Laboratory Experience 1: Using the Sakai Course Management System and Learning Linux

The purpose of this lab is to introduce you to the Sakai Course Management System that you will be using for all of the labs this semester. In addition you will learn a little about how to use Linux and some resources for practicing binary. We will also introduce some resources of interest to students of computer science. Exercise 1.1. Downloading your assignment (By the time you read this, you have already completed exercise 1.1, since you had to download this document in order to read it, but you should include an explanation in your report of what you did to download the assignment document). Log into Sakai and the CPSC 171 lab site. Click on Assignments in the left column, and then on Lab Experience 1 (not 0) in the list that pops up. Scroll down and download the attached document. This document contains instructions for this lab experience. Each time we have lab, you will find the weeks labs in the Assignments list. Download them the same way each week. When you complete this exercise, you should be looking at this document in an OpenOffice window. If you keep your lab report in .doc format you will be able to edit it with either OpenOffice or Microsoft Word. Make sure to turn in the lab report in .doc format. Exercise 1.2. Beginning your report You are strongly encouraged to write your laboratory report (or at least a first draft) as you complete the lab. A good way to start is to download the sample lab report and modify it. The sample lab report is in Resources. Click Resources on the left and find and download the sample lab report. Modify the cover page to have your name and lab, and type in an appropriate objective for this lab, as well as the software used. Begin the procedures followed section by describing what you have done and observed for Exercises 1.1 and 1.2. Be sure to save your work often! Exercise 1.3. Setting up DropBox You need to setup dropbox so you can easily transfer files between the lab computers and your own computer. Click on applications->internet->dropbox and follow along on the steps to setup a dropbox. When you are done you will have a folder on your computer (under places->home folder->dropBox) where you can place files. Any files you place in this folder will be available to you from other computers. Remember to only place files in this directory that you want to sync with other computers. You only have so much space so don't put stuff in this directory unless you want it transferred between computers. You will need to setup dropbox on your other computers as well. Go to www.dropbox.com to start the setup on your home computer. Exercise 1.4. More Resources On the resource page, you will find additional resources. Make a list of the resources you see.

Exercise 1.5. Screen Capture Click on Applications Accessories Take Screenshot. Notice that with the program that comes up, you have the option of Selecting the whole desktop, the current window, or a specific area of the screen to grab. Change to Select area to grab and click Take Screenshot. Click and drag around the list of resources showing in Sakai. Use this screenshot in your lab report to document Exercise 1.4. In general, you should use screenshots to convey information in your lab report. Make sure your screen shots are just the information needed and that each screenshot has a caption. Exercise 1.6a Getting Familiar with Ubuntu Under the resources tab in Sakai, click on Getting Started with Ubuntu. Open up the document and scroll down to the table of contents. The table of contents is clickable so you can jump to different sections of the document. Read the section on Ubuntu Philosophy and describe the meaning of the term Ubuntu. Exercise 1.6b More with Ubuntu Continue reading in the Getting Started with Ubuntu Guide. Jump to Chapter 2, The Ubuntu Desktop. Scroll down to the Customizing your desktop section. Read about Adding applets, Workspaces, Appearance, Theme, and Desktop background. Make changes to each of these (I'd recommend the weather applet). Take a screenshot of your modified desktop and include it in your lab report for this exercise. Exercise 1.7. Current Events in Computing One of the resources is called ACM TechNews. ACM is the Association of Computing Machinery, which is a professional society for computer scientists. This is a list, updated three times per week, of interesting current stories relating to computing. Read todays list, and choose one story that you think is interesting. Summarize the story in a sentence or two of your own words. Since this site is designed for professional computer scientists, you should not be worried if there are stories that you do not (yet) understand. You will understand more by the end of the course. Exercise 1.8. Historical Events in Computing Back in the Sakai resources, you will find another link to the Computer History Museum timeline. Click on the year you were born (or the closest available year) to see what happened that year. Make a screenshot and include it in your report. (If you do not know how to do these things, raise your hand and one of the TAs or the instructor will help you). Exercise 1.9. Practice Lab 0 Return to the assignments list in Sakai. In the list, click on Lab Experience 0. Read the instructions and carry out the assignment. (You do not need to write a lab report for Lab Experience 0, just submit the document requested). Note that Lab Experience 0 should be submitted before you leave class today. If you have any difficulty, raise your hand and a TA or instructor will help you. Exercise 1.10. Practice with Binary

In class we have been working on learning the binary number system and converting numbers from our number system, the decimal system, into binary and vice versa. Under Resources in Sakai, there is a link for a Binary Game. Click on the link to get some practice converting numbers between decimal and binary. Make sure you capture a screenshot to include in your lab report. Exercise 1.11. Finishing up the Report When completing your lab report, be sure to write a conclusion, and recheck that you have written down everything you did or observed for each step. The sample lab report is an example of a well-written lab report. Follow it when creating your own lab report. So your completed lab report must always have the following: a title page, formated in the same way as the sample lab report. It must have your name, lab section, which lab the lab report covers, the assigned date, the due date, the amount of time it took you to complete the exercises, the amount of time it took to write the report, the number of pages, and if you have any extra attachments you are submitting along with the lab report. Also, make sure you have a header at the top of each page showing your name on the left, page XXX of YYY on the right where XXX is the current page number and YYY is the total number of pages, and Lab Session T: Lab R where T is the current lab session and R is the lab number. an Objective section explaining the purpose of the lab, a software used section listing all programs that you ran, a procedures followed section explaining what instructions you followed to complete the lab. Each exercise listed separately. For each exercise you should list the exact steps you did in order to complete the exercise. Also list anything you observed when completing the exercise. You can also list any results you calculate, or insights gained from doing the exercise. I recommend including screen captures to visually represent the exercise. The rule of thumb is that another individual should be able to duplicate your work by just following your write-up of the exercise. If it is unclear, or ambiguous what you did, then you need to clarify. Finally, each lab report must have a conclusions section at the end. You should write down what you learned from the set of lab exercises and any conclusions you came to by doing the exercises. Again, follow the sample lab report. It should be your guide when writing your own report. After proofreading your report at least once more, submit it through Sakai by the due date and time, which is the beginning time (9:40 or 2:00) of your lab next week.