Refined the instructions about Windows and also Python versions

Author: Dean Wampler

README.md

@@ -28,27 +28,43 @@ However, consider cloning or downloading a release of the tutorial notebooks and
 
 ## Setup for a Local Machine
 
-> **WARNING:** Ray does not currently run on Windows (we're close...). [Contact Anyscale](mailto:[email protected]) for a free hosted option.
+> **Note:** Ray support for Windows is experimental. See [these release notes](https://github.com/ray-project/ray/releases/tag/ray-0.8.6) for details. Alternatively, [Contact Anyscale](mailto:[email protected]) for a free hosted option for these tutorials.
 
-If you are using MacOS or Linux, follow these instructions. Note that the setup commands can take a while to finish.
+Follow these instructions to use the tutorials. Note that some commands can take a while to finish.
 
 Clone the [Academy GitHub repo](https://github.com/anyscale/academy) or [download the latest release](https://github.com/anyscale/academy/releases).
 
 Now install the dependencies using either [Anaconda](https://www.anaconda.com/) or `pip` in your Python environment. We recommend using Anaconda.
 
+### Which Python Version?
+
+Python 3.7 is recommended. While Ray supports Python 3.6, a user reported a problem using _locales_. Specifically, the following code throws an error:
+
+```python
+import locale
+locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, locale.getlocale())
+```
+
+This tutorial doesn't use _locales_ specifically, but you may run into problems with your default locale.
+
+While Ray supports Python 3.8, some dependencies used in `RLlib` (the Ray reinforcement library) are not yet supported for 3.8, at the time of this writing.
+
+
 ### Using Anaconda
 
 If you need to install Anaconda, follow the instructions [here](https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/). If you already have Anaconda installed, consider running `conda upgrade --all`.
 
-Run the following commands in the root directory of this project. First,  use `conda` to install the other dependencies, including Ray. Then activate the newly-created environment, named `anyscale-academy`. Finally, run a provided script to install a graphing library extension in Jupyter Lab and perform other tasks.
+Run the following commands in the root directory of this project. First, use `conda` to install the other dependencies, including Ray. Then activate the newly-created environment, named `anyscale-academy`. Finally, run the provided `tools/fix-jupyter.sh` script to install a graphing library extension in Jupyter Lab and perform other tasks.
 
 ```shell
 conda env create -f environment.yml
 conda activate anyscale-academy
 tools/fix-jupyter.sh
 ```
 
-Note that Python 3.7 is used. While Ray supports Python 3.8, some dependencies used in `RLlib` (the Ray reinforcement library) are not yet supported for 3.8.
+If you are using Windows, see the _Fixing Jupyter Lab on Windows_ section below for an alternative to using `tools/fix-jupyter.sh`.
+
+Note that Python 3.7 is used.
 
 You can delete the environment later with the following command:
 
@@ -60,37 +76,66 @@ conda env remove --name anyscale-academy
 
 If you don't use Anaconda, you'll have to install these prerequisites first:
 
-* Python 3.6 or 3.7: While Ray supports Python 3.8, some dependencies used in `RLlib` (the Ray reinforcement library) and other dependencies are not yet supported for 3.8.
+* Python 3.7:
+	* See notes above about problems with 3.6 and 3.8. Don't use 3.8, but 3.6 may work for you.
     * The version of Python that comes with your operating system is probably too old. Try `python --version` to see what you have.
     * Installation instructions are at [python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/).
 * Pip: A recent version - consider upgrading if it's not the latest version.
 	* Installation instructions are at [pip.pypa.io](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/).
 * Node.js: Required for some of the Jupyter Lab graphics extensions we use.
 	* Installation instructions are [here](https://nodejs.org/en/).
 
-Now run the following commands in the root directory of this project to complete the setup. First, run a `pip` command to install the rest of the libraries required for these tutorials, including Ray. Then, run a provided script to install a graphing library extension in Jupyter Lab and perform other tasks.
+Next, run the following commands in the root directory of this project to complete the setup. First, run the `pip` command to install the rest of the libraries required for these tutorials, including Ray. Then, run the provided script to install a graphing library extension in Jupyter Lab and perform other tasks.
 
 ```shell
 pip install -r requirements.txt
 tools/fix-jupyter.sh
 ```
 
+If you are using Windows, see the _Fixing Jupyter Lab on Windows_ section below for an alternative to using `tools/fix-jupyter.sh`.
+
+### Fixing Jupyter Lab on Windows
+
+The `tools/fix-jupyter.sh` shell script runs the following commands. If you are using Windows, run them yourself as shown here.
+
+First, see if the following `pyviz` extension is installed:
+
+```
+jupyter labextension check --installed "@pyviz/jupyterlab_pyviz"
+```
+
+If not, run this command:
+
+```
+jupyter labextension install "@pyviz/jupyterlab_pyviz"
+```
+
+Finally, run these commands:
+
+```
+jupyter labextension update --all
+jupyter lab build
+jupyter labextension list
+```
+
 ## Final Notes for Local Installation
 
-The lessons will start a local Ray "cluster" (one node) on your machine. When you are finished with the tutorials, run the following command to shut down Ray:
+The tutorials will start a local Ray "cluster" (one node) on your machine. When you are finished with the tutorials, run the following command to shut down Ray:
 
 ```shell
 ray stop
 ```
 
 Also, when you have finished working through the tutorials, run the script `tools/cleanup.sh`, which prints temporary files, checkpoints, etc. that were created during the lessons. You might want to remove these as they can add up to 100s of MBs.
 
-If you decide to delete all the files and directories listed, the following script will do it:
+If you decide to delete all the files and directories listed, the following `bash` command will do it:
 
 ```shell
 tools/cleanup.sh | while read x; do rm -rf $x; done
 ```
 
+> **Note:** A Windows version of this script is TBD.
+
 ## Launching the Tutorials
 
 The previous steps installed [Jupyter Lab](https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/), the notebook-based environment we'll use for all the lessons. To start run the following command in the project root directory:
@@ -120,10 +165,6 @@ Here is a recommended reading list, based on your interests:
 
 See the [Overview notebook](Overview.ipynb) for detailed, up-to-date descriptions for each tutorial and the lessons it contains.
 
-## Notes
-
-* We use Python 3.7, because a dependency of `RLlib`, `atari-py`, doesn't have a wheel available for Python 3.8 at this time.
-
 ## Troubleshooting
 
 See the [Troubleshooting, Tips, and Tricks](reference/Troubleshooting-Tips-Tricks.ipynb) notebook.