Things you should do before too much time passes:

• Please work through Lab 0xB: Filters.
• and Case Study 0xB: Groups and Security.
• UNIX EoCE's have been deployed! Check the bottom of your Opus document.
  • Note there is an additional component to the EoCE, which must be done in person, that must be completed prior to 2:15pm Monday, May 6th, 2013. Be sure to coordinate with me for a time to come in and do this.
  • If 0x1 on the UNIX EoCE seems too overwhelming, you may substitute it with the activities from This substitute activity.

• Please work through Lab 0xA: Data Analysis with Regular Expressions and Scripting.
• and Case Study 0xA: Data Manipulation.

• Please work through Lab 0x9: Pattern Matching with Regular Expressions.
• and Case Study 0x9: Fun with grep.

• Please work through Lab 0x8: The UNIX Programming Environment.
• and Case Study 0x8: Data Types in C.

• Please work through Lab 0x7: Job Control and Multitasking.
• and Case Study 0x7: Scheduled Tasks.

• Please work through Lab 0x6: Shell Scripting Concepts.
• and Case Study 0x6: Device Files.
• FYI: March 24th is the last day to drop with a 'W'. Remember that your grade is based on a well-populated Opus plus participation (mailing list, irc) and your performance on various projects/tasks (as yet unassigned).

• Warning Grades were submitted. You received one if you met one of these criteria:
  • (1F) No/shockingly little modification to your opus
  • (1D) Opus content/modifications, but far too little, or far too long since last update.
  • The situation is easy to fix, just keep your Opus updated and filled with relevant content. Some people in the class have an EXCELLENT Opus.
• Please work through Lab 0x5: More UNIX Shell Explorations.
• and Case Study 0x5: Web Pages.

• Please work through Lab 0x4: UNIX Shell Basics.
• and Case Study 0x4: UNIX Messaging Tools.
• Be sure to participate on irc and the class mailing list! It counts toward your grade!
• Be on the lookout for a practice worksheet covering some of the material covered so far.
• Test your skills with this worksheet.

In the spirit of the classic break weeks we used to value and enjoy- a time to relax, take a breath, and get caught up on any work fallen behind on, I wish to offer you that same benefit now- consider this week (now through the start of Week 6 this coming Wednesday) to be such a “break” week… I will be releasing no new batch of assignments, but instead hope you will use this time wisely to get caught up, ask questions, use the mailing list/irc, and breathe some life into the class (that's the only way it will truly become amazing).

• The focus of this week is to start acclimating yourself to the venerable vi text editor. Largely unlike anything many of you have likely used before, this presents you with an opportunity to truly learn and better appreciate some concepts in the course. Please don't resist and reject it just because it is different. This is a tool that, the better you learn it, the more it will help you.
• I'd like for you to have the first 4 weeks of the semester documented and ready to present to me before too long. Just to avoid creating a massive backlog and the resulting snowball effect. I'll look to fully review things in the next couple of weeks.
• Please work through Lab 0x3: Text Processing.
• and Case Study 0x3: The Puzzle Box.
• If you have yet to send an introductory post to the class mailing list, please do so! I'd like to see a bit more activity happening there (not to mention it'll count toward your grade).

• Be sure to check out the dokuwiki syntax page. You can make your documents looks even better.
• I glanced at several journals… a lot of miss, a few hits. This is NOT something you want to procrastinate on. After all, it isn't optional.
• Please work through Lab 0x2: Files and Directories.
• and Case Study 0x2: Unconventional Naming.
• Send an introductory post to the class mailing list. Who are you, what are your interests, what do you hope to get out of the class (beyond just grade, degree, etc.)… and anything else. Give it substance, give it purpose, give it life!

• If you haven't yet completed the activities from Week 1, please do so before too much more time has passed.
  • Make sure you have successfully subscribed to the class mailing list (have you sent a test message and had it go through?)
• Please work through Lab 0x1: Basic Utilities and their Manual Pages .
• and Case Study 0x1: Archive Handling.
• Make sure you are updating your Opus regularly.
• Some of you are exhibiting the classic “I'm new to screen” confusion. Again: Unless the system reboots or you mess something up, you don't need to run just screen again… instead, to get back to your irssi session, simply run: screen -r
  • I went and pruned some obvious duplicate sessions, especially the new screen sessions that contained “screen -r… you run “screen -r” by itself, NOT from within a screen session (that is somewhat redundant). Keep trying… screen represents some important concepts worth learning.

• Read over the syllabus.
• Obtain and start perusing through the books (I highly recommend reading UNIX for the Beginning Mage from start to finish, as soon as possible).
• Here is a guide on setting up the screen/irssi session for class chat.Get on the class chat, and familiarize yourself with basic screen usage (attaching/detaching). Most everyone doesn't get the screen setup right the first time. Pay attention- ask questions. You are already starting to learn course material with this. I will be watching your progress!
• Clone and start using your personal Lab46 Mercurial Repository
• Familiarize yourself with logging in to the Lab46 system
• Edit/customize at least the Title and Introduction sections of your Opus BEFORE January 27th.
• Subscribe a frequently checked (or pushed) e-mail address to the class mailing list
• Make sure you can access the UNIX course homepage from home and-or your preferred computing device(s) (you may want to bookmark it).
• Make sure you can log into Lab46 from home with your username/password (using PuTTY if on Windows, or some other SSH client).
  • Once you are able to access Lab46, you will want to run the gimmeh command and configure your course settings.
• To help you get started, here is Lab 0x0: Introduction to UNIX/Linux and Lab46.