[CSC 315] 315 Random Questions/Clarification

[Andrew J. Pounds]

On 9/11/20 11:15 AM,  wrote:
> Good morning Dr. Pounds,
>
> Just had a couple general questions about some the things we discussed
> in class but it would be a bit more time efficient if it was in email.
>
> 1. So I know that GSC 218 is open to us from 7am-5pm, and we can only
> work using OpenGL on the Godsey computers correct?


The lab is the OPTIMAL place to work on your code because of the
hardware that is installed on those systems and because I have already
built all of the compilers and tools that you need for the class.


> 2. If that’s the case, then can we set up our home laptops/pc with ssh
> keys into our gitlab repo to edit code outside the classroom the project?


If you are asking if you can ssh into the lab systems like you ssh into
cobra then the answer is a firm no.  The systems in GSC 218 do not have
outward facing external IP addresses - they are only accessible from my
two research subnets inside of Godsey.  Anvil is accessble from anywhere
in the world, so you can easily connect to it, and your remote repo,
from your home computer.  The issue is that many people have difficulty
setting up a completely working OpenGL development environment on their
windows system, or if they do get the development environment working
they have difficulty doing version control and communication with
Anvil.   That brings me to your third question.

>
> 3. So reason you suggested that we install Linux on our our devices
> was allow us to use OpenGL outside of class? I’ve had VirtualBox
> installed on my laptop for some time now, but wasn’t exactly sure how
> it was relevant for use for 315.
>
> I think this information went over my head the first time it was
> mentioned in class.
>

Yes -- I wanted you to try to install linux on your devices for that
very reason -- so you could work on code outside of GSC 218.  My initial
solution was to use the external USB method which has worked for
students in the past.  Now, however, if you have VirtualBox installed
you should be able to install a linux distribution inside VirtualBox. 
For simplicity, I recommend Ubuntu 20.04.   You can then run linux on
your laptop.  You will still need to install the base OpenGL libraries
and the development tools.  In a prior e-mail I included the commands
you should type in Ubuntu to do this.   Once you have those pieces
installed you should be able to develop OpenGL code on your laptop.  You
can even install Atom and VSCode in your Ubuntu VM if you like! 

Now -- you will not see the "performance" you have on the lab systems,
but for the programs that we are doing in CSC 315 this semester you
should be fine.



-- 
Andrew J. Pounds, Ph.D.  (pounds_aj at mercer.edu)
Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science
Director of the Computational Science Program
Mercer University,  Macon, GA 31207   (478) 301-5627