Run the Chameleon pilot in the cloud.

Overview

This guide walks through setting up Chameleon in the cloud from scratch on either AWS or OCI. Both environments are supported; choose the path that matches your account.

What you'll accomplish

• Cloud GPU instance running Chameleon
• Remote desktop access via browser (noVNC)
• Full GPU acceleration (via Vulkan drivers for SPIR-V)
• Automated startup/shutdown scripts
• Ability to demo to customers and partners

Prerequisites

SSH key handling

Pilot access relies on SSH key authentication. If you are switching machines, ensure the correct private key is present on the machine you are using.

• macOS / Linux: ~/.ssh/
• Windows (PowerShell): %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\

Verify your key exists:

ls -l ~/.ssh

Copy a key from another machine:

scp user@OTHER_MACHINE_IP:~/.ssh/pilot-key ~/.ssh/

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Path A — AWS setup

This script is designed for AWS NVIDIA GPU instances running Ubuntu 24.04 with browser-based access via noVNC and full GPU acceleration via Vulkan (SPIR-V). It manages: virtual X server (Xvfb), VNC server (x11vnc), browser access (noVNC + websockify), PulseAudio, NVIDIA Vulkan ICD setup, and the Chameleon lifecycle.

Create the AWS startup script

Run the following on your AWS instance to create chameleon_start.sh:

cd ~/chameleon
cat > chameleon_start.sh << 'ENDOFSCRIPT'
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

DISPLAY_NUMBER="${DISPLAY_NUMBER:-99}"
export DISPLAY=":${DISPLAY_NUMBER}"

X_RES="${X_RES:-1920}"
X_HI="${X_HI:-1080}"
X_DEPTH="${X_DEPTH:-24}"

VNC_PORT="${VNC_PORT:-5901}"
NOVNC_PORT="${NOVNC_PORT:-6080}"

CHAMELEON_BIN="${CHAMELEON_BIN:-$HOME/chameleon/Essence__LNX_X64.w.elf}"
WORKDIR="${WORKDIR:-$HOME/chameleon}"
LOGDIR="${LOGDIR:-$HOME/.local/state/chameleon/Log}"

mkdir -p "$LOGDIR"

export VK_ICD_FILENAMES="/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/nvidia_icd.json"
export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulse

install_deps() {
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install -y \
    xvfb x11vnc websockify novnc \
    vulkan-tools mesa-vulkan-drivers \
    pulseaudio nvidia-utils-550 libnvidia-gl-550
}

clean_locks() {
  sudo rm -f /tmp/.X${DISPLAY_NUMBER}-lock
  sudo rm -f /tmp/.X11-unix/X${DISPLAY_NUMBER}
}

start_pulseaudio() { pulseaudio --check && pulseaudio --kill || true; pulseaudio --start; }
start_xvfb() { Xvfb "${DISPLAY}" -screen 0 "${X_RES}x${X_HI}x${X_DEPTH}" -ac +extension GLX +render -noreset & sleep 2; }
start_vnc() { x11vnc -display "${DISPLAY}" -rfbport "${VNC_PORT}" -forever -shared -nopw & }
start_websockify() { websockify --web=/usr/share/novnc/ "${NOVNC_PORT}" "localhost:${VNC_PORT}" & }
start_chameleon() { chmod +x "$CHAMELEON_BIN"; cd "$WORKDIR"; "$CHAMELEON_BIN" >"$LOGDIR/chameleon.log" 2>&1 & }

case "${1:-start}" in
  install) install_deps ;;
  start) clean_locks; start_pulseaudio; start_xvfb; start_vnc; start_websockify; start_chameleon ;;
  stop) pkill -f Xvfb || true; pkill -f x11vnc || true; pkill -f websockify || true; pkill -f Essence || true; clean_locks ;;
  restart) "$0" stop; sleep 2; "$0" start ;;
  status) pgrep -fa Essence || echo "Chameleon not running" ;;
  logs) tail -f "$LOGDIR"/*.log ;;
  test) nvidia-smi; vulkaninfo --summary | head -20 ;;
  *) echo "Usage: $0 {install|start|stop|restart|status|logs|test}" ;;
esac
ENDOFSCRIPT

chmod +x chameleon_start.sh

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Path B — OCI setup

Designed for OCI NVIDIA GPU instances running Ubuntu 24.04 with browser-based access via noVNC and full GPU acceleration via Vulkan (SPIR-V). OCI uses a different driver, networking, and image model than AWS and requires the OCI-specific startup script.

Ports & networking

• SSH: port 22 (source: your IP)
• noVNC: port 6080 (source: your IP)
• OCI often requires allowing these in both the NSG/Security List and the host firewall (if enabled).

Create the OCI startup script

Run this on the OCI instance to create chameleon_start_oci.sh:

cd ~/chameleon
cat > chameleon_start_oci.sh << 'ENDOFSCRIPT'
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

DISPLAY_NUMBER="${DISPLAY_NUMBER:-99}"
export DISPLAY=":${DISPLAY_NUMBER}"
VNC_PORT="${VNC_PORT:-5901}"
NOVNC_PORT="${NOVNC_PORT:-6080}"

CHAMELEON_BIN="${CHAMELEON_BIN:-$HOME/chameleon/Essence__LNX_X64.w.elf}"
WORKDIR="${WORKDIR:-$HOME/chameleon}"
LOGDIR="${LOGDIR:-$HOME/.local/state/chameleon/Log}"
mkdir -p "$LOGDIR"

export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulse

set_vk_icd() {
  if [ -f /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/nvidia_icd.json ]; then
    export VK_ICD_FILENAMES="/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/nvidia_icd.json"
  elif [ -f /etc/vulkan/icd.d/nvidia_icd.json ]; then
    export VK_ICD_FILENAMES="/etc/vulkan/icd.d/nvidia_icd.json"
  fi
}

install_base_deps() {
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install -y \
    xvfb x11vnc websockify novnc \
    pulseaudio vulkan-tools mesa-vulkan-drivers \
    ubuntu-drivers-common ca-certificates curl unzip
}

ensure_nvidia_driver() {
  if command -v nvidia-smi >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    nvidia-smi || true
    return 0
  fi
  sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
  echo ">>> Run: sudo reboot"
  exit 0
}

# ... (lifecycle functions identical to AWS: start_pulseaudio, start_xvfb, start_vnc,
# start_websockify, start_chameleon, stop_all, clean_locks)

case "${1:-start}" in
  install) install_base_deps; ensure_nvidia_driver ;;
  start) clean_locks; start_pulseaudio; start_xvfb; start_vnc; start_websockify; start_chameleon ;;
  stop) stop_all ;;
  restart) stop_all; sleep 2; "$0" start ;;
  status)
    pgrep -fa Xvfb || echo "Xvfb not running"
    pgrep -fa Essence || echo "Chameleon not running" ;;
  logs) tail -f "$LOGDIR"/*.log ;;
  test) nvidia-smi; set_vk_icd; vulkaninfo --summary | head -40 ;;
esac
ENDOFSCRIPT

chmod +x chameleon_start_oci.sh

Connect via noVNC (OCI)

SSH tunnel (recommended):

ssh -L 6080:localhost:6080 -i /path/to/your-oci-key ubuntu@YOUR_OCI_PUBLIC_IP

Then open in your browser:

http://localhost:6080/vnc.html

---

Quick reference

Lifecycle commands (works for both AWS and OCI scripts):

cd ~/chameleon && ./chameleon_start.sh start
cd ~/chameleon && ./chameleon_start.sh stop
cd ~/chameleon && ./chameleon_start.sh restart
cd ~/chameleon && ./chameleon_start.sh status
cd ~/chameleon && ./chameleon_start.sh logs
cd ~/chameleon && ./chameleon_start.sh test

Planning beyond the pilot

Once pilot results are validated, teams typically evaluate next steps for broader rollout, integration, or service-based deployment. MindAptiv offers multiple deployment paths — including Chameleon as a managed service and a forthcoming platform offering — depending on operational and compliance needs.