Accessing the lab machines remotely
The following should all work from off campus.
Contents
Remote ssh access
The easiest way to access all the command-line tools we'll be using for class is to remotely connect to the CS lab machines using ssh.
On Windows, you can use Powershell to access ssh (putty, which can be downloaded, is another option).
On macOS, simply start the Terminal app.
On GNU/Linux, you can simply open a terminal program of your choice.
Test it out
- Connect to the lab computers over ssh. Once in a terminal with ssh access (see above), you can do something like the following (replacing "student1" with your username):
ssh student1@cslab.cs.swarthmore.edu
- You'll be prompted for your password. You won't be able to see anything when you type it—that's normal.
- Once you're in, the prompt should tell you which computer you're connected to. Is it a cooking ingredient, a pokémon character, or something else? (These are some of the naming schemes used for computers in different physical CS lab rooms at Swarthmore. See CS lab machines page for more info.)
Remote desktop access
You can connect to a full desktop environment remotely by using VNC. See these instructions.
The only lab where you might need this instead of just shell and editor access is the Keyboad Lagout lab.
Remote access to files in editor
VS Code has a way that you can remotely access your files on the CS lab machines straight from the editor. This will be documented here later (talk to the professor or TAs for now).
This lets you (install and) run VS Code on your local computer, but give it remote access to your files on the CS lab machines. Using this and a remote shell, you can edit anx run code, which lets you do most assignments for class.
