[TriLUG] linux @ UNC, was: [dcrp-students] Question - first year

[Tom Roche]

fw to dcrp-students 27 May 2010 10:20:59 -0400
> I am an incoming [UNC] student and plan on buying a new laptop this
> summer. I am deciding between a Mac and a preloaded-Linux (probably
> Ubuntu) laptop.

IMHO UNC is unduly Windows-oriented, but one can thrive with Linux.
I've been using an Ubuntu-only laptop for my classes and research
exclusively (excepting ArcGIS, below) since 2009, and dual-booting
XP/Ubuntu before that.

> did you run into any problems (connecting to the UNC network, not
> being able to run specific software, etc)?

No, yes, and who helps:

> connecting to the UNC network,

I've had very few problems with main UNC wired/wireless network,
SSID="UNC-1". (The guest network, SSID="Tar-Heel", is not available
always/everywhere, but is pretty good in New East.) Before connecting
to UNC-1, you gotta register your devices' network MAC addresses @

https://onyen.unc.edu/

and to use that you'll need ONYEN (UNC's "single sign-on" wannabe)
credentials. Then follow the UNC Information Technology Services (==ITS)
doc sequence

http://help.unc.edu/4976
http://help.unc.edu/4982

> not being able to run specific software,

My two UNC-related software problems, in descending pain level, are

- ArcGIS: the dominant GIS vendor, heavily used in a few classes,
  useful for research, and (IIRC) Windows-only. (There *are*
  open-source GIS, and one of their major academic partisans, Helena
  Mitasova

http://www.meas.ncsu.edu/faculty/mitasova/mitasova.htm

  is @ NCSU, but ArcGIS dominates UNC.) You can run ArcGIS via Wine,
  Parallels, etc (and of course via dual-boot); I just ran it on an
  old winXP box and ssh-ed or VNC-ed as needed.

- Cisco VPN. Most folks won't need this, but some will (notably users of
  the Topsail research cluster, which BTW runs Linux). The good news is,
  connecting from off-campus is easy with newer Linuxes (I'm using
  Ubuntu Karmic). The bad news is, the ITS documentation for connection
  via Linux is out-of-date (i.e. fails on newer kernels). For an easier
  way, see

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/unclug/2010-April/000490.html

> etc)?

For further help:

There are several excellent linux user groups (LUGs) at/near UNC,
highly recommended for asking any further questions in this domain you
might have:

* TriLUG, the Triangle LUG

http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug

  is huge. It's (IMHO) partial to RH/Fedora/CentOS, since Red Hat is the
  "hometown OS" (if you consider Raleigh part of the "UNC area" :-) but
  there's also lotsa Ubuntu users. In any case, the advice I've gotten
  there has been not only unfailingly excellent, but also prompt. (It
  is high-traffic, so consider subscribing the trilug digest, or the
  trilug-ontopic sublist.)

* COSI, the Carolina Open Source Initiative

http://www.ibiblio.org/cosi/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

  is not really a LUG, but

+ most of its members use Linux

+ has some definite Dell-Ubuntu partisans

+ it doesn't require posting from @unc.edu, as does the list for the
  actual ...

* UNC LUG

http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/unclug

  which is good, but low-traffic.

IMHO ITS is not usually helpful with Linux (or Mac, though I'm sure
there are also insurgent Maciban @ ITS) outside Research Computing. I
also know there are MUGs on campus--I just don't know them well.

HTH, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche at pobox.com>