This page includes instructions for connecting to the Linux machines in the Department of Computer Science at Trinity University. The details for this vary based on where you are connecting from and what type of computer you are using.
If you are connecting from on campus, you are behind the firewall could connect to any of the cs.trinity.edu domain machines. However, most of the machines are dual boot and there is the distinct possibility that a student will reboot one of those machines to go to Windows. This generally has very adverse effects on the work you are doing. It is much safer to connect to the dias0x machines. These are dias01.cs.trinity.edu through dias13.cs.trinity.edu. They are single boot for Linux and should not be rebooted unless there is something wrong with them.
If you are using wireless, note that you can not connect to the Linux machines through the TUGuest network. You need to be using the secure network.
Starting with the easiest option. If you are on a Linux box (or have a dual boot or virtual machine for Linux) you can simply ssh to one of the dias machines. Note that if your login on your machines differs from that on the CS machines you will have to specify your username. So, for example, if your user name were jdoe on the CS machines you might do the following:
ssh jdoe@dias02.cs.trinity.edu
If you need to open any windows or use a graphical environment include the -Y option. So then you would do this:
ssh -Y jdoe@dias02.cs.trinity.edu
Connecting from a Mac is just as easy as from Linux because OS X sits on BSD Unix. You can open a command propmt and use ssh to make the connection just as you would under Linux.
This is where things are more challenging. Windows does not have any built in way to connect to Linux machines so you will have to get something else. If you don't need a graphical interface, as is the case at the beginning of CSCI 1320, you can use Putty. You will tell it what computer you want to connect to and make sure to use the SSH protocol. When you log in you will get a terminal window just like you would in the labs.
A second option that will also work if you don't need graphics is to use the Secure Shell app in the Chrome Browser. This will give you a terminal inside of Chrome.
A more complete option is to install Cygwin of MinGW on your machine. I currently recommend installing MinGW in the form of Git for Windows. This will not only give you a MinGW terminal, it also gives you command-line git, which is a tool used broadly in industry. Either Cygwin of MinGW will provide you with a Linux like shell that you can run under Windows. You can do a complete install if you have the disk space. Otherwise you want to make sure that you have ssh and X-Windows included in your install. (They aren't part of the default settings.) You can ssh, as described above under Linux, from the Cygwin terminal. The default here will not support graphical interactions. If you have the X-Windows system installed you can run "startx" and it will begin an X-server and pop up a new XTerm. Then you can connect with -Y and you will get windows. There is also a Bash Shell for Windows since Windows 10. Unforuntately, it uses a separate directory structure which I have seem cause problems for some tools.
The other options are to install either VMware Player or Virtual Box and run a virtual Linux or to dual boot your computer. If you do this, you can operate using the Linux instructions above. Note that the Cinnamon GUI does not like to be virtualized. If you are using Linux Mint, you should use the MATE version.
It is worth noting that many students have run into challenges putting virtual machines on laptops. There are inevitably many different reasons this can happen and it isn't always clear why it happens for any particular install. However, one cause has been identified. If you get an error that says that mentions VT-x or something about long instructions, that means you need to turn on the VT-x option in your BIOS. Your professor can help you to do this if you bring your computer to the office.
Most of the on campus instructions are the same for off campus, but there is the additional challenge that you have the be able to get through the firewall. The only machine that allows off campus connections is bianca.cs.trinity.edu. It only allows certain IP addresses to connect. You need to write to your professor and tell him/her your IP address so that it can be added to the allowed list. If you ask Google "what is my ip address" you will it will tell you the IP address that is seen to the outside world.
Note that this works best if you have a stable IP address. In general, broadband connections have this. Even with this, every so often your IP address will change. When this happens you will get a message that you were denied by the host when you try to connect to bianca. You need to get your new IP address and send it to your faculty member so it can be updated.
You should ssh from your computer to bianca.cs.trinity.edu then ssh from there to one of the diasw machines. Most work should not be done on bianca.