Quantum Computing Demos Overview

RasQberry Two has about 20 demos: visualisations, games, notebooks and LED demos that make quantum concepts visible. The Demo List has the details for each one, generated from the same manifests the image installs from. Not sure where to start? The Learning paths put demos in a good order for a stand, a lesson or your first program.

The demos at a glance

The demos come in six groups. Each is an icon on the desktop and a submenu of Quantum Demos in the RasQberry menu.

A few starters sit loose on the desktop too: Learning paths, IBM LED Demo, Grokking the Bloch Sphere, Quantum Coin Game and My Quantum Programs.

Only the LED demos, RasQ-LED and Quantum Fractals are on the card from the start. The others download on their first start, which needs a network connection; Docker demos (Qoffee-Maker, Quantum Mixer, Quantum Lab, Qiskit Tutorials on this Pi, Workshop & Qiskit Server) take 2–4 GB each and need a card of 32 GB or more. Demos tagged beta are new: tell us how they work.

Running demos

1. Desktop: double-click a starter, or a group's folder and then the demo. Fun with Quantum then shows a list of its games.
2. Desktop menu: Applications → RasQberry → [Demo Name].
3. RasQberry menu: double-click RasQberry Configuration on the desktop (or run sudo raspi-config) → 0 RasQberry → Quantum Demos → the group.
4. Command line: rq_demo_run.sh <demo-id>, e.g. rq_demo_run.sh quantum-fractals. The ids are on the Demo List.

Most demos need a display: a monitor, or VNC.

To stop a demo, press Enter or Ctrl+C in its window, or close the window. The Workshop & Qiskit Server keeps running until you stop it.

No LED panel?

LED demos also show the panel in an on-screen view, so they work without one. To watch the panel in a browser on any device in the network, switch on the web view in sudo raspi-config → 0 RasQberry → Quantum Demos → LED panel → LED setup & tests → Output Targets, then open http://rasqberry.local:8098.

IBM Quantum accounts

The demos run on the built-in simulator, without an account. A free IBM Quantum account (quantum.cloud.ibm.com) is needed for real IBM hardware: the demos' real-hardware options, and most IBM Quantum Tutorials, Hello world included, which are written for it. Save its API key once: 0 RasQberry → IBM Quantum account → Save my API key; it is kept in ~/.qiskit. The Fun with Quantum notebooks ask for the key in their real-hardware cell. The online Composer simulates up to four qubits without signing in.

Entangible

Entangible (Big projects) reads printed gate tiles with a camera, a USB webcam or the Pi camera: print the tiles and board (A4) and point the camera down at the board. Without a camera it runs, but reads no tiles. Phones on the same network join with the address its window shows; they warn about the certificate once (tap Advanced, then Proceed).

More in the Quantum Demos menu

• Learning paths (beta): short tours through the demos (on the website).
• Stop a running LED demo: frees the LED panel when a demo is still holding it; the next LED demo cannot start until then.
• Manage demos:
  • Download all demos (one-time setup): installs every demo now (the Docker demos if you say yes) instead of on first use, before taking the Pi somewhere without a network.
  • Add demo from catalogue: installs reviewed third-party demos, each pinned to a fixed commit (for example racetraQ and the SAP demos). Partner demos go to Contributed demos, racetraQ to Big projects. From a terminal: rq_demo_add_external.sh --list, rq_demo_add_external.sh <id>, rq_demo_add_external.sh --remove <id>.
  • Update demos: moves a demo that comes with the image to a newer upstream version, or back. A catalogue demo updates when the catalogue has a newer version: the RasQberry badge in the taskbar offers it, or run rq_demo_add_external.sh --update <id>.
  • Remove a demo: frees space; it downloads again when started (a catalogue demo is uninstalled: add it again from the catalogue).
  • Stop Docker demos: stops the Workshop & Qiskit Server, Quantum Lab, Qoffee-Maker or Quantum Mixer.
• Workshops & events → Demo Loop: LED demos and Quantum Fractals one after another, for a booth: Choose the demos, Start the demo loop (Enter skips a demo, x stops the loop), Start the Demo Loop at login.

At a booth or in class

• Run Download all demos while you still have a network.
• The screen does not blank. To change that: sudo raspi-config → 2 Display Options → Screen Blanking.
• 0 RasQberry → Desktop Settings → Browser at login stops the browser opening rasqberry.org at every start.
• On a large monitor, Quantum Lights Out, Grokking the Bloch Sphere, Quantum Fractals, the LED demos and the Quantum Coin Game draw visitors in (more).
• Change the default password on a shared network, or keep it for a booth (how).

Learning resources

• IBM Quantum Learning
• Qiskit Documentation
• IBM Quantum Composer
• Fun with Quantum