Background: Like many of the labs in CSC 105 Spring 2019, this one is developed closely from prior CSC 105 labs. CSC 105 has been around long enough that, when it was first being taught, things like how to use a browser weren’t considered common knowledge. My revisions have attempted to pare down the explicit instruction around basics of computer and Internet use, but there may still be things that seem blatantly obvious or some things that I should have kept in because they are very much not obvious. In either event, feedback is appreciated.

Part 1: Getting Started with the MathLan

Log in

Short version: You can log in to MathLan computers using your Grinnell username and password.

Detailed version: The Computer Science department lab computers run on a local network called MathLAN. It is somewhat compartmentalized from the wider campus network, but it has recently been integrated into the campus’s LDAP, so you no longer need a separate user account and password to use it.

Take a look around

At first glance, it probably looks like a pretty standard PC desktop. But there are some subtle differences.

Task: What are three things you notice about this desktop that are different from other desktops you’ve worked with?

After we’ve debriefed in class, you can read more background about the reason for these differences here: Grinnell’s GNU/Linux Environment.

Change default homepage on browser.

Short version: open up Chromium or Firefox (your preference) and change the default homepage to something you want to see every time you open up a browser in this class

Detailed version:

You can open Firefox by clicking on the icon on the toolbar. You can open Chromium (an open source version of Chrome) by clicking on Applications in the lower lefthand corner, scrolling down to Internet and then selecting Chromium from the menu that pops out.

You can change what web page shows up first when you open the browser. For both browsers, you can find the preferences section by clicking on an icon in the upper right hand corner of the browser window. Find this for your browser.

Somewhere among these preferences will be an option to specify your homepage. Pick one that you think will be useful for this course, such as:

• Course homepage: https://digitalage19.sites.grinnell.edu/
• Computer Science department homepage: http://www.cs.grinnell.edu
• In a few weeks, you could link to a page you have created.

Open up a LibreOffice Writer document.

Short version: open up a document, write something, save it, re-open it.

Detailed version:

Click on the icon in the toolbar that looks like a piece of paper with blue lines and a blue corner. A new document will open.

Next, write some sort of test message. It doesn’t matter what it says. Save the file, using the file name lab1-test.odt. (To do this, you can click on the floppy disk icon or choose Save from the File menu. Then type the file name (not including .odt) into the appropriate text box in the dialog window that appears. Do not change the default file type.) Close the file by selecting Close from the File menu. Re-open the file, either by clicking on the folder icon or by selecting Open from the File menu, then double-clicking on the file name in the dialog window that appears.

Experiment with copying and pasting, and setting some words in boldface or italics fonts. I expect this word processor will probably look fairly similar to the one you are used to using. However, the Linux GUI features one convenient copy-paste shortcut it is useful to be aware of:

• Using the mouse cursor, highlight any text on the screen. It may be within your document, from a web browser, or anything else you can highlight.
• You can paste the previously highlighted text, so long as nothing is subsequently highlighted, by clicking the middle mouse button (or a clickable scroll wheel that doubly functions as a button) anywhere you would like the text pasted.

When you have finished experimenting, close the document again and close the word processor.

Workspace switcher

If you’ve kept all those windows open, you’ll notice your screen is getting a bit crowded. Fortunately, a tool called the workspace switcher lets you uncrowd your windows by moving them among multiple desktops.

Short Version

• Find the workspace switcher icon in the workspace toolbar.
• Click on the switcher to move to a different desktop.
• Drag windows within the switcher to move them to other desktops.

Detailed Version

In the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, you should see an icon that looks like a box containing four smaller boxes. (If you don’t see it, ask for help.) This is the workspace switcher, a tool that lets you keep your application windows on several different desktops or workspaces. The upper-left-hand box represents the desktop you are working on right now. It contains a number of still smaller boxes of varying shapes and sizes, which represent the windows you have open. When you move or resize the a window on the desktop, you should see the window’s representation in the switcher move as well. Give it a try by wiggling one of your windows around. Now, click in one of the other three boxes. You should see a new, blank desktop with no windows on it. Where did they go? If you look at the switcher, you’ll see they are still in the desktop you started on. Switch back to that desktop. You can also use the switcher to move windows from one desktop to another. Find the switcher again and identify the box that corresponds to your Iceweasel/Firefox window. Click that box and drag it a little ways to the right, onto the next desktop. The window should disappear from the first desktop. If you click onto the desktop to the right, you should see it there. In this class, you may want to work with multiple windows: A web browser to read the laboratory exercises, a terminal or other windows to use the various tools we will use in the lab, and a word processor to write up your results. As you get settled in over the next few weeks, consider how you might use the switcher to help you organize your workspace efficiently.

 

Part 2

Twine Time

Short version: Open a web browser and go to twinery.org. Create a very short story that branches once or twice. Export the story and make sure you know how to re-import it.

Detailed version:

Twine is a web-based tool for interactive storytelling. We’re using it as one of the tools in this class because it allows us to engage with the core concepts of mark-up, coding, and of course narrative.

Open a web browser and go to twinery.org. Click on “Use online” in the upper right hand part of the page. On the next screen, click on the green +Story button. Go ahead and just call it Lab 1 Story.

Now you’ll see a work screen that looks a lot like graph paper. There will be a box in the center labeled “Untitled Passage.” Double click on it.

The next few steps are going to start asking you to tell a story. If you’re feeling creative, you can start a story about anything you want. If you’re not feeling very creative, let’s tell a story we all have a version of: A Day in the Life of a College Student.

This box is called a passage (in Twine lingo). Delete the text that is in the box. After you do that, you’ll see some light grey text that explains the basics of formatting your story. The key point for today is creating passage links.

Write a couple of sentences, maybe one to set the scene and one to introduce the first choice your reader/main character needs to make. Put two brackets on either side of the words that refer to the choice, [[like this]]. Maybe something like:

It was a bright cold day in April, and my phone was striking the hour thirteen. Darn it, my dystopian fiction class is starting right now. I could [[go to class five minutes late in my pajamas]] or [[give up and go see if the DHall is still open]].

Give the passage a title. Then, close it using the black X in the upper right hand corner. What do you have on the work screen now?

Double-click on one of the newly-created passages. Let’s create one more set of passage links, this time changing up what the passage is called and how it is displayed to the reader. Add another couple of sentences, using the syntax modeled below:

I get to Mears, out of breath from running, and realize that I forgot to grab my book. I could [[phone<-pull it up on my Kindle app]] or [[go back and get it from my room->room]]

Close the newly edited passage.

Now, two more passages have been created, but they have new, shorter titles. And, if you go back and edit your display text, you won’t be breaking your link.

In sum, there’s three basic ways to create a passage link:

[[link text]]

[[link text->passage name]]

[[passage name<-link text]]

Hover over the first passage of the story, and click on the black triangle to “play” your story. It should open in a new tab.

Come back to the workspace tab. This next part is important: using Twine in the browser does not automatically save your work to your computer. You must export it as a file to be sure you will have access to it the next time you open your browser.

In the bottom left corner, click on the small black triangle next to the title of your story. In the menu that pops up, select “Publish to file.” A .html file will now be downloaded, most likely to your downloads folder. Click on Applications > File Manager > username > Downloads to check.

If time: ask Prof. Rodrigues to show you how to clear the browser cache & re-import your file.

Logging out

Short Version

• To log out, click on your username near the lower right, select Log out, and confirm.
• Do not turn off the monitor or computers.

Detailed Version

When you are done using a workstation, you must log out in order to allow other people to use it. To log out, move the pointer onto the icon at the right of the front panel with your username, click the left mouse button, and click the Log out option. A confirmation box will pop up, asking you to verify that you’re ready to log out; move the pointer onto the button saying “Log out” near the bottom of this box and click the left mouse button. The Xfce windowing system vanishes, and after a few seconds the login screen reappears; this confirms that you’re really logged out. Please do not turn off the workstation when you are finished. The Linux workstations are designed to operate continuously; turning them off and on frequently actually shortens their life expectancy.

Acknowledgments

The entire Grinnell CS faculty have contributed to this document. Twine Time developed by Liz Rodrigues in consultation with Writing Interactive Fiction with Twine by Melissa Ford and workshop materials by Dr. Anastasia Salter.