virtual machine

If you purge, you can’t recover it. The rest are recoverable.

multipass start linux # Recovery from stop
multipass recover linux # Recovery from delete

The difference between stop and delete is as follows.

• stop: deletes the primary instance
• delete: deletes all instances

References

https://elsainmac.tistory.com/870
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/using-multipass-with-vscode/34905
https://github.com/canonical/multipass/issues/1389
https://multipass.run/docs/delete-command
https://multipass.run/docs/stop-command