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First Run

This is the canonical first-use workflow for ServoBox after installation and host RT setup.

Create Your First VM

servobox init

Defaults:

  • VM name: servobox-vm
  • vCPUs: 4
  • memory: 8192 MiB
  • disk: 20 GB
  • primary NAT IP: 192.168.122.100/24

The first run downloads the base RT image if it is not already cached.

If you want to customize the VM from the start:

servobox init --name my-vm --vcpus 6 --mem 16384 --disk 80

For project-local defaults, create .servobox/config in your client project:

servobox config init

Edit the generated file to set VM sizing, RT mode, package install defaults, custom recipe paths, and run defaults. After that, the project workflow can be:

servobox init
servobox pkg-install
servobox run

Start And Verify

Start the VM in the default balanced mode:

servobox start

Verify the RT configuration and latency behavior:

servobox rt-verify
servobox test --duration 30 --stress-ng

If you need tighter spike behavior, you can use:

servobox start --performance

--performance and --extreme reduce spike frequency, but the practical VM latency ceiling is still around the same order of magnitude. See RT Tuning for the full details.

Install Your First Stack

pkg-install installs into a running target over SSH by default, so you get live progress output. On first use, ServoBox downloads the external recipe channel release into your local cache.

servobox pkg-install --list
servobox pkg-install deoxys-control
servobox run deoxys-control

Useful variations:

# Install on a specific VM
servobox pkg-install --name my-vm docker

# Keep the legacy image-based installation mode
servobox pkg-install --offline docker

# Show detailed progress
servobox pkg-install ros2-humble --verbose

# Refresh recipe metadata and scripts
servobox recipes update

For the full package workflow, see Package Management.

Networking

If your VM needs direct access to a robot or another device NIC, use the interactive wizard:

servobox network-setup

You can also attach NICs during VM creation:

servobox init --host-nic eth0
servobox init --host-nic eth0 --host-nic eth1

More details: Networking

SSH Access

servobox ssh
servobox ssh --name my-vm

Remote Target Mode

ServoBox can also operate on an existing RT machine over SSH instead of a local VM.

export SERVOBOX_TARGET_IP=192.168.1.50
servobox status
servobox rt-verify
servobox pkg-install docker

Remote mode is useful for Jetson, NUC, or similar RT-capable systems where you want the same ServoBox package and verification workflow without creating a local VM.

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