FB2NEP — How‑To & Sandbox (Colab/Jupyter)

Author

FB2NEP Team

Published

September 21, 2025

This page shows you exactly how to open and use our notebooks in Google Colab (or locally in Jupyter). It includes direct links and plain‑English guidance. If you’ve never touched Python before, you’re in the right place.

1 Quick links

Open the notebooks directly in Colab:

Introduction Notebook
· View on GitHub
Playground (Sandbox)
· View on GitHub

Printable cheat‑sheet:
- python‑cheatsheet.md (open “Raw”, then save/print)

If you fork or use a different repository, update the links by replacing ggkuhnle/fb2nep-epi with your repo slug.

2 How to open a notebook in Colab (step‑by‑step)

Click an Open in Colab button above. Colab will load the notebook from GitHub.
At the top‑right, click Connect if it isn’t already connected. This starts a fresh, temporary Python session (a “runtime”).
You may see a warning like “This notebook was not authored by Google.”
- Click Run anyway. Our notebooks are plain text and safe to run.
You might also see “Warning: This notebook requires permissions to run.”
- Click Run anyway. Colab sandboxes code; nothing runs on your computer.
To run a cell, click the small ▶ button on its left, or press Shift + Enter.
To run every cell from top to bottom, go to Runtime → Run all.
To save your own editable copy, go to File → Save a copy in Drive. You now have a personal copy you can edit freely.

2.1 Useful Colab options

Runtime → Restart runtime resets the session if things get stuck.
Runtime → Change runtime type (we use Python 3; no GPU needed).
File → Download lets you save the executed notebook as .ipynb or PDF.

3 Working locally in Jupyter (optional)

If you prefer local execution: 1. Install Anaconda or Miniconda, then open Jupyter Lab.
2. Download the .ipynb files from GitHub and open them in Jupyter Lab.
3. Run cells with Shift + Enter as in Colab.

4 Troubleshooting

ModuleNotFoundError (e.g. statsmodels): run the cell that starts with !pip install ..., then Runtime → Restart runtime, and re‑run the code.
Kernel crashed / out of memory: restart the runtime. Don’t open huge datasets in this sandbox.
Long‑running cells: click the stop icon (■) next to the cell number, or Runtime → Interrupt execution.

5 What you’ll learn here

How to run Python cells safely in the cloud (Colab).
How to make small edits and immediately see their effect.
How to generate simple synthetic data and make basic plots & analyses you’ll reuse in FB2NEP.

Now jump into the Introduction Notebook first, then play in the Playground.

--- title: "FB2NEP — How‑To & Sandbox (Colab/Jupyter)" format: html: toc: true theme: default page-layout: article author: "FB2NEP Team" date: today --- > This page shows you **exactly** how to open and use our notebooks in **Google Colab** (or locally in Jupyter). It includes direct links and plain‑English guidance. If you’ve never touched Python before, you’re in the right place. ## Quick links **Open the notebooks directly in Colab:** - **Introduction Notebook** [![Open In Colab](https://colab.research.google.com/assets/colab-badge.svg)](https://colab.research.google.com/github/ggkuhnle/fb2nep-epi/blob/main/howto_sandbox/Introduction-Notebook.ipynb) · [View on GitHub](https://github.com/ggkuhnle/fb2nep-epi/blob/main/howto_sandbox/Introduction-Notebook.ipynb) - **Playground (Sandbox)** [![Open In Colab](https://colab.research.google.com/assets/colab-badge.svg)](https://colab.research.google.com/github/ggkuhnle/fb2nep-epi/blob/main/howto_sandbox/Playground.ipynb) · [View on GitHub](https://github.com/ggkuhnle/fb2nep-epi/blob/main/howto_sandbox/Playground.ipynb) **Printable cheat‑sheet:** - [python‑cheatsheet.md](python-cheatsheet.md) (open “Raw”, then save/print) > If you **fork** or use a different repository, update the links by replacing `ggkuhnle/fb2nep-epi` with your repo slug. --- ## How to open a notebook in Colab (step‑by‑step) 1. Click an **Open in Colab** button above. Colab will load the notebook from GitHub. 2. At the top‑right, click **Connect** if it isn’t already connected. This starts a fresh, temporary Python session (a “runtime”). 3. You may see a warning like **“This notebook was not authored by Google.”** - Click **Run anyway**. Our notebooks are plain text and safe to run. 4. You might also see **“Warning: This notebook requires permissions to run.”** - Click **Run anyway**. Colab sandboxes code; nothing runs on your computer. 5. To **run a cell**, click the small ▶ button on its left, or press **Shift + Enter**. 6. To **run every cell from top to bottom**, go to **Runtime → Run all**. 7. To **save your own editable copy**, go to **File → Save a copy in Drive**. You now have a personal copy you can edit freely. ### Useful Colab options - **Runtime → Restart runtime** resets the session if things get stuck. - **Runtime → Change runtime type** (we use Python 3; **no GPU needed**). - **File → Download** lets you save the executed notebook as `.ipynb` or PDF. --- ## Working locally in Jupyter (optional) If you prefer local execution: 1. Install **Anaconda** or **Miniconda**, then open **Jupyter Lab**. 2. Download the `.ipynb` files from GitHub and open them in Jupyter Lab. 3. Run cells with **Shift + Enter** as in Colab. --- ## Troubleshooting - **ModuleNotFoundError** (e.g. `statsmodels`): run the cell that starts with `!pip install ...`, then **Runtime → Restart runtime**, and re‑run the code. - **Kernel crashed / out of memory**: restart the runtime. Don’t open huge datasets in this sandbox. - **Long‑running cells**: click the stop icon (■) next to the cell number, or **Runtime → Interrupt execution**. --- ## What you’ll learn here - How to run Python cells safely in the cloud (Colab). - How to make small edits and immediately see their effect. - How to generate simple synthetic data and make basic plots & analyses you’ll reuse in FB2NEP. Now jump into the **Introduction Notebook** first, then play in the **Playground**.