Directoins for running locally or on Colab

README.md

@@ -10,14 +10,38 @@ See the accompanying manual, *Really Simple Molecular Dynamics with Python*, for
 
 ## Getting started
 
-### 1. Clone the repository
+There are two ways to run SimpleMD: using Google Colab (no installation required) or running locally on your own machine.
+
+### Option A: Google Colab (recommended for getting started quickly)
+
+[![Open In Colab](https://colab.research.google.com/assets/colab-badge.svg)](https://colab.research.google.com/github/emfurst/SimpleMD/blob/main/MDsim.ipynb)
+
+Click the badge above to open `MDsim.ipynb` directly in Google Colab. All required packages (`numpy`, `numba`, `matplotlib`) are pre-installed in Colab.
+
+You will need to clone the repository in your first notebook cell so that the simulation code is available:
+
+```python
+!git clone https://github.com/emfurst/SimpleMD.git
+%cd SimpleMD
+```
+
+Then proceed with the notebook as described in the manual.
+
+### Option B: Run locally
+
+You will need the following installed on your computer:
+
+- **Python 3** (3.10 or later recommended) — download from [python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
+- **Git** — download from [git-scm.com](https://git-scm.com/downloads)
+
+#### 1. Clone the repository
 
 ```bash
 git clone https://lem.che.udel.edu/git/furst/SimpleMD.git
 cd SimpleMD
 ```
 
-### 2. Create a Python virtual environment
+#### 2. Create a Python virtual environment
 
 Create and activate a virtual environment using Python's built-in `venv` module:
 
@@ -31,13 +55,13 @@ On Windows, activate with:
 .venv\Scripts\activate
 ```
 
-### 3. Install dependencies
+#### 3. Install dependencies
 
 ```bash
 pip install numpy numba matplotlib jupyter
 ```
 
-### 4. Run the simulation
+#### 4. Run the simulation
 
 Launch Jupyter and open `MDsim.ipynb`: