Connecting from Home (Mac/Linux)

Connecting from home is very easy with a Mac or Linux computer. Once you've connected, you can work as if you're logged into one of the terminals in the lab (which, basically, you are).

To connect, open up a new shell window (Terminal in the Utilities folder on a Mac) and enter this:

ssh -X cs61a-XX@star.cs.berkeley.edu

(Of course, you should replace the XX with your own class account letters.)

That's it!

If you find that the graphical interface isn't working, you may not have X11 installed. (If Emacs doesn't start in its own window, for example, this probably why.) On a Mac, you can install X11 from the install disc that came with your computer, or from any Mac OS X upgrade DVD. On Linux and other Unix-based systems, you should be able to install X11 from your package manager.

If you have connection problems, you can try another server.


Copying Files From Another Computer

If you do work on your home computers, you can copy files up to the inst machines pretty easily. Just open up a new shell window and do something like this:

scp PATH/TO/FILE.scm cs61a-XX@star.cs.berkeley.edu:~

(in some fonts it may be hard to make out that last character; it's a tilde ~, found at the top left of a standard US keyboard)

This copies the files to your home directory on the inst machines. Make sure you change the underlined parts to match your file and login!

On Mac OS X and some Linux distros, you can actually type scp and a space, then drag your files in from the Finder or other GUI file manager. Then add the last argument (your login and the server, followed by :~. Make sure you put spaces between each argument!)

If you have directories already created in your class account's home folder, you can specify a specific directory to copy into. Just replace the ~ at the end of the last argument with something like ~/proj1.

You can also copy multiple files by listing them all before the last argument (the part with your login and the server).


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