Using the CSE Instructional Labs

This tutorial provides basic instructions on how to use the workstations in the instructional labs in the CSE building housed in rooms B220 and B240-B270. (Note: Tutors specifically for CSE 8B will hold hours in B250.)

These machines are dual boot Windows and Linux machines. The Linux side is served from ieng6.ucsd.edu, one of a number of servers in the Jacobs School of Engineering. The server is accessible from anywhere on the internet using ssh, as well as by using the workstations described here.

Getting into the labs

Getting logged on

• Move the mouse. The screen should wake up. If the machine offers you a Windows login, you must reboot into Linux:
  • At the Windows login hit "Ctrl-Alt-Del", select Options, Restart, Click OK
  • As the machine restarts, you will get a screen where you can choose to boot into Windows or Red Hat Linux. Use the keyboard arrow keys to choose Linux and hit enter.
  • Then you get ANOTHER choice of 3 things. Choose the first. (Linux-smp)
• Now you should have the Linux login prompt, a blue background and a box asking for your username (or login). Type your username (cs8fzz -- where zz is replaced with your letter combination). Don't know your login or password? Get access to a web browser and use the ACS account lookup tool!
• When prompted, type in your password.
• You will be logged in and brought to a Linux desktop environment. At the lower-left corner of the screen (where the start menu would be in Windows), you should see a red hat icon. Clicking it will pop up a menu with various options for applications. If you don't see the red hat icon, the display is probably not sized correctly. Press the small '+' button on the front of the monitor; this will adjust the settings to fix this problem.
• You can customize the graphical user environment provided for Linux. However, we will require you to become proficient in using the "Command Line Interface" (CLI). This is good for you because it allows you to work on machines remotely (from home, whereever). Compared the the "Graphical User Interface" (GUI) you are used to using in Windows, using the CLI is just a matter of typing command lines in a Console or Terminal window. A command line consists of the name of a program to run, and perhaps some arguments which will be passed to the program. You press the "enter" key on the keyboard to terminate the line and send the command to the UNIX shell. You may want to read more about this process in the recommended UNIX book for the course.
• To get access to a Terminal Window from the GUI, right click on the background and select "New Terminal" from the menu shown. You can do this multiple times to get multiple Terminal Windows. (When you log in remotely, you will be automatically in a terminal window).

Getting logged off

Don't forget to log off of your machine when you are leaving it! In the GUI, click on the red hat in the lower left hand corner and select Log Off. Then Click OK in the dialog box that pops up to complete your logout.