Getting Started

First you’ll need to login to your UBC CS Undergraduate Account (it will look like r2d2 or c3p0a). If you don’t have one yet, go to UBC CS getacct, and enter your SSC credentials to activate your account, and set a password.

If you’d like to access your lab account from your own computer, you may log in remotely using your students account. If you are on Windows, simply install XManager. You’ll be able to use Xshell like a UNIX terminal in the lab, and Xftp to transfer files. You can login into the students servers using :

# Replace <your-students-id> (including brackets) with your CS UGrad Account ID
ssh <your-students-id>@remote.students.cs.ubc.ca

If you are on Mac OS or Linux, you have a built-in Terminal where you can login using (the -Y enables graphics for gedit):

ssh -Y <your-students-id>@remote.students.cs.ubc.ca

You should be familiar with the Linux command line, a useful skill not only useful for CS 221 but also for many other courses and a lot of power uses of operating systems.

If you are on a Linux machine, you can find the Terminal app by navigating to Applications > System Tools > Terminal located at the top of your screen. (You can also drag this icon to the menu bar at the top of the screen for the future.)

Finally, if you navigate to a folder using Places and right-click inside it there is an option Open In Terminal which will open the terminal. The Terminal app is the command line interface for Linux, where you run programs by typing their names, and sometimes parameters such as files to open, instead of clicking on icons and buttons.

Next Steps

If you are unsure of how to use the command line, read the Intro Lab.