Attention CS Students,

As you know, CSU is transitioning to on-line instruction in response to the
spread of COVID-19. To assure your success, you should begin planning for how
you will perform your CS lab work and programming assignments in this setting.
Our understanding is that physical access to the CS labs will probably be
closed at some point in the near future (though we're awaiting confirmation
of that).  All CS Linux lab machines will stay up and available for your use
remotely.  But there are steps you'll need to take to insure that you can
access them.

The tools used in many courses, particularly the 100-level ones, can be run
on your local machines.  But many other classes require use of the CS lab Linux
machines. For each class you are taking you'll need to decide whether you'll be
using your home machine, the CS Department machines or both.

If using your home machine, you'll need to make sure you've successfully
installed the tools required by the course(s).  If you are not sure what tools
are required, ask your instructor.

In order to use the CS lab machines remotely, you'll need to install a small
set of tools on your home machine to support remote access.  At a minimum, an
ssh client will be required, for interactive shell access and file transfer.
These are quite simple to install and use.  Macintosh and Linux machines
typically come with native versions of ssh.  For information on how to
download, install, and run an ssh client on a windows machine see
http://www.putty.org/ or download putty from ninite.com if you prefer.

If your courses require access to a full CS Linux desktop then you'll also
need a VNC client.  For information on how to download, install, and run VNC
see https://cs.colostate.edu/~info/vnc.txt

Please take some time to perform these steps and test them before online
classes commence on March 25.  If you need help or have questions, email the
CS Systems group at sna@cs.colostate.edu.  We are here to help.

Thank you,
The CS Systems Group
<sna@cs.colostate.edu>