{"id":69,"date":"2022-10-25T14:10:28","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T18:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwdev.teach.cs.toronto.edu\/?page_id=69"},"modified":"2022-10-25T14:37:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T18:37:37","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wwwdev.teach.cs.toronto.edu\/faq\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This frequently-asked-questions file contains a list of frequently asked questions and their frequently given answers. The purpose of such a frequently-asked-questions file is to save you time, and to provide answers to such questions 24\/7. We recommend you read this file. Frequently. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Q<\/a>: What are the Computer Science Teaching Labs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: These are a set of computer labs and computing environments provided by the Department of Computer Science to support Computer Science courses. The primary environment is Ubuntu Linux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: Where are the labs located?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: The labs are located in the Bahen Centre for Information Technology (40 St George St<\/a>)<\/strong> in rooms BA2200, BA2210, BA2220, BA2230, BA2240, BA3175, BA3185, BA3195, BA3200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more info about the labs and lab access, see About the Labs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: What do I need to know to start using my Teaching Labs account?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: To get yourself started we recommend that you read the First Year or New User’s Guide<\/a> and\/or the Teaching Labs Users Guide<\/a>, which is oriented towards second year and higher students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your Teaching Labs username is your UTORid. You will be emailed an initial password which you will have to change on first use. Your password is unique to the teaching labs: you can set it to whatever you want (subject to password quality constraints), it does not have to be the same as your UTOR login. You can make it the same if you want, but it’s safer to choose a unique password. If you forget it, you can reset your teaching lab password via the Teaching Labs web page<\/a> under Resources: Account Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: If I’m at home, how do I log in to the Teaching Lab machines?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: To log into the Teaching Lab machines from home, you must have internet access. If you wish to connect and use the same environment as the Teaching Lab workstations, detailed information can be found on the Connecting to Teaching Labs remote access server<\/a> page. Internet access can be obtained from numerous commercial Internet Service Providers (ISP), through a cable TV connection or your phone line, with a variety of fee structures. If you wish to connect using the secure shell protocal (SSH), you need to download and install an SSH client for windows. A list of “free” windows clients are available on the OpenSSH website.<\/a> With your ssh client, connect to “teach.cs.toronto.edu”. For unix, linux or Mac OS X computers, use a terminal window and type the following (substitue your UTORid for user-name): ssh user-name@teach.cs.toronto.edu<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: How do I report problems?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: Send mail to sysadmin<\/a>. Mail to sysadmin<\/a> will be seen by the system administrators. See the Student’s Guide to the Teaching Labs<\/a> for details on how to send mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: What do I do if I’m having problems with my assignment?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: Contact your TA or your course instructor. Do not contact the site administrators. Even if they could help you, they’re not allowed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: How can I save or reserve a workstation? Can I leave for a while without logging out and losing the workstation I’m using?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: Workstations are allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you wish to leave for a short period of time without logging out, you can lock it using If you remain away from your workstation too long, you will be automatically logged out. If there is no mouse movement or keyboard activity for 20 minutes, you will be given a warning. (The warning may be hidden by other windows). You will be logged off if there is no activity for 30 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: The answers in this FAQ appear to be out of date or just plain wrong! How come?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: The FAQ is regularly updated but things sometimes do get missed. We are always open to suggestions about missing questions and answers. Please let sysadmin<\/a> know if you have any suggestions or if you find errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: How to I get into the Teaching Labs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: The labs in the Bahen Centre are accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during term time. Access is controlled by a card-access lock system that restricts entry to authorized individuals. To enter one of the labs you will need to swipe your TCard through the card reader that is installed outside of each door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In general, access is granted to all students enrolled in a computer science course, or enrolled in the computer science program. We obtain this information from the University’s Student Information System<\/em> (Acorn). We receive updated information from Acorn on a reasonably frequent basis, and it should take one full day for newly enrolled students to get added to the lock system database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: What are the hours of operation of the Teaching Labs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: Most Teaching Labs in the Bahen are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the school term, including holidays with the exception of Christmas break, or unless otherwise indicated. Some lab rooms are bookable which means they are reserved for specific classes (typically tutorials) at certain times during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: Is the Bahen Centre open 24 hours?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: The Bahen Centre is open to the general public from 8am until 11pm, Monday – Friday. Outside of those hours, you will need your TCard to access the building. All of the major entrances to the building have card readers outside of the doors. If you can get into the labs with your TCard, you should be able to get into the building with your TCard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: I just obtained a new TCard and it won’t let me into the labs. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: Each issued TCard stores a unique bar-code which is used by the lock system. When a new card is issued by the Library, it takes a while for the information to propagate to us via the Student Information System. Updates to our access system generally occur overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: I’m an Engineering student enrolled in a CS course, but my TCard won’t let me into the labs. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: Access to rooms in the Computer Science Department is administered separately from access to space in the Engineering Faculty. A similar division exists for students in CS and Engineering students. As a consequence, processing room access for situations where the two groups intersect has been tricky, but generally works correctly. If contacting us please indicate that you are in Engineering (or other “non-standard” conditions, such SGS, or staff), since this can delay finding the right person to address your problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: For whatever reason, my TCard won’t get me into the labs and\/or the Bahen Centre. What should I do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: Send an e-mail to tcard@teach.cs.toronto.edu<\/a>. Include your name, student number, the 16 digit bar-code at the very bottom of your TCard, the names of the courses you are taking, and special conditions as indicated in the previous question<\/a>. We can’t promise that we’ll get back to you right away, or fix your problem right away, but we will do our best to address problems as soon as we can. In the meantime, keep trying your card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your card itself is damaged, you need to go to the Information Commons to get a new card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q<\/a>: What sort of computers are these?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A<\/strong>: There are approximately 160 workstations running Linux in the various labs, as well as lots of places to use your own laptop or tablet. There is also an SSH server, accessed through the name teach.cs.toronto.edu; a remote-graphical-desktop system named nxsrv, and other servers, such as a database application server called dbsrv1.<\/p>\n\n\n\nxlock<\/code>, which will prevent anyone from meddling with it while you’re gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>About The Labs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>About The Computers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n