This is a quick reference for running Ubuntu Frame in an Ubuntu Core virtual machine.
Setup a VM
We need to be able to run the VM and, as the default build of qemu on Ubuntu doesn’t support graphics, we will use a handy snap that enables this:
$ sudo snap install qemu-virgil
$ sudo snap connect qemu-virgil:kvm
$ qemu-virgil --version
We also download an Ubuntu Core image from https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/20/stable/current/
Now, uncompress the image and move it to a convenient location:
$ unxz ~/Downloads/ubuntu-core-20-amd64.img.xz
$ mv ~/Downloads/ubuntu-core-20-amd64.img ~/snap/qemu-virgil/common/
$ qemu-virgil -enable-kvm -m 512 -device virtio-vga,virgl=on\
-display sdl,gl=on -netdev user,id=ethernet.0,hostfwd=tcp::10022-:22\
-device rtl8139,netdev=ethernet.0\
-drive file=/snap/qemu-virgil/current/usr/share/qemu/edk2-x86_64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,unit=0,readonly=on\
~/snap/qemu-virgil/common/ubuntu-core-20-amd64.img
This will create a QEMU window on your desktop and you need to follow through the prompts to initialise the VM with your launchpad account. (If you don’t have a launchpad account, get one and set up a public SSH key.)
Connect to the VP using ssh from a terminal window (ignore the address shown in the QEMU window and use the port set in the above command):
$ ssh -p 10022 <your‑user>@localhost
Install Ubuntu Frame
You should now have a command prompt reading something like <your‑user>@localhost:~$. Now install Ubuntu Frame with the following command:
$ snap install ubuntu-frame
Once the installation completes the QEMU window should show a graduated grey screen. This is the default Ubuntu Frame wallpaper. This can be changed using the “config” snap configuration option:
$ snap set ubuntu-frame config="
wallpaper-top=0x92006a
wallpaper-bottom=0xdd4814
"
The wallpaper-top and wallpaper-bottom are RGB values. There are a lot of configuration options to control Ubuntu Frame, but they are all set using config and display (more details in REFERENCE.md)
Install a Web Kiosk
Still in your ssh session, install web kiosk:
$ snap install wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk
Once the installation completes the QEMU window should show the WPE website.
The website can be changed using the “url” snap configuration option:
$ snap set wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk url=https://mir-server.io
This will show the Mir Server website.
Next steps
For more detail about running and configuring Ubuntu Frame, and for resources to help build your own snaps to work with it see REFERENCE.md.