Accessing the Lab From Home

There are several ways to work from home. Each option requires various applications. After this list of options, I provide links to several of these places. Here are just a few options for working from home:
  1. Connect Remotely
    You can get the neccessary software to log into your account from home and do the work on the shell emulator. Typically, you would use a program like SSH to make a remote connection. This would be just like working at the lab, except a bit slower since you have to do all your writing and editing of programs across the internet. If you do not want to go through the hassle of installing too many programs onto your machine, go with this option. Also notice that this option does not allow you to pop up multiple windows remotely. However, you can log on multiple times and thus have several sessions running.
  2. Write/Edit/Compile At Home
    This option is the nicest but requires the most software. In this case, you should install all the necessary tools to work directly at home. For example, in Java, you should install a text editor and Java compiler or a Java IDE (Integrated Development Environment like JBuilder). You would now enter your programs, compile them, and run them directly on your machine.

    After you get the assignment to work. You will most likely need to turn it in so that it works on the Linux machine. To do this, you would use SFTP (or other secure File Transfer Protocol program) to transfer your files from your home to the Linux lab. Then you would SSH (remote login) to your account and compile and test the program one more time. If there are any problems, they should be fixed. Once the code works on the Linux machine, you can go ahead and submit the program depending on the regular instructions.

    Note if you are testing a graphical program, like for graphics class, you won't be able to use standard SSH alone to test it. You will need something like an X connection to get it to work. See the next example. If you don't want to use CygWin (Windows users), then you may want to do the final test in the lab itself.

  3. Connect Remotely with X
    Connecting remotely with an X server running allows you to open windows across the network. This can be particularly slow but very useful as you get nearly the same environment as in the lab. For people in Graphics class for example, this option is quite useful, but since you are sending X information over the network it is slow. For graphics, I recommend working on your home machine and then, possibly, using an X connection for the final test.

    For this, I recommend installing something like CygWin which provides you with a unix-like operating system on top of Windows. CygWin provides X and SSH so you can run X and then SSH with X access. But be warned, CygWin is not easy to use at least not at first.

Note: We strongly recommend that regardless of which option you choose, you always compile and test your program directly from the course account before submitting (either by coming in to the lab or running a secure shell like SSH or Putty). So, pick an option and follow the instructions for downloading the programs you need.

Useful Software

Best of Luck!

Working from home takes a little bit of tweaking but is worth the effort. I am trying to get this site as updated as possible. Please send comments/suggestions my way. If you have any questions or problems please email duncan@cs.miami.edu.