Getting Started with Ada

Note

Ada (previously known as IDAaaS) is a remote VM system available to STFC staff and ISIS users.

First, log in to the Ada platform using your STFC email and password. Once logged in, you can select New Workspace > IMAT > Tomography Recommended to create a new workspace.

After the workspace has been created, you will see two windows: one for the online VS Code editor and the other for the Ada Workspace GUI.

In the online VS Code editor, select the hamburger menu (top left) > Terminal > New Terminal, and download the Mantid Imaging source code using Git:

git clone https://github.com/mantidproject/mantidimaging.git

Navigate into the cloned repository directory:

cd mantidimaging

Load the Conda environment setup script by running:

source /etc/profile.d/conda.sh

For development, it’s recommended to create a new environment that includes the required tools:

python3 ./setup.py create_dev_env

This will create an environment named mantidimaging-dev.

Then confirm that the mantidimaging-dev environment appears when you list Conda environments:

conda env list

Activate it using:

mamba activate mantidimaging-dev

Mantid Imaging can then be run using the Ada Workspace GUI window. Open a new terminal in your workspace, activate the mantidimaging-dev Conda environment, and launch Mantid Imaging with the following command:

python3 -m mantidimaging

The --path flag can be used to specify a dataset to load at startup. For example, to launch Mantid Imaging with a reconstructed dataset run:

python3 -m mantidimaging --path /mnt/ceph/auxiliary/tomography/example_data/processed/flower_recon_200/