Lab 1: Windows, Unix and Web Pages

Thu Sep 16 14:32:50 EDT 2004

By the end of this lab, you will be able to:

There are 8 parts to this lab, and some supporting pages. You can jump to any part by clicking on the link below.

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Using Windows
Part 3: The File System
Part 4: Using Unix
Part 5: Email With Pine
Part 6: Moving Files
Part 7: Starting Your Web Page
Part 8: Submitting Your Work

Glossary of the terms that you need to know for this lab.
Windows primer if you haven't used Windows.
Summary of what has to be turned in; use this to verify that you haven't missed any parts of the lab.
In this lab, we will highlight instructions for what you have to submit in a yellow box like this one.

Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to the first lab for COS 109. In the next three hours, you'll learn how to use Windows and Unix to run programs, how to explore and find things in the file system, how to check your email on both systems, and how to transfer files from Windows to Unix and back. You'll also get started on your own web page. At the end, you'll be asked to submit, by email and by transferring a file, answers to a bunch of questions that will be asked along the way.

The COS 109 labs assume that you are using computers in a cluster in the Friend Center, where the machines run Windows 2000 and have a specific set of programs loaded for this course. You can do this lab anywhere, including in your room with your own computer, so long as you are running some flavor of Windows (95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP) and have a working network connection. If you are not in the lab, however, you won't be able to ask questions of the lab assistants, and some of the instructions here will have to be adapted.

Mac users: Sorry, but this lab really has to be done on Windows, since 90% of the population here and elsewhere uses Windows. As you do the lab, you might find it instructive to think about doing the same tasks on your Mac. The details are different but the mechanisms are close analogs, a good example of the difference between logical organization and physical implementation.

If you do this or any other lab elsewhere, when things don't work or when you get into trouble and can't figure out what's wrong, you're on your own.

We realize that for many of you, much of this lab will seem incredibly familiar and trivial, but for others, some or even all of it will be new. If you don't know much about computing, follow the steps in order and ask a TA for assistance at any time. If you've never used this kind of computer or system before, find a TA to help you get started and be prepared to spend a little more time this week than you will for future labs. If there are parts which you already know how to do, however, go over them quickly and move on.

Since software and hardware change every year, often in subtle ways, inevitably something won't work exactly as described here. If you find something wrong with the instructions, please let us know. Thanks.


Part 2: Using Windows

What is Windows?

Windows is an operating system, which is a program that manages the resources of a computer for you. It lets you run programs like browsers and word processors and Kazaa; it lets you store and retrieve information on disks; it lets you use peripheral devices like printers and joysticks and speakers; and it lets you communicate with other machines via a network.

"Windows" is a family of operating systems from Microsoft. Microsoft cranks out a new version every few years; Windows 2000 is four years old, and Windows XP has been around for three. Unix, Linux, MacOS and PalmOS are also operating systems, not from Microsoft, that all perform the same basic functions, though with myriad differences in style, philosophy, and details.

One of the main functions of an operating system is to provide an environment in which you can run programs. Most operating systems allow you to run several programs at once, switching your attention from one to another at will. Some, like Unix, are text-based and mostly controlled by typing on the keyboard. Others (Windows, Mac OS, PalmOS) are graphical and are most often controlled with a mouse or pen.

If you are unfamiliar with Windows, or feel you need to brush up on some jargon, take a look at the Lab 1 Windows primer.

Editing and Saving with Notepad

One of the tasks you do most often on the computer is word processing. There are numerous ways to do this, as we will see in this lab. You are perhaps most used to using Microsoft Word to process documents. Notepad is an alternative editor of much more limited capabilities. Notepad cannot do as many things as a word processor like Word but it is much simpler, loads much more quickly and is very useful for small notes and documents (just like a small paper notepad). It also saves information in a standard format that can be easily used by other programs. For the rest of this lab, you will use Notepad to record your work as you go along, and then copy it into an email at the end.

Open Notepad by choosing "Programs | Accessories | Notepad" from the Start Menu, or by typing "notepad" into the Run dialog box ("Start | Run"). A window with a blinking cursor should appear. Click on the various menus (File, Edit, Search and Help) to see what options are available. Experiment with typing text and editing it with the mouse and with items from the Edit menu; be sure you're comfortable with the Cut, Copy and Paste features, since they get used in a lot of different situations.

Do this to begin collecting data for submission:
  • Type a line with your name and email address.
  • Type a second line naming the operating system you are using for this lab (e.g., Windows 2000).
  • Select "Save" from the "File" menu at the top of the window.
  • Save the document to the Desktop as lab1.txt.

Because the Desktop is meant to represent a real desktop, all of the files you save to it will show up on it as icons. If you move your other windows out of the way or minimize them, you should see an icon for your new file.

Leave Notepad running. You will be adding content to this file for the rest of the lab. Each time you add something, save the file; this (usually) protects you in case something goes awry, and is always a good idea.


Part 3: The File System

What is a File System?

A file system is how the operating system manages all the data that is stored on the computer, in a form that is convenient for users to save information, organize it, and retrieve it as needed. The same organizing structures that are useful for the information on a hard disk are also useful for removable media like floppy disks and CD-ROMs and MP3 players, and even for information physically stored on other computers and accessed through a network, so all of these are packaged as file systems as well. Even though the physical structures vary a lot, the operating system makes them all look the same; this is another instance of logical and physical.

Information in a file system is organized hierarchically: at the top level is a set of folders (often equivalently called directories) and files. A folder contains the names of files and folders that are grouped together for some purpose. A file holds specific information, such as a Word document, a spreadsheet, a mail message, a picture, an MP3 song, or a program like Word itself.

On Windows, the usual organization creates a file system on the computer's hard drive, in a folder called (for ancient historical reasons) "C:". For even more ancient reasons, the floppy drive is called "A:". If there is a second hard drive, it is usually D:, and if there is a CD-ROM or DVD, it takes the next letter, and is thus often D: or E:.

Other "drives", like network connections, have even more arbitrary letter names; at Princeton, student files can be stored in a big file system on a central OIT machine and your part of that file system is accessible from a PC or Mac as your "H:" (for "home") drive. Presenting a file system on one machine as if it were on another is a nice example of the difference between logical and physical implementations that gets stressed so often in class.

There are a variety of way to explore the contents of these file systems. The simplest, though not the most flexible, is to double-click on "Cluster Computer" or "My Computer", then double-click on one of the icons therein. That will uncover more icons for files and folders. Each double-click on a folder expands its contents.

A double-click on a file, however, typically executes a program that is associated with the presumed type of information that the file contains, as indicated by the suffix of the name. For instance, filenames ending in .doc are assumed to be Word files, and clicking on such a file will cause Word to be started up to process that file. Filenames ending in .txt are usually associated with Notepad, so another way to start Notepad is to click on a file like lab1.txt. You should be cautious about this mechanism if you don't know what you're doing, however, especially for files of type .exe, which are "executable" files -- programs -- unless you know exactly what will happen.

Using Windows Explorer

Both the My Computer icons, and the Save (and Save As... or Open) dialog box allow you to look through folders and find files. If you want to move files around, however, or find a program and start it, then Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer, the browser) is much more convenient.

Use the Start Menu to find and start Windows Explorer; it will usually be under Programs or Accessories. (You can also type "explorer" in the Run dialog box.)

Explorer gives a split-screen view of the file system. To the left is the entire folder hierarchy. When you click on a folder, its contents will be displayed on the right. Notice that some folders have +'s or -'s next to them. This means that the folder has subfolders. If it is a plus, then Explorer is hiding the subfolders. If it is a minus, then you should see the expanded list of subfolders. By clicking on the + or -, you can flip between the condensed + view and the expanded - view.

Find the file lab1.txt by clicking "Desktop".

You should see all of the Desktop contents displayed at the right, including your file. (These should correspond to what you actually see on the Windows Desktop.) Now look through the menus at the top and try left-clicking and right-clicking on various things to see what options are available. Don't choose any of these options yet! If you would like to move a file (never move someone else's files, only your own) then click on it and drag it to its new location on the left. You can also right-click on it and select "Cut" to remove it completely, or "Copy" to make a copy of it. Then you can right-click on a different folder and select "Paste" to put the copy there. All of these options are also available in the "Edit" menu.

The various programs for displaying directories normally give an almost worthless visual display of icons. You can see much more useful information by selecting View from the menu, then Details. You can also sort the items in order by date or size or type, either by selecting View, then Arrange Icons, or by clicking on the corresponding column heading. Experiment with them to see what happens.

Searching the Windows File System

In spite of its name, Explorer is most useful when you already know approximately where you're going in the file system. If you know even part of the name of a folder or file, however, you can often find it most easily with a different program. Select Start, then Search, then "For Files or Folders...".

You are now going to use Find Files and Explorer to find some interesting files (and some boring ones too, but that's life). Do the following operations.

The "Desktop" is really a folder in the file system somewhere. Find out the full real name of the folder that holds your file lab1.txt and enter it in lab1.txt on a single line.

As mentioned above, executable programs are stored in files whose names end in .exe. Find all such files on the C: drive by searching for filenames that contain the letters "exe". How many are there? (Hint: There are a lot.) Add a line to lab1.txt with the number of such files.

Some of these files do not have names that end with .exe. Add the name of one file whose name does not end with .exe to lab1.txt.

Which is the bigger executable: Word or Excel? Add one line with the full name of the larger program and its size.

Cookies are a mechanism for leaving little bits of information on your computer for subsequent retrieval, often for advertising purposes. Find out where cookies are stored on your machine. Add a line to lab1.txt with one folder or file name that seems to be cookie-related. (Cookies are just text, so you can look at them with Notepad if you like.)

What virus-prevention software is running on the machine? Add a line to lab1.txt with the name of the software. (If this is your own computer and you're not running some antivirus software, you should be.)

Save each time, so in case something bad happens, you still have the info.

At the end of this part you should have exactly 8 lines in lab1.txt.


Part 4: Using Unix

What is Unix?

Unix is an operating system; like Windows, it controls the resources of a computer on your behalf. Unix has been around a lot longer than Windows, and runs on many more different kinds of computers. Many of the Internet and Web services that you will use run on Unix machines, and most of the central computing services at Princeton are based on Unix rather than Windows. The web pages that you will create in the next few labs are also stored in Unix files. So you have to understand at least the rudiments of how to access and use the campus Unix systems. The Linux system that is often mentioned in the press of late is a variant of Unix, so anything you learn about Unix will apply to Linux as well. In fact, OIT maintains a group of Linux systems that you can use.

Unix is more reliable and secure than Windows (or so it is believed by Unix aficionados) and presents programmers with better access to the internals of the machine. However, it generally does not provide as visual a user interface. As a result, Unix is often used to support infrastructure functions (the back office) while Windows is prevalent in offices and homes.

Mac OS X on Apple computers is also a Unix variant. Although the Mac has an even glitzier graphical interface than Windows, underneath is the full power of Unix, a nice combination. If you're using a Mac, start Terminal and all of the Unix commands described here will run the same.

In this part of the lab, we will see how to connect to a Unix computer provided by OIT using a program called SSH. We will also see how Unix provides for the permanent storage of your files, since the cluster systems only provide transient storage.

Using SSH

If you are using a public cluster machine, you can't save files on it, since they likely won't be there if you return even a day later. You have to store them in some central location. That central location is a Unix system run by OIT. Files are stored there, and backed up onto other systems as well so you can recover them in case of a disaster. Similarly, your Princeton email inbox is located on a central Unix system, so it can be centrally administered and accessed from any machine on (or off) campus.

Most of the time you can save and retrieve files from the central system without using Unix directly; the Windows H: folder that you saw earlier gives you most of the access you would ever need. And you can read mail just fine from a mailer or a browser on your own PC or Mac.

But sometimes you simply have to get to the machine where the information really is, or you have to use a program that doesn't exist on Windows. For this, we use SSH, which is a program that lets a user on one computer log in and use another computer over a network. SSH stands for "Secure Shell". The important word here is "secure" -- information that travels between your machine and the other system is encrypted, so it can't be eavesdropped on by anyone along the way. This is nice if you're exchanging intimate messages with a significant other, and it's even nicer if you're sending your password to the other machine! So you should always use SSH if you can.

Unfortunately, SSH isn't always available, and you might have to fall back on a much older and definitely insecure alternative called Telnet. Telnet does not encrypt anything, not even your password, so it's pretty easy for nefarious people to snoop on network traffic, pick up passwords, and then masquerade as you. This is a common security breach at universities. So you should never use Telnet if you can use SSH instead. The cluster machines have SSH, so there's no excuse. You can also get SSH for your own machine from OIT; if you got the standard software distribution, it's already installed. You can also run SSH to get to your OIT account from a Mac.

Given that stern warning, follow these instructions to connect to Arizona, which is a group of OIT computers running Unix.

Connecting to Arizona with SSH

Start by opening SSH. This process will be different depending on what operating system you have. Instructions for Mac OS X and Windows are provided below. If you don't fall into either of these categories you're on your own.

If you want a slightly different experience, replace "arizona" by "hats" throughout what follows, and you will be using the Linux cluster instead. Everything else should be identical, and you're accessing the same file system.

Windows

Run SSH by selecting it from the Start menu. It will likely be listed under "Programs | SSH Secure Shell | Secure Shell Client." If you cannot find it there try doing a search for "Secure Shell Client"; if that fails, consult a TA.

You may also select Run from the Start menu and type 'Telnet' to launch the Telnet program. (Make sure you understand the warning above before resorting to this option, however.)

If there were no problems you will be asked for your password. Enter it at the appropriate time, then hit Enter. You can ignore (No or Cancel) anything else that happens first.

Mac OS X

If you are running Mac OS X you will launch SSH through a program called Terminal. This program is located in your Utilities folder, which itself is in the Applications folder.

Once you have Terminal running, type the following line:

      	ssh your_username@arizona.princeton.edu

Replace your_username with your own username. For example, if your username is tjsmith, you should type ssh tjsmith@arizona.princeton.edu. After you have typed this line, press Enter.

Welcome To Arizona

You should see a flood of text lines that finally ends with (perhaps) a chance to read system news items. If you are interested in reading the news you can press y continuously until there are no new news items to be read. If you are uninterested in the exciting world of Arizona cluster news, simply press q and continue with the lab.

After the news you should see a "prompt" which looks like this:

        flagstaff.Princeton.EDU%
The prompt says that you are now connected to a Unix computer in the Arizona cluster (flagstaff, phoenix, tucson or yuma) and it's ready to do your bidding.

Basic Unix Commands

Unix has a very different flavor from Windows. Rather than running a program by clicking on an icon, you type the name of the program in a window where a prompt is displayed. Keyboard commands with cryptic names like "ls" and "cd" run programs to help you navigate Unix and can be typed in whenever you see a command prompt like

        yuma.Princeton.EDU%

Behind the scenes, Unix, like Windows, maintains a file system with files and folders (though it calls folders "directories"). When you first log in, you should be in a directory called your "home" directory. This is the directory that holds all of your files, most of which cannot be read or even seen by other users. And it's the same directory that is set up as the H: drive from a PC.

Before you start typing Unix commands it would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the way the commands will be written in these lab instructions. Whenever you are told to type something, what you should type will be in this computer-like font. Similarly you will sometimes have to substitute information of your own; we will use this italic computer-like font, as in your username. In all of these, pay attention to case -- Unix distinguishes between lower and upper case letters -- and to spacing.

Try the following commands. For each, type the name, then push Enter or Return.

Why use Unix instead of Windows? It largely depends on what task you are trying to accomplish. Windows has an enormous collection of useful programs, many of which have no Unix equivalent, and Windows comes installed on most PC's. Unix is a good environment for writing programs, however, especially programs that are meant to work on more than one kind of computer, so it is often preferred by programmers. And of course it supports a bunch of users on one machine, which Windows does not. Meanwhile, don't worry if Unix seems strange at first. You won't need to use it very often, but it is helpful to know how to move around in it. And if you own a Mac, knowing Unix will give you a new way to use your computer.

Note: When logged into UNIX, you may have to use the "DEL" key instead of "Backspace" to delete a character.
Add a line to lab1.txt telling us whether you used SSH or Telnet to log in.

Run the command ls -l on your home Unix directory, and copy the first two lines of the result into lab1.txt by Copy and Paste. (Don't include the line that says "total ..."; it's boring. Copy the next two lines.)

Type the command who | wc. (That character is the vertical bar, not the letter i or ell.) This will tell you exactly how many users are logged into the Unix system (in the first of the three numbers it prints). Add a line to lab1.txt with the answer.

At this point, you should have 12 lines in lab1.txt.


Part 5: Email with Pine

Using Pine to read email

Every student has an email address username@princeton.edu, where username is the name you use to log into Windows and Unix. You can read mail sent to that address and send mail to others across the world, using any of several mail programs. Normally, you will use Netscape or Outlook to read mail, or Webmail with your favorite browser.

This section will guide you through using the Pine mail program. Pine, like other Unix programs, is text-based instead of mouse-based. Although it will probably not be your first choice for most email use, Pine has some advantages. It works from any SSH window; you don't need a browser. It is also immune to PC viruses, since it runs on Unix and it does not run other programs automatically.

To begin, type pine after the prompt, and push Enter. (This is in an SSH window, remember.) Follow the instructions it gives you for setting up Pine on your account.

If you opened Pine correctly, you should now see a menu with options to compose messages, view messages in the current folder and view a list of folders. You can adjust the size of the Pine window as you like. In the top right corner, you should see the name of the currently open folder and how many messages it holds. At first, this should be INBOX, which lets you check all of your new mail. Later, you can make your own folders to organize old messages from different senders.

Because you are still in Unix, you will need to use arrow keys and keyboard commands to navigate Pine. Do not try to use the mouse. Using the arrow keys, select "Folder Index" and press Enter (or just press "I") to see an index of current email messages.

Using the arrow keys, select the message you would like to read and hit Enter to read it. Notice that many of the available commands are listed at the bottom of the screen. We've explained a few below:

M - Return to the main menu
I - Return to the message index
E - Export the message to a text file, which can be edited with Notepad S - Save the message in the specified folder and delete it from your inbox. (Note: You can create a new folder by saving a message to a folder that doesn't exist.)
D - Delete a message without saving it
C - Compose a new message
R - Compose a reply to the sender of the currently selected message
N - Move to the next message
P - Move to the previous message

There are many other useful options, but you can discover them on your own with questions and experimentation.

Sending mail with Pine

Now you will send a message to yourself with Pine. The process is pretty self-explanatory, but we'll help you through it this first time. In these instructions, you do not need to use upper-case letters when holding the Ctrl key.

You can revise any part of this by using the arrow keys to get to the right position and then backspacing to delete old text before you type new text.

When you are finished, hold down Ctrl and press X (this is called Ctrl-X). The caret (^) is how Pine reminds you to use the Ctrl key. Thus, ^X is a shorthand for "hold down Ctrl, then push x". All of these commands use Ctrl because you need letters like "x" and "c" for your message text.

Confirm that you want to send the message by pressing Y.

Leave your SSH window open. Pine will soon notice that new mail has arrived (though it won't be a big surprise, since it's the mail you just sent yourself). There is usually a beep to announce incoming mail.

When new mail arrives, add a line to lab1.txt that tells how Pine reported that fact.

Once the new mail has been observed, you can delete it. Leave Pine by typing q then y, and log out of Unix by typing logout.


Part 6: Transferring Files

There are a variety of ways to copy files from one place in a file system to another, or from one file system to another. In Windows, the clearest and most uniform way is to select the file of interest by a single mouse click in a program like Explorer (so it is highlighted), select Copy from the Edit menu or by right-clicking on the filename, then select the folder where you want the copy to appear (so the folder name is highlighted), then select Paste from the Edit menu or by right-clicking.

There are shortcut mouse actions for Copy (control-C) and for Paste (control-V), and those are well worth learning. In some situations you can "drag and drop" the file to make a copy, which is very graphical and intuitive. But we generally recommend against drag and drop, since in some contexts, it means "copy" and in others it means "move", and these are not the same operation: "move" means to remove the file from the place it was and put it into a new place, leaving you with a single instance, while "copy" leaves you with two instances.

Make a copy of the file lab1.txt that you are building up on the Desktop in your Unix directory as seen through the H: drive:

After the file is copied (it should take no time at all) verify that it seems to be correct: the file exists in both places, and it has the same size and sensible modification times.

Somewhat irritatingly, Explorer does not always update the display of a folder when a change is made. To be sure you have a consistent and up to date display you may need to use View / Refresh.

Verifying the transfer and moving the file with Unix

Here is a chance for you to use your newfound Unix skill to see if the file was copied correctly.

Connect to Arizona again if you closed the SSH window already. As always when you first log in you will be in your home directory. This is the same directory as your H: drive in Windows. In your SSH window type ls -l to see that the file you just transferred is there and about the right size. Is it about the same size as on Desktop?

Add a line to lab1.txt with the size reported by Unix and the size reported by Windows Explorer (e.g., Unix 395, Windows 1KB).

Now that you know how to move a file around in Windows, let's see what the equivalent operation would be on Unix. To do this we're going to use a new command called mv, which is short for "move". To use mv, you type

      mv file_you_want_to_move where_to_move_it_to

For example to move a file named junk.txt to a directory named temp you would type

	mv  junk.txt  temp
or to rename it precious.txt,
	mv  junk.txt  precious.txt
("Moving" a file is really just renaming it.)

Move your file lab1.txt to your cos109 directory. Change into the cos109 directory with the cd command and type ls -l to verify that lab1.txt is there and is about the right size.

The last two things that you have done, changing to a directory with cd, and listing the contents of the directory with ls, are much the same as double-clicking on a folder in Windows. When you double-click you're telling the Windows operating system "I want to move to this directory, and I want to be shown what's in this directory."


Part 7: Starting your Web Page

A web page is a text document similar to the one you've been creating for this lab, but there are two important differences between lab1.txt and a web page. First, a web page is specifically marked such that anyone who knows its location can access (but not edit) it, and second, whereas lab1.txt is written so that it's easy for a person to read, a web page is written so that a browser can format it the way you want. With the second condition in mind, let's start making a web page.

Open a new document in Notepad and save it as lab1.html. This web page is not going to be fancy and it won't use much formatting but it will include extra information to describe its layout. This extra information is included is through a set of tags, which are just words surrounded by < and > signs. They give the browser information about how to display the text.

The skeleton of any web page is as follows.

<html>
  <head>
    <title> Title of the Web Page Goes Here </title>
  </head>
  <body>
    Content of the Web Page Goes Here
  </body>
</html>

In Lab 2 we will go into detail about what exactly this means, but for the time being it's safe to simply copy this text and paste it into your new document. Remember to save the document every time you make a change.

Once the document is saved, start your web browser of choice. You can preview your page by opening the document which you just saved in the browser, using File | Open. When the Open dialog comes up, navigate to your H: drive (where the file should have been saved) and open it. (You could also double-click on lab1.html from Windows Explorer.) This will show you exactly how the document will look to other people who visit your page. Right now it isn't very interesting, since the only line of text is "Content of the Web Page Goes Here", so next we're going to fix that.

Now that you have the framework for your page in place, you can add content and a title.
The title of your page will be your username. Replace "Title of the Web Page Goes Here" by your username. Your username goes between the <title> and </title> tags.

Replace "Content of the Web Page Goes Here" by your first name.

Test these modifications by loading the page in your browser as described above. You will have to save the file in Notepad and then Reload in the browser before you will see the effect; don't forget this!

Unlike the Title tags, we put the Body tags on their own lines rather than sharing a line with the content you are about to type. This illustrates an important point of HTML syntax. The browser doesn't care where you break lines of text while you're writing your page -- it just ignores line breaks. Thus web page designers have to use a special tag to designate where to break lines when the page is displayed. This tag is the <br> tag.
Add a <br> tag after your name, which you just typed (not your user name, which is in the title, but your first name, in the body) then add three more lines with the following information:
  • The number of lines in your lab1.txt file.
  • The name of the operating system you use on your dorm computer (e.g., Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS X, etc., or "none" if you don't have one).
  • Where you did the lab: "dorm" or "Friend cluster" or whatever.
  • Test this modification by saving and loading the page in your browser. Each piece of information should appear on its own line, so be careful where you put your <br> tags.

    Sharing Your Page With the World

    Now that you've created your web page, you have to make it available to others. Log in to Arizona. Once you are logged in you need to make a new directory. Recall that you use the mkdir command to do this. The new directory must be called public_html (note the underscore between public and html).

    Next move or copy your newly created lab1.html file into your public_html directory.

    Finally you have to mark the directory and files as being readable by everyone. To do this you will use a new Unix program called chmod ("change mode"). Type

    	chmod -R 755 public_html

    and press Enter. Once these three steps are completed you can test the results by going to

        http://www.princeton.edu/~your_username/lab1.html

    If you can't access your page, or if it doesn't display correctly ask the TAs for help.


    Part 8: Submitting your work

    At the end of most labs, you will be asked to send your results to cos109@princeton.edu by email. Be sure to include everything we asked for. If you have comments or suggestions, we'd be happy to get those as well.

    IMPORTANT: When you submit labs, or when you send us mail for any other reason, please be sure that you are logged in as yourself, not using a friend's account. If you are using someone else's account, the mail comes from them, and we don't know who sent it!

    Check your work

    Make sure you've done all the steps; check the summary.

    Make sure that your web page is accessible at http://www.princeton.edu/~your_username/lab1.html. Ask a friend to look at it from his or her browser.

    Mail us the work

    Mail us the text of the file lab1.txt that you have been laboriously creating. It should contain 14 lines.

    In Notepad, use the mouse to highlight the text and choose Copy from the Edit menu. Using either Pine or Netscape, start a new mail message with the subject line "LAB 1 - Your Name" and paste that text into the message body. Make sure there is nothing else in the body of the email.

    Send the mail to cos109@princeton.edu. The content of your mail message should be exactly the same as what's in the file in your cos109 directory. If you're using Netscape Mail, be sure that your identity is set correctly.

    If you're using Pine, you may experience mouse difficulties. Although you can highlight and copy text from your SSH window, you cannot use the mouse to select where you would like to paste it. Once you've begun your new message, use the arrow keys to move to the message body and then select Paste from the Edit menu to insert copied text.

    Make any additional comments or observations at the end of the message and then sign it with your name.

    Send a copy of the mail to yourself. This is a good check on whether you really sent the right stuff. Paranoids will make sure that this mail arrives and looks right before they leave the lab.

    Transfer saved work

    In most of these labs, you will save files to the Desktop or elsewhere on the hard drive of a lab computer. Because these computers are public and not meant for private storage, however, you cannot rely on this to preserve your work. Not only will it be impossible to use the same computer every week, but other students and support staff will erase your files to free up space.

    For these reasons, if there are files you have to save from week to week, you must either save them on your own machine or copy them to your Unix account. Once you know your work is saved somewhere permanent, you can remove the files from the public cluster machine; there's no need to remove them from your personal machine if you don't want to.

    Log off Windows

    If you've completed the lab, sent your email to cos109@princeton.edu, and transferred your work to your Unix account, then you are finished and ready to log off of Windows. Select "Shut Down..." from the Start Menu. Choose "Log Off Your_name" and click "OK"