Getting Started

We will use the Linux computer lab / Math SINC site for the class.

In-class work presentations will mostly be live-coding, where we all work on the ideas together. Notes will be presented on the class website before class to guide the discussion and then updated after class to reflect what we covered.

(Thanks to Doug Swesty for his advice on using the MathLab computers)

In class

The computers in class are running Ubuntu 20.04 and have all of the software needed for this course installed. There are a few quicks compared to how a normal Linux system will behave.

Tip

If the computer is asleep when you arrive, you can wake it by doing:

ctrl + alt + F2

ctrl + alt + F1

Warning

Your home directory is wiped clean every 48 hours. This means that we cannot rely on storing configuration files on our system.

You will log in with your NetID and password and then you will be presented a terminal prompt for your password a second time to mount your Stony Brook MySBfiles directory. This is where you will want to store your data.

Tip

After you enter your username, a small “settings” icon will appear in the bottom right of the screen. You can use this to select your default desktop. Choose “MATE” to have your display appear like the instructor’s desktop / what’s displayed on the projector.

Tip

If for some reason the MySBfiles doesn’t mount, then you can rerun it by typing:

myfile

Warning

Do not try to get superuser privileges on these machines. Any attempts to su or sudo are logged and repeated attempts may be reported to campus IT.

Note

You should familarized yourself with the campus IT policy: https://it.stonybrook.edu/policies/p109

Using your own machine

You are encouraged to also work on your own personal laptop. The easiest way to do so would be to install a Linux virtual machine (for example, using Ubuntu) Other options include the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

You will want to make sure you install the g++ compiler (something later than version 7), git, and bash.

These instructions on Using C++ and WSL in VS Code offer a nice solution.

Note

I only use Linux, so I cannot help you debug any Windows issues. If you find something that works for you, please feel free to share it with the code.

Using the MathLab remotely

There are 2 special machines that you can log onto remotely via ssh. If you are using Windows, then I would recommend the PuTTY SSH client.

Note

These machines appear to be unreliable this semester.

With ssh you can connect to:

• portal.mathlab.stonybrook.edu

• portal2.mathlab.stonybrook.edu

Important

These are shared resources, so you should not run anything compute intensive or non-class work on these machines.

If you are connecting to one of these via ssh on the command line, then you would do:

ssh <netid>@portal.mathlab.stonybrook.edu

where you replace <netid> with your NetID.

You can connect similarly with PuTTY.

MySBFiles

The ~/MySBFiles/ directory is mounted from a windows machine and is (1) slow, (2) unreliable, and (3) times out after 120 minutes. It is therefore suggested that you do your work in your home directory and then move anything you wish to keep to your ~/MySBFiles/ drive before logging off.