compthink -- shared environment for EGR1330


build notes for Centos 7/8 running on a VPS

1) create user
-- add entry to sudoers file; give compthink sudo capability 
installs are run as root from /home/compthink
2) build VNC service
3) add service to noVNC portal, put link on server. 
4) verify can access via browser

---- install anaconda environment

1) download anaconda individual to 
/home/compthink/Downloads
2) Install dependencies

(as root): yum install libXcomposite libXcursor libXi libXtst libXrandr alsa-lib mesa-libEGL libXdamage mesa-libGL libXScrnSaver

3)Anaconda installl instructions state next step is to run the installer script 

 bash ~/Downloads/Anaconda3-2020.02-Linux-x86_64.sh  
    Does not work  when run as compthink
    Does not work when run as root (& attempts install into wrong anaconda root)

Instead create writeable directory in  /home/compthink

[compthink@server ~]$ mkdir ~/tmpconda
[compthink@server ~]$ TMPDIR=~/tmpconda bash ~/Downloads/Anaconda3-2020.02-Linux-x86_64.sh -u

Then install proceedes as described on anaconda instructions

4) verify install and configure a bit 
(base) [compthink@server ~]$ python --version
Python 3.7.6

*** Exit and restart terminal shell

[compthink@server ~]$ conda config --set auto_activate_base True <<< vital to get correct python environment
if (base) prefix missing atomickitty reverts to python 2.XX

Will ignore pycharm for now and try to get a jupyter environment working

--- install jupyter
(base) [compthink@server ~]$ conda install -c conda-forge notebook

This does not work out of the box, need to install jupyter from deb/rpm repos
sudo yum install jupyter

Then use the conda installer

set a notebook password, make same as browser

--- build Jupyter Launcher (specific to my server)
#!/bin/bash
#Launcher script to start Jupyter server this user
cd /home/compthink/Desktop
xfce4-terminal -e 'bash -c "/home/compthink/anaconda3/bin/jupyter notebook --port 9999; bash"' -T "With drops of Jupiter in her hair"
# this script runs until terminated

--- REMOVE compthink from sudoers 
--- Verify compthink CANNOT sudo