EGR 53 Startup
From PrattWiki
This page will be a guide to how to get working on things for EGR 53.
Contents |
Resources
The main resources for EGR 53 will be:
- Class web page: http://classes.pratt.duke.edu - has the schedule, all the lab manual and appendix handouts, and contact information
- BlackBoard page: http://courses.duke.edu - there's a page for EGR 53L9 on there; this page will have the grades and a discussion board
- Pratt Pundit http://pundit.pratt.duke.edu - you're here! This page will have various pages of special interest to EGR 53 and to Pratt in general.
- Pratt Pundit's Category:EGR 53, which collects page of special interest to EGR 53 students.
Setting Up Your E-mail Alias for BlackBoard
If you changed your e-mail alias from the one Duke assigned (i.e. you changed it from roberta.q.smith@duke.edu to bobbie.smith@duke.edu or somesuch) you will also need to change it on BlackBoard. To do that:
- Log in to BlackBoard using your NET ID and password
- In the Tools section at left, choose Personal Information
- Choose Edit Personal Information
- Change your e-mail. You should choose either your new alias or your NET_ID@duke.edu account.
Working from Home / Other Computers
Depending on what operating system you use, you will need to have one or two pieces of software on that machine to properly connect to and work with the UNIX systems.
Mac Users
Mac users will need X11R6. It is generally installed with OS 10.5; 10.4 users will need to install it. Information on each is at the X11R6 page.
Windows Users
To work from home, Windows users will need to install X-Win 32 and PuTTY. When you install X-Win 32, you will also need the license key OIT has provided - install it as a "floating node" configuration. More info on the X-Win 32 page.
When you install PuTTY and run it, the first time through you will need to create a session to connect to one of the Hudson or Teer machines; after that, you can just use that session. More on the PuTTY page.
All Cases
In all cases, you do not need to install anything else. emacs, LaTeX, kdvi, and everything else you need will be on the UNIX systems - you will not have them on your own machines.
Lab 1
To work on the lab from your own computer, follow these steps:
- If on Windows, start X-Win 32. Make sure the white X with the blue background shows up in the bottom right of your window. Point to it with the mouse and hover - it should say "Display 0" or something similar. If there is a number different from 0, right click and exit X-Win, then restart X-Win. You need to be using Display 0.
- Start a terminal program. On Windows, this is PuTTY while on Macs it is in the X11R6 package. Use it to connect to one of the Teer or Hudson machines. Note that if that particular machine doesn't connect, close the terminal program and try again with a different teer or hudson machine.
- Test the graphics connection by typing
xterm &- if the xterm window comes up - great! If not, note the following: - Once connected to a terminal and testing the graphics, change into your lab 1 directory with:
cd EGR53 cd lab1
or
cd EGR53/lab1
- Edit your lab report with emacs using
emacs lab1.tex &
- Don't forget the &!
latex lab1.tex
- Make sure LaTeX compiles! If not, check what kind of error there is:
- If LaTeX can't see lab1.tex or sits there with two asterisks, hit CTRL-D
- If it is some other error, hit CTRL-C, then hit x. Fix the problem in emacs and run again.
- Once LaTeX succeeds, run kdvi with:
kdvi lab1.dvi &
- Don't forget the &! There may be a bunch of little warnings and errors that pop up. Make sure you ran kdvi on the dvi file and be patient - it will most likely come up eventually (kdvi is a little slow).
- To print, use the print command in kdvi and select the "lp0" printer. If your documents are not showing up in your ePrint queue when you swipe your card, see the ePrint page for troubleshooting info.
Questions
Post your questions by editing the discussion page of this article. Edit the page, then scroll to the bottom and add a question by putting in the characters *{{Q}}, followed by your question and finally your signature (with four tildes, i.e. ~~~~). Using the {{Q}} will automatically put the page in the category of pages with questions - other editors hoping to help out can then go to that category page to see where the questions are. See the page for Template:Q for details and examples.
