laptop - Methods

Revision 58 as of 2016-03-01 15:22:29

Clear message
location: laptop

Training laptops

Recently it was determined that there should be a need to offer more formal training sessions at the Unit for staff and students. Previously, sessions had been held in the computer users room but this led to several problems including lack of space and not enough machines to go around. So to facilitate a more friendly training environment some laptops have been purchased for this very purpose.

General documentation on using the training laptops can be found on the intranet.

Here, some more specific instructions about how to set up them for a hands-on session can be found:

Contents

  1. Training laptops
    1. Setup
    2. Central settings
      1. Command-line shortcuts (aliases)
      2. Materials

Setup

XX – laptop number

  • Switch on the laptop and log in as:
  • Username: trainXXuser
  • Password: ******** (available from your trainer, Tibor, Olaf, or IT)


  • Use PuTTY to connect to one of the login nodes. You can use 'login' as the host name, or use the name of a specific login node (login01 to login22):

Host: On some of the laptops, gateway (gate.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk) may be set as default connection. Make sure, that you do not use it, because it is slower!

  • Username: trainXXlinux
  • Password: ******** (available from your trainer, Tibor, Olaf or IT)

    It may take a while to synchronise Materials (see below)


  • A VNC server should already be running for the training account. To check, type:


  • showallvncs


  • The output should show you that a vncserver is running on the login node that matches the number of username, e.g. train01linux will have a vncserver on login01, etc. The vnc desktop number should be 51 in all cases. If a vnc server is not already running, you can start one using:


  • vncstart


  • Once your VNC server is running, connect to it using a VNC viewer (e.g. TurboVNC is preferred but UltraVNC will do, too). The server you need to connect to will be running on the login node that matches the number in your username, e.g. train01linux will have a vncserver on login01, etc. The vnc desktop number should be 51 in all cases.
  • VNC server: loginXX:51 (e.g. login01:51 for train01 on login01, login08:51 for train08 on login08)
  • Password: ******** (available from your trainer, Tibor, Olaf or IT)

Central settings

  • /imaging/local/linux/config/train.login (executed during login via PuTTY)

  • /imaging/local/linux/config/train.chsrc (executed during opening a shell)

serve as central setting for all training account. If you want to add some settings (e.g. configuration for programs), you can do it here.

Command-line shortcuts (aliases)

set in /imaging/local/linux/config/train.chsrc

  • cdw: change directory for Workshop folder of the current user (/imaging/trainXXlinux/Workshop)

  • matlab: Launch Matlab R2012b (required for aa)

  • vncstart:

Materials

set in /imaging/local/linux/config/train.login

The Material folder (/imaging/trainXXlinux/Workshop/Material) is synchronized automatically with any folder of your choosing (I recommend using folder name Material to be consistent). The source folder can be set in /imaging/local/linux/config/train.login (line 1).