Installing arm64 version of Ubuntu Server 22.04 as virtual machine in Proxmox

After installing the arm64 version of Debian as a virtual machine in Proxmox, I used the same procedure to install Ubuntu Server 22.04 for arm64, using the ISO image from here. (See end of this post for a step by step.)

 

Like the Debian installation, the entire installation process took around one and a half hours to complete. Ubuntu Server 22.04 does not come with a desktop environment, and there was no option to choose one during the installation process. It will need to be manually installed subsequently.

 

Unlike the Debian installation, when rebooting, grub boots up fine and I go straight into Ubuntu without having to go through the EFI shell.

 

Note that this is not a net installer, so you will need to use apt to update the packages installed.

I went on to install a desktop environment with

sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop

which took around two and a half hours to install... anyway, I chose lightdm for the display manager when prompted during the process. After rebooting, I was able to use Proxmox's noVNC client to see this screen.

This is the Tellsis language translator on the "Software" app of Ubuntu. It is automatically built for arm64 platform by snapcraft, and can be installed via the "latest/edge" channel. Ubuntu has integrated snap into its software backend and thus snap packages available on the Snap store will also show up in the "Software" app of Ubuntu. This makes installing snap packages very easy in Ubuntu. Of course, not everyone likes the snap concept... but that's another story.

After installing it, yes, I managed to run it. 😍

This VM is definitely much slower than running on bare metal arm64, but that is because you are trying to use a x86 platform to emulate a arm64 one. For reference, I installed this VM (and the Debian one) on a Dell Poweredge R720 rack server with dual E5-2667v2 processors (base 3.3GHZ, boost up to 4GHz, all-core boost 3.6GHz).

 

Step by step instructions:

I have taken the instructions for Debian from here and adapted it for the following set of instructions which I used to install Ubuntu Server 22.04, arm64 version.

 

- Upload the Ubuntu arm64 iso to the Proxmox server, either by downloading it to a local computer and then uploading to the server, or using the web UI to download it directly to the server

- Use the Proxmox web UI to create a VM on the node you want
- Give the VM a name and assign it a VM ID; in this example, the VM ID will be 101 > Next
- For OS, set the Type to Linux, Version to 5.x - 2.6 Kernel and select Do not use any media > Next
- On the System tab set the BIOS for OVMF (UEFI), Uncheck the Add EFI Disk checkbox > Next
- On the Hard Disk tab, set the Storage device and Disk size to 16 (adjust as needed) > Next
- On the CPU tab, set the number Cores to 4 (adjust as needed) > Next
- On the Memory tab, set the Memory to 8192 (adjust as needed) > Next
- Leave the defaults on the Network tab > Next
- Verify the summary and click Finish
- Select the VM in the left navigation pane
- Select Hardware from the left navigation sub-menu
- Click on the CD/DVD Drive to select it > Click Remove at the top of the main content area > Click Yes to confirm
- Click Add > Serial Port > Leave the Port Number 0 > Click Add
- Click Add > Select CD/DVD Drive > Set the Bus/Device to SCSI > Select the Storage device where the Ubuntu arm64 iso is uploaded > Select the uploaded Ubuntu arm64 iso > Click Create
- Double click Display to edit it > Set the Graphic card value to Serial terminal 0 > Click OK
- Select Options from the left navigation sub-menu
- Double click Boot order to edit it > Drag/drop the SCSI2 device (where the Ubuntu iso is attached) to the top of the list > Click OK
- Right click the ProxMox node name > Console
- Run the following commands in the terminal
# edit the VM conf file, change 101 to the VM ID for the VM
nano /etc/pve/qemu-server/101.conf
- Add the following line to the bottom of the .conf file:
arch: aarch64
- Find the line starting with vmgenid: and comment it out by adding a # to the beginning of the line
- Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes to the conf file
- Back in the Proxmox web UI, select the VM from the left navigation menu
- Click console in the left sub-navigation menu
- Click Start at the top right of the screen to start the VM
- Wait a moment for the serial console to initialize
- Follow the prompts to complete the OS installation
NOTE: This will feel slower than normal, allow it time to complete; for me, it took around one and a half hours
- After the installation completes, at the prompt to reboot, do not reboot; instead, select the Shutdown dropdown at the top of the screen > Stop
- Select Hardware from the left sub-navigation menu
- Double click the CD/DVD Drive to edit it > Select Do not use any media > Click OK
- Go back to the VM console
- Click Start at the top right of the screen to start the VM again
- The GRUB menu should boot and start loading Ubuntu

Hope this helps!

(Old... does not really help...) Note: initramfs takes a long long time to create boot images because it uses zstd. One way is to change to gzip instead by 

sudo nano /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf

and changing the line

COMPRESS=zstd

to

COMPRESS=gzip

instead.

Installing arm64 version of Debian as a virtual machine in Proxmox

I wanted to test out the arm64 snap build of the Tellsis language translator, so I tried installing a arm64 VM using this guide. (Update April 29, 2022: Step by step instructions at end of post.)

The written version of the guide is here.

By the way, the installation process can take a long time. For me, it was around one and a half hours for the installation process to complete.

If you follow this guide, the VM will boot into the EFI shell each time, and you need to manually type in

fs0:\EFI\debian\grubaa64.efi

to start the OS. To avoid this, after booting into Debian, run the following:

sudo apt install refind

sudo mvrefind /boot/efi/EFI/refind /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT

Then, change the refind timeout to 2s by editing /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/refind.conf and change

timeout 20

to

timeout 2

This should then let you boot into the refind menu, and after 2s, it will boot into grub, which will then boot into Debian.

(To avoid this, you can follow my step by step instructions at the end of this post, which uses a EFI disk as part of the process.)

Anyway, here is a screenshot of Debian 11 running on QEMU aarch64.

During the installation process, I chose to install XFCE desktop environment. After installation, I switched the display back to "Standard VGA" and managed to boot to this screen.

I then installed snap and Tellsis language translator.

sudo apt install snapd

sudo snap install telsis-translator-flutter --channel=latest/edge

/snap/bin/telsis-translator-flutter

And got this!

 

Yes! Looks like the Tellsis language translator will run on ARM64 platforms too!

To automatically log in a certain user on boot, when using lightdm,

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

and add

[SeatDefaults]

autologin-user=username

to the end of the file, replacing username with the name of the user to log in automatically. Remember, this is not safe as no password is required to log into the system.

Note: Regarding the EFI shell issue, I think I figured it out. The trick is to create a EFI disk. However, the default size of the EFI disk that Proxmox creates is too small, so the process is:

- When creating the VM, in the System tab, choose "Add EFI Disk", select a location for it, choose "Raw disk image (raw)" for the Format, and do not pre-enroll keys.

- Once the VM has been created, go to the console of your server (either via web UI or SSH) and resize the EFI disk using:

qemu-img resize path_to_efi_disk 64M

where path_to_efi_disk is the full path to the disk image, which should be named vm-XXX-disk-0.raw (XXX is the VM number).

This should change the EFI disk to the required size. I have included this as part of the step by step instructions below.

Step by step instructions:

I have taken the instructions for Debian from here and adapted it for the following set of instructions which I used to install Debian 11, arm64 version.

 

- Upload the Debian arm64 iso to the Proxmox server, either by downloading it to a local computer and then uploading to the server, or using the web UI to download it directly to the server

- Use the Proxmox web UI to create a VM on the node you want
- Give the VM a name and assign it a VM ID; in this example, the VM ID will be 101 > Next
- For OS, set the Type to Linux, Version to 5.x - 2.6 Kernel and select Do not use any media > Next
- On the System tab set the BIOS for OVMF (UEFI), check the Add EFI Disk checkbox, select a location for it (must not be lvm-thin; in this example, mine is in a zfs pool called pve430zfs), choose "Raw disk image (raw)" for the Format, and do not pre-enroll keys > Next
- On the Hard Disk tab, set the Storage device and Disk size to 16 (adjust as needed) > Next
- On the CPU tab, set the number Cores to 4 (adjust as needed) > Next
- On the Memory tab, set the Memory to 8192 (adjust as needed) > Next
- Leave the defaults on the Network tab > Next
- Verify the summary and click Finish
- Select the VM in the left navigation pane
- Select Hardware from the left navigation sub-menu
- Click on the CD/DVD Drive to select it > Click Remove at the top of the main content area > Click Yes to confirm
- Click Add > Serial Port > Leave the Port Number 0 > Click Add (This step is optional; the default VGA works too.)
- Click Add > Select CD/DVD Drive > Set the Bus/Device to SCSI > Select the Storage device where the Ubuntu arm64 iso is uploaded > Select the uploaded Ubuntu arm64 iso > Click Create
- Double click Display to edit it > Set the Graphic card value to Serial terminal 0 > Click OK (This step is optional; the default VGA works too.)
- Select Options from the left navigation sub-menu
- Double click Boot order to edit it > Drag/drop the SCSI2 device (where the Ubuntu iso is attached) to the top of the list > Click OK
- Right click the ProxMox node name > Console

- Once the VM has been created, go to the console of your server (either via web UI or SSH) and resize the EFI disk using:

qemu-img resize path_to_efi_disk 64M

where path_to_efi_disk is the full path to the disk image, which should be named vm-101-disk-0.raw (101 is the VM number).

In this example, the command would be:

qemu-img resize /zfspool/pve430zfs/images/101/vm-101-disk-0.raw 64M

- Run the following commands in the terminal
# edit the VM conf file, change 101 to the VM ID for the VM
nano /etc/pve/qemu-server/101.conf
- Add the following line to the bottom of the .conf file:
arch: aarch64

- Find the line starting with efidisk0: and change it to something like the following:

efidisk0: pve430zfs:101/vm-101-disk-0.raw,size=64M
where pve430zfs is the storage location.

- Find the line starting with vmgenid: and comment it out by adding a # to the beginning of the line

- Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes to the conf file
- Back in the Proxmox web UI, select the VM from the left navigation menu
- Click console in the left sub-navigation menu
- Click Start at the top right of the screen to start the VM
- Wait a moment for the serial console to initialize
- Follow the prompts to complete the OS installation
NOTE: This will feel slower than normal, allow it time to complete; for me, it took around one and a half hours
- After the installation completes, at the prompt to reboot, reboot and let it boot into the installer again; then, select the Shutdown dropdown at the top of the screen > Stop
- Select Hardware from the left sub-navigation menu
- Double click the CD/DVD Drive to edit it > Select Do not use any media > Click OK
- Go back to the VM console
- Click Start at the top right of the screen to start the VM again
- The GRUB menu should boot and start loading Debian

Violet Evergarden The Movie tops the Netflix chart in Japan

Although Violet Evergarden The Movie was released in Japan on September 18, 2020, it only made its way onto streaming services through Netflix on October 13, 2021 for those outside Japan. Netflix Japan only started to stream it on April 13, 2022.

But in five days, the movie managed to top Netflix Japan's chart for films.

(Image source: Netflix Top 10)

Of course, you can't expect anything less from such a great movie. 😍

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie.

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

 

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf) 

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)

 

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

 

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

Liz and the Blue Bird (リズと青い鳥)

Liz and the Blue Bird (リズと青い鳥) was released on 21 April 2018 in Japan, and today marks the 4th anniversary.

The movie is a side story of the Sound! Euphonium series, featuring Yoroizuka Mizore (oboe) and Kasaki Nozomi (flute) as the main characters. Directed by Yamada Naoko, with screenplay by Yoshida Reiko and music by Ushio Kensuke and Matsuda Akito, it is a stunning piece of work for its art, story, and music. You can see director Yamada's signature all over the work, with how it portrays the characters and using shots of their legs to convey emotions.

The story focuses on the relationship between Mizore and Nozomi, using the "fairy tale" of "Liz and the Blue Bird" to portray that relationship. There is a yuri element to it, but I think the portrayal of the relationship itself was meticulous in conveying the complicated feelings each had. At the end of the day, it is a story about learning to overcome dependence, to go out of your own comfort zone, and learn to seek something on your own.

This is a must-watch for anyone, not just fans of anime, because it tells a great tale. Anime is the medium; don't let that deter you. If you take it as just watching another movie, you will soon realise that a lot of anime films and series actually touch on many deeper issues; they are not made for kids, not like the cartoons of the West.

Official website (in Japanese)

 

 

Affiliate links

 

Blu-ray of Belle (竜とそばかすの姫)

The official launch date of the Blu-ray/DVD of Belle (竜とそばかすの姫, Belle: Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime) is supposed to be April 20, 2022. But as with pre-orders on Amazon.co.jp, they are usually delivered in time to make sure that all customers receive their copies by that date. Which means that some, especially those living in urban areas, usually receive their copies a day early.

And so this arrived today.

It comes with stickers for smartphones, and as it is the Amazon exclusive version, it also comes with a keychain, some postcards, and a picture of Belle, nicely framed.

So glad I am staying in Japan!

(But sometimes... well, Dune stuff can take a while to get here, and costs more due to shipping and customs. Sigh, you can't win them all.)

My thoughts after watching Belle can be found here.

CH Postal Company in Mincraft

I came across this video while surfing YouTube.

Wow! 😍

Someone tried to recreate CH Postal Company's building in Minecraft. You can find out more about the server here. It is apparently on the "[Re Zero] Roswaal's Mansion Minecraft" Map.

Here is another similar video, requiring some mod called cocriot. There is also a bilingual guide (English and Japanese) on how to install the mod.

 

It is amazing the extent fans go to... 😅

Violet Evergarden The Movie rental DVD

DVD rentals are still somewhat a thing in Japan, so movies do get a "rental" version. This is the rental DVD of Violet Evergarden The Movie, which I managed to get my hands on. 😅

This is not really a collector's item, and most rental DVDs do get resold eventually when DVD rental stores reduce their stock (they usually stock more copies at first, then reduce that stock once they believe that movie is no longer in demand). If you want a copy, keep your eyes out for them on auction and other resale sites. 😉

The rental DVD version comes with 2ch stereo and 5.1ch surround. Subtitles are Japanese only, and there are no audio commentaries.

This is not really a collector's item, and most rental DVDs do get resold eventually when DVD rental stores reduce their stock (they usually stock more copies at first, then reduce that stock once they believe that movie is no longer in demand). If you want a copy, keep your eyes out for them on auction and other resale sites. 😉

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie.

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

 

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf) 

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)

 

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

 

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

Akebi's Sailor Uniform (明日ちゃんのセーラー服)

Akebi's Sailor Uniform (明日ちゃんのセーラー服) is probably my favorite anime series for winter 2022. It is a slice of life anime, and Akebi-chan is the main protagonist. She is a first-year student at a middle school, the alma mater of her mother and she had wanted to study there because she really really like the uniform, a sailor uniform. Only problem: several years before she entered the school, the school had actually switched to a different uniform. But her love for that older uniform (worn by her mother, as well as a singer on TV) persuaded the school's admin to allow her that special leeway. So she attended school in a uniform different from the other girls.

What caught me was the quality of the drawing... in episode one, the characters are portrayed moving with such fluidity, the backgrounds drawn to such detail, some looked like photographs.

And there is also something about legs. Close-up shots of legs are used often as a way to express the characters' thoughts and emotions without using words. This is something that you see a lot in Kyoto Animation works, especially those by director Yamada Naoko (who has since left KyoAni). So I was quite surprised to see this technique being used so often in this anime. But it was a nice surprise. (Unfortunately, I can't find any "official" screenshots of such a scene, so the one below will have to do as a poor substitute.)

There were even scenes of someone wriggling her toes, a girl sitting in an empty classroom cutting her toe nails, Akebi-chan putting on a pair of socks... maybe someone on the production staff has a fetish for legs. 😅

The captivating part about this anime is how it looks as if the viewer was peeking into the private lives of these 16 girls (Akebi-chan is in a class of 16 girls) because of how it goes about portraying their everyday lives down to the mundane details. Walking to school (or rather, running to school), enjoying music on the school grounds, practising at sports after school... because the anime does not skip over the details, it makes it all the more "private" and the viewer ends up feeling sinful, like a peeping Tom. 😐

Besides the close-ups on legs, the anime is also good at using small actions, gestures, even the moving of the eyes, to portray a character's thoughts and emotions. These are the small details that come from observing people, and makes it all the more realistic. And thus easier to empathise with the characters. You can actually feel what they are feeling because of the realism.

And for once, at least these middle school girls worn skirts with lengths that are realistic, like, knee-length. You know, the length that schools usually put in the school rules.

So while there is no real story behind the series, no quest to kill a demon lord, not even a "we will set up a band and aim to perform at the Budokan!", I still recommend this series because of its skill at portraying the everyday stuff. It is like telling us, we don't need to be special for life to be interesting. There are things to be enjoyed in a normal life, day to day. We just need to keep our eyes open.

 

Wikipedia entry on Akebi's Sailor Uniform

 

(Above visuals were taken from the anime's official website, unless otherwise stated.)

 

Assorted teas

I received this from a friend a while ago.

Opening it, the flavours inside are:

Green: peppermint
Yellow: lemongrass

Olive: ever-green tea
Brown: timeless earl grey
Ochre: chamomile
Pink: ginger
Blue: classic english breakfast
Orange: all day breakfast

 

This set of assorted teas comes from The 1872 Clipper Tea Co., a company based in Singapore. It looks very nice, I just hope it tastes as nice as it looks. 😉

Metaverse: today's Second Life

Meta tests sale of virtual goods in metaverse

It is interesting to see how much hype Meta is trying to generate using the metaverse. Almost like Meta came up with it and pioneered this concept.

Except that it already existed almost 20 years ago.

In 2003, Linden Lab launched an online platform called Second Life. At that time, most online platforms were MMORPGs, although there were also chat rooms and other platforms that allowed people to gather online for a specific purpose. What made Second Life different was that users could create content, share them, and sell them. They can own pieces of the virtual world, and even rent them out to others. Transactions were made in Linden dollars, or L$, which could be bought using real money.

Second Life had its own currency, and an economy of transactions due to its system of object and land ownership. Users could interact with each other via the chatbox, which has local and global channels, and I believe it allowed you to talk via voice to nearby people too. I myself had been on Second Life for a while, and even today, log in every once in a blue moon just to see how things are like now.

Back then, we gathered to talk about hobbies, and there were even areas where you can play RPGs, much like in a MMORPG. You can customise your avatar's shape, give it a custom skin, and dress it up in different clothes. Skins and clothes can be designed by the user and uploaded to the system, or they can be bought from others. You can sell your designs too. The crafting system also allows you to make objects, like furniture, weapons, even entire buildings.

So when I read about Meta's metaverse, I am not so sure what all that hype is about. I mean, we already had Second Life for almost 20 years. It is still there today.

Link to Second Life

Visit it, create an avatar, roam around. There is no need to be bound to Meta (aka Facebook) for online meetings and interactions.

Update July 21, 2022: Here is a link to an article from MIT Sloan School of Management with a more in-depth look at the metaverse from Second Life and Roblux.

What Second Life and Roblox can teach us about the metaverse 

Super spicy hot yakisoba noodles

I saw someone mentioning on Twitter that Peyoung Hellish Hot Yakisoba is really spicy hot. But I thought, "Well, maybe it is hot by Japanese standard." And the Japanese are usually not fans of spicy stuff, so it shouldn't be that hot, right?

So I got myself a pack from the nearby supermarket, made it for lunch.

And almost died after eating a mouthful. 🔥

It reminded me of the time when I mistook habanero for green peppers and stirred fried them with some pork. Only, this was even more spicy than that. It felt like my whole mouth was on fire. After rinsing it three times with hot water, I was finally able to get ride of enough sauce for me to somehow finish the noodles. Even then, it tasted like my "pork with habanero" dish...

Conclusion? This hellish hot yakisoba is not food. It is a weapon. I wouldn't recommend eating it unless you enjoy eating the Carolina Reaper. 😅

Watching "One Day, You Will Reach The Sea" (やがて海へと届く)

It has become more or less a habit to watch movies on the day they open in the cinemas. Today was no different as I went to watch a new movie starring Hamabe Minami called やがて海へと届く (Yagate Umi e to Todoku, One Day, You Will Reach The Sea). All I know is that Hamabe Minami plays someone who disappeared, so I thought it was a mystery or suspense movie.

The trailer.

Turned out a lot more heavy then it.

It was about losing someone close to the tsunami.

By the way, there is a part of the movie which is animated, the animation was done by WIT Studio. I must say the animation was done very well with an artistic touch that was really appropriate for the theme of this movie.

Still, for a 126 minutes movie, it was well past the first hour before it was mentioned that the character Hamabe played, Sumire, was lost during the tsunami. The movie is actually very slow because it tried to portray the emotions of those left behind as they have to deal with this loss.

If you want to understand what it probably feels like for those left behind, this is a good movie to watch. The animation by WIT Studio is also worth it. But if you are into something much faster, well, this movie is REALLY slow. There is no real plot, since it is just about how people go about their lives after losing someone, someone lost to the tsunami and never found.

Or you can watch it just because you like Hamabe Minami. 😅