Working on your computer

Introduction

This page will (eventually) contain all the information needed to do work for EGR 103, and perhaps other classes, using a computer not owned by Duke. The principles at play are:

• None of this will cost money.
• All files will still live on the Duke CIFS - and thus have the advantages of being visible to TAs and instructors and being backed up every 12 hours; however, this means you have to have a stable connection to the internet.
• You still need to know how to get work done on a Duke computer either if you don't have your own computer or something happens to yours.

This page was updated August 19, 2018, reflecting a few links OIT had moved.

One Time Items

Mounting your CIFS Space

For EGR 103 in Fall 2018, during the first lab you will mount your CIFS drive on one of the Windows machines and set permissions so that Dr. G and the TAs can access your space. Information about this is available at Windows Permission. You will only ever need to do that once.

On your own computer, if you want to mount the drive, you can follow the instructions at:

• Windows: See CIFS: How to Connect from Windows. If you click the Reconnect at sign-in box, the drive should automatically be mounted each time you log in and are on the Duke system or connected to Duke through a VPN.
• Mac: See CIFS: How to connect from Mac OS

Installing TeXworks

There are many LaTeX editors and processors out there. TeXworks works really well.

• Windows users: to install, go to Releases and get the latest release - in the Downloads section, there is a .exe file to set things up - download and run that. I allowed all the default settings during installation.
• Mac users: you will need to install MacTeX before running TeXworks. After that, to get TeXworks, in the Downloads section of Releases, there is a .dmg file to set things up - download and open that. Copy the TeXworks icon into the Applications shortcut. To run TeXworks, you may need to hit the command button while starting it to let it run (or else you may get something about an unknown developer).

Installing Anaconda and Spyder

For Windows, MAC, and Linux, go to the Download Anaconda Distribution page, pick the icon your your OS, and download the Python 3.6 version. The Anaconda install should automatically include the Spyder IDE among other things.

Installing MATLAB

See MATLAB at Duke. In terms of things you *need* - for EGR 103 MATLAB is sufficient. Simulink is a generally good idea, too. You will not need any of the other toolboxes for the class.

General Processes

• For TeXworks, you need to use the XeLaTeX processor. You can set this through the drop-down box at the top left of the screen or you can set it as a preference through Edit->Preferences and on the Typesetting tab in the Default drop-down, pick XeLaTeX.
• TeXworks will automatically produce a PDF file in the same folder as your tex file.
• To upload your document in Sakai, since your CIFS is mounted to your computer, you can use whatever browser you want on your computer to get to Sakai.