Installation

:label:chap_installation

In order to get you up and running for hands-on learning experience, we need to set you up with an environment for running Python, Jupyter notebooks, the relevant libraries, and the code needed to run the book itself.

Installing Miniconda

The simplest way to get going will be to install Miniconda. The Python 3.x version is required. You can skip the following steps if conda has already been installed. Download the corresponding Miniconda sh file from the website and then execute the installation from the command line using sh <FILENAME> -b. For macOS users:

  1. # The file name is subject to changes
  2. sh Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh -b

For Linux users:

  1. # The file name is subject to changes
  2. sh Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh -b

Next, initialize the shell so we can run conda directly.

  1. ~/miniconda3/bin/conda init

Now close and re-open your current shell. You should be able to create a new environment as following:

  1. conda create --name d2l -y

Downloading the D2L Notebooks

Next, we need to download the code of this book. You can click the “All Notebooks” tab on the top of any HTML page to download and unzip the code. Alternatively, if you have unzip (otherwise run sudo apt install unzip) available:

  1. mkdir d2l-en && cd d2l-en
  2. curl https://d2l.ai/d2l-en.zip -o d2l-en.zip
  3. unzip d2l-en.zip && rm d2l-en.zip

Now we will want to activate the d2l environment and install pip. Enter y for the queries that follow this command.

  1. conda activate d2l
  2. conda install python=3.7 pip -y

Installing the Framework and the d2l Package

:begin_tab:mxnet,pytorch Before installing the deep learning framework, please first check whether or not you have proper GPUs on your machine (the GPUs that power the display on a standard laptop do not count for our purposes). If you are installing on a GPU server, proceed to :ref:subsec_gpu for instructions to install a GPU-supported version.

Otherwise, you can install the CPU version. That will be more than enough horsepower to get you through the first few chapters but you will want to access GPUs before running larger models. :end_tab:

:begin_tab:mxnet

  1. pip install mxnet==1.6.0

:end_tab:

:begin_tab:pytorch

  1. pip install torch==1.5.1 torchvision -f https://download.pytorch.org/whl/torch_stable.html

:end_tab:

:begin_tab:tensorflow You can install TensorFlow with both CPU and GPU support via the following:

  1. pip install tensorflow==2.2.0 tensorflow-probability==0.10.0

:end_tab:

We also install the d2l package that encapsulates frequently used functions and classes in this book.

  1. pip install -U d2l

Once they are installed, we now open the Jupyter notebook by running:

  1. jupyter notebook

At this point, you can open http://localhost:8888 (it usually opens automatically) in your Web browser. Then we can run the code for each section of the book. Please always execute conda activate d2l to activate the runtime environment before running the code of the book or updating the deep learning framework or the d2l package. To exit the environment, run conda deactivate.

GPU Support

:label:subsec_gpu

:begin_tab:mxnet,pytorch By default, the deep learning framework is installed without GPU support to ensure that it will run on any computer (including most laptops). Part of this book requires or recommends running with GPU. If your computer has NVIDIA graphics cards and has installed CUDA, then you should install a GPU-enabled version. If you have installed the CPU-only version, you may need to remove it first by running: :end_tab:

:begin_tab:tensorflow By default, TensorFlow is installed with GPU support. If your computer has NVIDIA graphics cards and has installed CUDA, then you are all set. :end_tab:

:begin_tab:mxnet

  1. pip uninstall mxnet

:end_tab:

:begin_tab:pytorch

  1. pip uninstall torch

:end_tab:

:begin_tab:mxnet,pytorch Then we need to find the CUDA version you installed. You may check it through nvcc --version or cat /usr/local/cuda/version.txt. Assume that you have installed CUDA 10.1, then you can install with the following command: :end_tab:

:begin_tab:mxnet

  1. # For Windows users
  2. pip install mxnet-cu101==1.6.0b20190926
  4. # For Linux and macOS users
  5. pip install mxnet-cu101==1.6.0

:end_tab:

:begin_tab:pytorch

  1. pip install torch==1.5.1+cu101 -f https://download.pytorch.org/whl/torch_stable.html

:end_tab:

:begin_tab:mxnet,pytorch You may change the last digits according to your CUDA version, e.g., cu100 for CUDA 10.0 and cu90 for CUDA 9.0. :end_tab:

Exercises

  1. Download the code for the book and install the runtime environment.

:begin_tab:mxnet Discussions :end_tab:

:begin_tab:pytorch Discussions :end_tab:

:begin_tab:tensorflow Discussions :end_tab: