Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
6.111 - Introductory Digital Systems Laboratory

Computer Information

You will need to use your Athena account in this subject. If you do not already have an Athena account, get one.

In the digital lab, we have clusters of HP and Sun computers. All of the HP computers are named pali (i = 1 to 24). The Sun work-stations are named sunpali (i = 1 to 13). sunpal1 and sunpal2 are Sparc 20 and are substantially faster than the other sunpals. We also have a Macintosh and a PC running Windows in a small office opposite the Vassar Street side of the lab. A PC running Linux is in the lab, located just past the sunpals.

All of the machines are networked. We provide the Macintosh and PC's for your convenience only. Their use is not required, nor is their availability guaranteed.

In the small office opposite the Vassar Street side of the lab, there is an X terminal and a CPLD programmer. The CPLD programmer is attached to the PC running Windows. You operate the CPLD programmer by logging in to sunpal1 via the X terminal. Suitable instructions are posted near the X terminal.

The sunpal and pal work-stations are NOT Athena work-stations. However, one can use them in a similar manner. Like Athena work-stations, each sunpal and pal machine has a console.

You will automatically be granted an account on a sunpal and pal machine when you respond to the login and password prompt on a sunpal with your Athena login name and password. You must login to a sunpal machine BEFORE logging in to a pal machine. Logging in to a sunpal machine will (automatically) create your local home directory which must exist before logging in to an HP (pal) machine. When logged in to a sunpal or pal work-station, your home directory will be

/students/<username>

Your Athena locker will appear as

/mit/<username>

and also as

/students/<username>/athena

via a symbolic link.

After you have an Athena account, go to the digital lab and log in to a sunpal terminal to obtain your sunpal account.

Please note that the number of work-stations in the lab is limited. As a courtesy to other students do not attempt to reserve a machine by ``locking'' the screen. We are likely to re-boot machines we find in this condition.

Printed January 4, 1999