Introduction

If you've been using Linux at HWS for a year or so now, please check out What's New for Fall 2009 for some important information about changes to the system. If you are new to Linux, continue reading here...

The Computer Science department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges uses an operating system called Linux on most of its computers. If you take a computer science course, you will be given an account on the Linux system. You can use your account in the Math/CS computer lab in room Lansing 310. The computers in several other of the Colleges' computer labs, including Gulic 208 and the Multimedia Lab in the library, are "dual-boot" machines that can run either Windows or Linux. The operation can be selected when the computer is restarted. You can also access Linux from Windows with the VNC program. You can also consider installing Linux on your own computer.

Linux is a free operating system. Both it and most of the programs that run under it can be freely copied, without charge. There are free programs for web browsing, for for office applications such as word-processing, and for lots of other things.

When you log on to the Linux system, you can choose among several desktops, which provide alternative interfaces to the system. The various desktops can all be configured to your taste. Before you log on, though, it's a good idea to know how to handle the emergencies that can occur.

Your files on the computer science network are stored on AFS, a network file system that allows secure access from all the computers in public computer labs, as well as from the math/cs computer lab.