Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 14:43:59 GMT Server: NCSA/1.4.2 Content-type: text/html CS415 - Computer Information 1

CSE 415
Some Basic Computer Information
March 27, 1996

Hello folks. This handout describe some basic computer information for this class. First, there is a web for this class, where I will put assorted information. Please note that it is not the official vehicle of information dissemination (what a mouthful). I will try, however, to keep it up to date. It is located of the Computer Science department web page, and at:
http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse415
The first thing you need to do to get going is to get an account on the MSCC machines. Also, please subscribe to the class mailing-list. To do this, send e-mail to cse415-request@ms.washington.edu with a subject line saying:
 Subject: subscribe 
The body should be empty. The class mailing list will be used to communicate useful information for the class. The alias for the class is cse415@ms.washington.edu. Please be careful when responding to messages from the alias that you do not respond to the whole class if you don't want to. Some news readers will reply to all as a default.

In the MSCC lab there are numerous handouts about the computing environment. The basic gist is that you get a Unix account. There is a subdirectory in your home directory, My-Mac-Files, that can be made visible on the Macintosh. The rest is your standard UNIX directory. Following is a basic explanation of where to find Lisp on the Unix machines and on the Macintosh machines.

Macs

There is a program, MCL 3.0, for using LISP on the Macs. To invoke it, just click on it.

You can use your account on the MSCC machines to store work on the Macintosh. This is probably explained somewhere in the MSCC center, but here's a brief summary:

  1. Go to Chooser, click on AppleShare, make sure the Zone is MSCC.
  2. Click on the MSCC File Server
  3. Enter your MSCC name and password and the prompt
  4. You will then be prompted which you wish to access. You can choose My-Mac-Files for you own storage space or ClassFolder into which various class files will be placed. You should highlight your choices, don't check the boxes.
  5. The items you choose can now be accessed.

One more detail, that you don't have to know, but in case you're interested. The My-Mac-Files that you mount from the Macintosh is the same as the My-Mac-Files in your UNIX home directory.

UNIX

On the UNIX machines we have Allegro CL 4.1. It is invoked by typing cl. There is documentation in the MSCC lab.

A note about the MSCC machines is that they are load sharing. That means that when you type cl, it will execute on a different machine. Please note that to kill it, you have to kill it on that machine. There is more information on load sharing and how to disable it if you type man lsf. Please be careful not to leave jobs lying around.


Joshua Redstone (redstone@cs.washington.edu)