how to setup venv in Elpy

Question

I installed elpy from melpa and added (elpy-enable) in .emacs M-x elpy-config gives

Elpy Configuration

Emacs.............: 29.3
Elpy..............: Not found (Python), 1.35.0 (Emacs Lisp)
Virtualenv........: pytorch-env (/home/stephen/pytorch-env/)
Interactive Python: python3 3.12.3 (/home/stephen/pytorch-env/bin/python3)
RPC virtualenv....: rpc-venv (/home/stephen/.emacs.d/elpy/rpc-venv)
 Python...........: python nil (/home/stephen/.emacs.d/elpy/rpc-venv/bin/python)
 Jedi.............: Not found
 Autopep8.........: Not found
 Yapf.............: Not found
 Black............: Not found
Syntax checker....: Not found (flake8)

Warnings

The Python interpreter could not find the elpy module. Please report
to: https://github.com/jorgenschaefer/elpy/issues/new.

There was an unexpected problem starting the RPC process. Please check
the following output to see if this makes sense to you. To me, it
doesn't.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 9, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils'


Elpy could not connect to Pypi (or at least not quickly enough) and
check if the python packages were up-to-date. You can still try to
update all of them:

[Update python packages]

The Jedi package is not currently installed. This package is needed
for code completion, code navigation and access to documentation.

[Install jedi]

No autoformatting package is currently installed. At least one is
needed (Autopep8, Yapf or Black) to perform autoformatting (`C-c C-r
f` in a python buffer).

[Install autopep8]
[Install yapf]
[Install black]

The configured syntax checker (flake8) could not be found. Elpy uses
this program to provide syntax checks of your code. You can either
install it, or select another one using `elpy-syntax-check-command`.

[Install flake8]

going in the pyvenv option opens a buffer and then does not allow me to edit anything there. should I try editing the config file manually? I have:

(pytorch-env) stephen@stephen-Vivobook:~/pytorch-env$ python
Python 3.12.3 (main, Sep 11 2024, 14:17:37) [GCC 13.2.0] on linux

so no distutils, but setuptools is inside the venv. however elpy does not know about the venv, so a catch 22 issue.