Updated:
2013-10-24 00:56 EDT
Course DescriptionIndex
From the Course Outline:
Students learn the basic concepts and core functions of the Linux operating system in a stand-alone environment. Students also learn basic command structures and capabilities of the Linux operating system, along with the skills required to perform common basic system configuration and management tasks. Typical tasks covered include, but are not limited to installing the operating system, working the command line shell, managing/mounting/creating file systems, file permissions overview, managing and troubleshooting the boot process, task automation, software management and customizing the operating system environment.
3 hours in classroom / 2 hours in laboratory / 4 hours homework (per week)
The Timetable page has the full class schedule for all classes and sections.
Midterm and Exam dates will be posted on the Course Home Page. Put them in your own personal calendar and agenda!
Course Home PageIndex
The Course Home Page is located off-campus. You can link to it via the Algonquin Blackboard system or via either link below:
Make sure you find the page for this term, not previous terms! Bookmark both the .com and the .org page locations.
Read the Course Home Page carefully, including the parts about plagiarism and course notes. Note the important dates. Write down on paper the location of the Alternate Web Notes.
Course Documents on BlackboardIndex
- Blackboard will contain links to all online course materials.
- Most links lead to content on public web servers and these public materials will remain available forever in the Internet archives.
- Material that is only available on Blackboard will become inaccessible when the course ends. Keep copies of anything you need for future use.
- Google eventually indexes all public materials but not anything on Blackboard.
Laboratory workIndex
Your fees have paid for a CST Level 1 Hardware Kit that includes a hard drive, anti-virus software, cables, etc. Take your Algonquin Student ID to the on-campus New Technology Store to get the kit. Get the kit before your classes and labs start!
Later in this course you will be using your caddy drive and/or laptop to create Linux virtual machines. You will first learn how to configure your caddy and your laptop and install VMware in your Windows course (Desktop/Network Operating Systems) this term.
Labs are hands-on opportunities to experiment with the theoretical material that you have learned through reading and lectures. Laboratory assignments will be closely integrated with the theoretical material.
Students are expected to perform initial reading, analysis, and design before their scheduled lab, to take advantage of the limited lab time. You will not have enough time to do all the reading and the lab work in the same lab period. Most lab work will require additional time outside of scheduled lab hours - check the number of homework hours assigned to each of your courses.
The students’ ability to successfully complete the assigned exercises will directly correlate with their level of success on tests and the final exam. Much of the Test and Exam material will be based on the skills developed doing the lab work.
NOTE: Knowing the specific answers to lab questions is never as important as knowing how to generate the answers. Copying answers will not enable you to pass the tests and exams. You need to know how things work! Assignment answers that are found to be copied from other sources will be penalized.
Generally, the use of mobile computing devices in the classroom is limited to note taking, accessing course materials, and performing a variety of independent or collaborative exercises assigned by the professor. Unless approved by the professor before the class starts, the use of mobile computing devices for personal surfing of the web, downloading of non-course related material, use of messaging software, or gaming is not to take place. - Directive AA32
Course Textbook and ReadingsIndex
There is no required textbook for this course. We have selected some recommended (not required) textbooks for this course; the titles and purchase information are given in the Course Outline. The recommended textbooks are a reliable, comprehensive sources of accurate GNU/Linux information. Motivated students may choose instead to discover and use free Internet resources instead of a purchased textbook. Additional web-based notes will be provided on-line.
You are expected to follow the course outline and keep up-to-date with the reading in the web notes even when specific reading assignments are not provided in class. Ideally, to optimize your understanding of the lecture material, corresponding material should be read prior to the class in which it is covered.
Note that just printing the class notes on paper is no substitute for actually reading and understanding them. Print less and read more!
Course HandoutsIndex
In general, in-class handouts are not common in this class since all such material will normally be posted to the web; students are expected to download and read such materials on their own.
Some course files with publisher-restricted distribution may be stored only on the Algonquin Blackboard server. Make sure you get copies of these files before the course ends, otherwise you will lose access to them.
Other than these restricted files, everything else is stored on a public web server and will remain available forever in the Internet archives.
Course Marking SchemeIndex
Tests and exams will be based largely on modified assignment questions. A majority of the material for each test will come from material covered in the immediately preceding weeks, but material is cumulative and many questions (especially on the final exam) will be based on material covered earlier in the course.
Midterm and Exam dates will be posted on the Course Home Page. Put these dates in your own personal calendar and agenda! For full mark credit, read the Test Instructions for important directions on how to enter your answers on the mark-sense forms.
- Quizzes - 10%
- Short quizzes based on previous lecture and assignment material.
- Assignments and Homework - 15%
- Laboratory work is assigned weekly. It will be made available online and you will submit your finished work electronically. Assignments that are not submitted by their due dates may not be marked.
- Two Mid-Term Tests - 15% + 25% = 40%
- Each Mid-Term Test is cumulative, with emphasis on material covered after the previous Midterm Test. For full mark credit, read the Test Instructions for important directions on how to enter your answers on the mark-sense forms.
- Final Exam - 35%
- The Final Exam is cumulative, with emphasis on material covered after the last Midterm Test. For full mark credit, read the Test Instructions for important directions on how to enter your answers on the mark-sense forms.
For full mark credit, read the Test Instructions for important directions on how to enter your answers on the mark-sense forms.
Attendance, Attention, and Success FactorsIndex
Regular attendance is critical to course success (and to job success). If you know the material and don’t need to come to classes, ask for a Prior Learning Assessment. If you paid to be here, please be here.
If you are in class, shut your laptop, turn off your phone, and pay attention to your lecturer. The person at the front of the room cannot compete with the entire Internet and your personal phonebook for your attention - he doesn’t have the budget. If you’re bored or falling asleep, take notes.
Missed deadlines (including tests)Index
From Claude Brulé, Vice President, Academic (October 21, 2013):
College Academic Council has endorsed the following policy statement on student absences and this is supported by Deans Council: Addressing student absence from class requires a common sense approach, assumes honesty, and allows faculty to exercise judgment while keeping student success foremost in mind.
- The student is asked to contact the course professor before the class takes place to indicate that he/she is ill. If the student does not make the attempt, then they may be subject to whatever penalty is outlined in the course outline.
- For prolonged illness, or where more than one assessment is missed, the course professor can request the student to provide a doctor’s note in order to help accommodate the situation.
Lab AttendanceIndex
Lab Attendance is recorded but not mandatory. If you fail to show up for a lab period, I will record you as “Absent” and I will then have to email you to ask you why you missed your lab period and whether you are still in the course.
If you email me first, before your lab period, to tell me you won’t be there, I will record your reason and you won’t be listed as “Absent”. Let me know ahead of time when you need to miss a lab period. You don’t have to be here, but you do have to tell me if you are missing a lab period.
If an employer calls me up and asks me about your reliability, your unexplained absences will count against me giving you a job recommendation as a reliable person.
Take Notes in ClassIndex
You will need to take notes in class. Not everything I say ends up in these online files. Passing the information through your body onto paper or into a computer helps you remember it, even if you never read the notes later.
If you have a question about course content, the first thing I will ask is to see your notes, to see what you wrote down about the topic. Often the answer is there!
Plan your WorkloadIndex
The overall term workload usually overwhelms students who try to leave everything to the last minute. You need to put in approximately an extra hour per day, per course, to keep up. There aren’t enough hours in a day to catch up in mid-term.
Late Assignments; Submit on TimeIndex
Late assignments are penalized, usually resulting in a mark of zero. The due date for an assignment is given in the assignment. Read each assignment to know the due date. Not every assignment is due on the same weekday or at the same time; pay attention and record each due date in your weekly calendars.
If your boss asks you to deliver to him a product before he walks into a client meeting, having the product ready after the meeting is not useful. Be on time.
I give extensions for assignments delayed due to illness or accident. Contact me before the due date to get an extension.
Read your EMailIndex
You must read your Algonquin course email regularly (daily).
EMail is a critical component of course delivery for this course. If you don’t read your Algonquin College email account daily, make sure that your forward your College email to an account that you do read. See the ITS link on the Course Home Page.
Test to make sure that your forwarded Algonquin email works! Send yourself a test message. You must have a working Algonquin EMail address for this course (that you can forward elsewhere).
Make sure you add idallen@idallen.ca and alleni@algonquincollege.com to your email white-list, or you may not receive important email from me, especially email with your marks in it. Whitelist me now!
Use your Algonquin College email address to contact me, otherwise your email may be thrown away as unsolicited email spam.
Find the AnswersIndex
My job is to help you find answers, not to give you answers. Many answers I might give you now will be obsolete by the time you graduate. Helping you find the answers is my job; I do it for you as part of the salary paid to me by the College. Actually giving you answers is called “consulting”, and my fee is $250/hr. See me after you graduate.
Right the First TimeIndex
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/01/30
Assignments are only marked once. You don’t get a second chance. In the real world, if you don’t get it right the first time, your business (or your employer’s business) suffers. You try not to make the same mistakes again, but you can’t take back the fact that you made them in the first place. Do your best the first time.
My job (your boss’ job) is not to find and correct all your mistakes for you. Finding and learning from your mistakes is your job. The better you do it, the more useful you are as an employee.
Many assignments in this course will be self-mark assignments where you get to compare your answers with a set of correct answers and discover your own mistakes.
See the Course Home Page for information on copying and working together on assignments.
You may not copy material from anywhere else without clearing the copying with me and identifying the source, in writing or by email, first. If your submission resembles that of another person, anywhere in the class or anywhere on the Internet, I am required to inquire whether you are the actual author. Copying-and-pasting from someone else is not solving a problem. Do your own thinking and write your own answers. No copying-and-pasting.
If I authorize copying, and only if, you must attribute the source of copied material that you use that isn’t yours. Most coursework does not permit copying, group work, or working together on a common answer. Do your own work unless the assignment permits group work.
You earn marks for the new material that you write, not material that comes from other people and other sources (e.g. from me, your friends, or from the Internet). opying-and-pasting from an existing answer is not solving a problem. Do your own thinking and write your own answers. No copying-and-pasting.
A fun tutorial on how to use the Internet to find answers and avoid plagiarism is here: http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/
See also: More Students Misunderstand The Fundamentals Of Plagiarism
A warning not to give your your answers, from a previous student:
From: xxxxxxxx@algonquinlive.com
Subject: RE: CST8207 lab plagiarism
We were talking on facebook and he was having trouble with lab 7 and 8. I tried explaining them to him but was unsuccessful. I offered to put lab 8 on Dropbox as a reference, which I completely forgot about as it’s not something I normally do. When I confronted him he said he didn’t have time to complete the work himself and handed in my answers.
Both students received zero and were charged with academic fraud (plagiarism).
Your Security and the USA Patriot ActIndex
From http://www.algonquincollege.com/its/documents/termsofuse.htm:
Users are advised that some of the College Network’s resources are provided by third parties, who may be located in the United States of America or other jurisdictions. By using the College Network, users acknowledge and understand that, any content or information posted or sent through the College Network may be housed in the United States of America or other jurisdictions and therefore subject to the USA Patriot Act and other applicable legislation and that there may be requirements to disclose such content.
In other words, anything you disclosed to the College - before, during, and after registration - may be sent to the Government of the United States.
Install LibreOffice or OpenOffice into WindowsIndex
When you have your Windows base system Installed (in your Desktop Operating Systems course), go to URL http://cstech/ on campus (NOT the open Internet, because it would be too slow) and download LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) for Windows and install it on your base Windows system, so that Windows can read and print the Open Office lab documents used in this course. To find the software on CSTECH, click any room in the left side-bar and look under Drivers and Downloads.
What is Linux and why do I care?Index
Can’t I just learn Unix online?Index
Sure! You will find a video course by first logging in to lynda.com, then see Unix for Mac OS X Users
- This is an entire online Unix course, usable from school or from home (with your Algonquin student library card information)!
- Doesn’t cover Linux installation or booting
- Also covers Macintosh-only Unix tools (last chapter)
More online courses (no video, though)Index
Learning the tradeIndex
What are you doing with your spare time? Playing with computer science or playing card and video games? Which will give you better answers at your next job interview?
Is sysadmin the career path for you? Check these ten points: 10 signs that you aren’t cut out for IT
Author:
| Ian! D. Allen - idallen@idallen.ca - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| Home Page: http://idallen.com/ Contact Improv: http://contactimprov.ca/
| College professor (Free/Libre GNU+Linux) at: http://teaching.idallen.com/
| Defend digital freedom: http://eff.org/ and have fun: http://fools.ca/
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