GMOD virtual machine project

Initial versions of GMOD virtual machines have been uploaded/documented at the [VMWare_HOWTO].

This page is for discussion on creating a GMOD virtual machine. The idea was initiated by an email to the GMOD-devel, schema and gbrowse mailing lists:

Hello,

Recently, the people in my lab have been experimenting a lot with VMware for creating virtual machines. I am excited about the potential uses for these virtual machines for several purposes, among them the ability to create a consistent platform for teaching (like giving a classroom a disk with the VMware player and a linux VM with GBrowse preinstalled to give a tutorial), and for creating virtual machines that could be used as a 'test server' that people interested in GMOD software could get and try out without having to set up a server to do it. That is what this email is about.

My goal is two-fold: first I am looking for volunteers. If anybody would like to under take the task of creating a virtual machine and populate it with GMOD software and sample data, I would be thrilled to give guidance and moral support.

Second, I want to get feedback on what should be installed. There is both the question of sample data and software. Here are my thoughts so far:

 Chado and related core components (version 0.5 when released)*
 XORT                              (0.5 when released)*
 GBrowse                           (1.68 when released)**
 Apollo                            (1.6.5)
 CMap                              (? Most recent?)
 Turnkey/gmod-web                  (? most recent?)
 BLAST graphic viewer              (? most recent?)

Also, there are some things 'on the bubble' that I haven't decided whether they should be installed:

 Sybil
 Flash GViewer
 Textpresso
 BioMart
 DAS2 server

Any thoughts on these?

Thanks for your time, Scott

• Ian Holmes suggested their extentions to GBrowse (AJAX and wiki).
• Eric Just suggested ModWare.

About 'when released'

• Work is on going on Chado core compoents, notably getting a conversion from GFF3 to chadoxml which will require changes to XORT.
• There have been a few fixes to the chado adaptor in GBrowse, so it should get a new release soon