Installing OSCAR 1.3.1 on Windows

You are about to install OSCAR v1.3.1, the latest stable release. Follow the instructions below to set up OSCAR on your system.

The following instructions assume that you are at least somewhat familiar with using a terminal interface.

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Step 1: Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

1. Follow the official instructions to install Ubuntu as your Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
2. Ensure your WSL subsystem has at least 6GB of free memory for the installation process, and ideally 16GB for optimal performance. The memory available to WSL is less than the total memory on your system. To adjust the memory allocation, follow the official WSL configuration instructions. You can view a sample .wslconfig file here.
3. After installing WSL, you should see the Ubuntu app in your start menu.

Step 2: Install Julia

1. Open the Ubuntu app from your start menu (installed in Step 1).
2. OSCAR requires Julia 1.6.0 or higher. We recommend using the latest stable release of Julia.
3. We suggest installing Julia via juliaup for easy updates and version management. juliaup will automatically install the latest stable release of Julia and allows you to manage multiple Julia versions if needed.
4. To install Julia via juliaup, run the following command in your WSL terminal:

   curl -fsSL https://install.julialang.org | sh
   

5. Alternatively, you can download Julia directly from the official website and follow the installation instructions for Linux Ubuntu.

Step 3: Install OSCAR

1. Open the Julia REPL in your WSL terminal.
2. Install OSCAR by running the following commands:

   using Pkg
   Pkg.add("Oscar")
   

   This process will take a few minutes to complete, as it will install OSCAR and its dependencies. Internet access is required.

Step 4: Start OSCAR

After the installation is complete, you can start using OSCAR by running using Oscar in the Julia REPL:

julia> using Oscar
  ___   ____   ____    _    ____
 / _ \ / ___| / ___|  / \  |  _ \   |  Combining ANTIC, GAP, Polymake, Singular
| | | |\___ \| |     / _ \ | |_) |  |  Type "?Oscar" for more information
| |_| | ___) | |___ / ___ \|  _ <   |  Manual: https://docs.oscar-system.org
 \___/ |____/ \____/_/   \_\_| \_\  |  Version 1.0.0

Step 5: Running Tutorials Locally with IJulia

1. Install IJulia (and jupyter) by running the following command inside your Julia REPL:

   using Pkg; Pkg.add("IJulia")
   

   For more details, refer to the installation guide. If you encounter issues, you may need to explicitly build IJulia. Troubleshooting info can be found on the IJulia troubleshooting page.

2. To run tutorial Jupyter notebooks locally, you will need a browser installed in WSL. Ubuntu installs browsers via Snap, but Snap is disabled in WSL. To install a browser (e.g., Firefox), follow these instructions.
3. Download the tutorial of your interested from the list of available OSCAR tutorials.
4. Start Jupyter by running the following in your Julia REPL:

   using IJulia; notebook()
   

5. Your web browser should open with the Jupyter interface, where “Jupyter” is displayed in the upper-left corner, and a file explorer appears below. Locate and open the tutorial notebook of your interest.
   You might see a pop-up with the message “Kernel not found” or “Kernel error”. You can resolve this by selecting a different Julia kernel from the notebook’s kernel menu.