Introduction to the Linux Command Line

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  • Instructor:  Gurpreet Matharoo
  • Level: Beginner
  • Duration: 1.5 hours
  • Helpers: Chris Geroux
  • Date:  January 29, 2025 | 10:00 - 11:30 am (Atlantic)
  • Prerequisite: None
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COURSE DESCRIPTION

Linux is the terminal interface used to enable you to use the ACENET and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) HPC clusters from your desktop. It's the tool you need to get your data on the clusters, run your programs, and get your data back. In this session, learn how to get started with Linux, how to create and navigate directories for your data, load files, manage your storage, run programs on the computing clusters, and set file permissions. This workshop is designed for those with no prior experience in working with a terminal interface.

This session will be delivered online.

To get the most from ACENET basics, please register for an Alliance account. To register contact your supervising professor, ask for their CCRI, then visit https://ccdb.alliancecan.ca/account_application. If your professor is not registered with the Alliance, please have them register, then follow up with you. In addition to an Alliance account, you will want a computer with Windows, MacOS X, or a Unix-based operating system (not a ChromeBook), and a stable internet connection. A registered account is not mandatory, just recommended to get the most out of our lessons. You can attend the first session to see how ACENET can assist in accelerating your computational research before you decide to obtain an account, if you wish.
 

SETUP REQUIREMENTS

  • You will want a computer with Windows, MacOS X, or a Unix-based operating system (not a ChromeBook), and a stable internet connection. A registered alliance account is not mandatory, just recommended to get the most out of our lessons. You can attend the first session to see how ACENET can assist in accelerating your computational research before you decide to obtain an account.
  • For Windows users, download MobaXterm.

Meet your teaching team

Gurpreet Matharoo

Instructor

Research Consultant

Ph.D. Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Gurpreet joined ACENET in 2016 and is based at St. Francis Xavier University (St. FX). A physicist who began his research career studying amorphous materials, supercooled liquids, and the glass transition, Gurpreet was then involved in several original and inter-related lines of research addressing climate change and studying climate of the past. He's since been involved in a variety of interdisciplinary computational research areas, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences and mechanical engineering. Gurpreet's most recent passion is neuroscience research, whereby he is in an active collaboration with researchers studying brain dynamics. This collaboration led to a joint paper on the effects of ongoing brain processes on pain. Gurpreet is fluent in coding in Fortran, C++, C and has a solid understanding of MATLAB. He has also taught undergraduate courses in the physics, engineering, and earth sciences departments at St. FX.

Sarah Clarke

Host

Digital Training Specialist
MSc Computational Chemistry, Dalhousie University

Sarah, based in Nova Scotia, joined ACENET in 2023. She has a range of teaching experience and held regular teaching assistant positions. Passionate about scientific literacy, Sarah has developed teaching materials and taught programming and robotics to youth in St. John's. She has also led professional development workshops for teachers, focusing on digital skills. For her MSc in Computational Chemistry research, she focused on interfacing crystal structure prediction methods.

Chris Geroux

Helper

Research Consultant
Ph.D. Astrophysics, Saint Mary’s University

Chris has been working in HPC since 2005 and joined ACENET in 2015. He is based at Dalhousie University and has a focus on cloud. For his PhD he developed a C++ code to model stellar convection using the OpenMPI framework for parallelism. He also was an associate research fellow at the University of Exeter. Since joining ACENET Chris is been involved in developing the national cloud documentation and is a member of the cloud national team.