Linux course and NEU (eg. Northeastern)

[cdevers at pobox.com (Chris Devers)]

On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 dsr at tao.merseine.nu wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 12, 2003 at 10:04:00PM -0400, Jerry Feldman wrote:
> > In light of the Linux on the Desktop, I'd like to elicit some ideas on
> > how to set up an 11 week syllabus. In the past, I've taught courses
> > that already had some previous syllabus, but on this one, I may need
> > to develop from scratch.
>
> If they already know UNIX basics, then this should be a tour of GNOME
> and KDE and the major apps under each.
>
> - window manager
> - file manager
> - themes and customizability
> - help systems
> - small apps and utilities
>   - applets
>   - IM/irc
>   - mp3 players and cd players and whatnot
>   - perhaps a CD burning tutorial
> - browser
> - word processor
> - spreadsheet
> - presentation software
> - graphics software

Additionally, how about also mentioning:

 - remote X sessions
   - xhost
   - ssh tunneling
   - vnc (<-- even for localhost, it's like a graphical `screen` session)

And time permitting, it's worth mentioning some of the graphical
environments that predate KDE & Gnome -- CDE, WindowMaker, Fvwm, etc. Some
users prefer not to run a full Gnome or KDE session, and others are forced
to use systems that don't have them installed, so being familiar with some
of the alternatives can be useful.

Also, if you want to get into "theory", a bit about the client-server
architecture of the X protocol would probably make a lot of the other
aspects of the system make more sense.  The division of labor between the
client & the server is worth spending time on: I for one found the
terminology confusing for a long time, because I'd gotten used to the idea
that you work with a client to remotely access servers, which is of course
exactly the opposite of how X thinks of the world. The X way of seeing
things makes sense when you get used to it, but I can see it being a point
of confusion for many students.

> If they don't, then it should start out with a tutorial on shells and
> filesystems and a quick overview of vi and emacs, and then do the rest.

...and vim, gvim, and xemacs, while you're at it -- the point being that
vi & emacs are families of browsers, and some of the alternatives may be
more simple to use.  Also, the fact that these editors' keybindings --
esp. emacs keybindings -- come up in the shells & other places is worth
pointing out.  Even OSX apps tend to behave like emacs :)



Would installation be fair game?  It's not bad with a modern distro I
guess, but I've still got nasty scars from mucking around with xfree
config files that never did want to behave themselves properly. Maybe
this can be bonus material, not to be inflicted on the students unless
they're feeling brave...



-- 
Chris Devers      cdevers at pobox.com
http://devers.homeip.net:8080/blog/

np: 'Stumble Then Rise On Some Awkward Morning'
     by A Silver Mt. Zion
     from 'He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light
           Sometimes Grace The Corners Of Our Rooms'