Virtual Desktop

In CMSC 12100, you will be doing all your work on a Linux environment. While you have access to the Linux machines in CSIL, a computer lab in Crerar Library, you can also access the same environment on those machines remotely using a remote desktop system.

This remote desktop system is called vDesk, and you can access it through a web browser (without installing any additional software), or using a desktop client (which will usually be faster than using your web browser). In this page, we explain how to log onto the remote desktop.

Note

Please note that, if you are not connecting to the virtual desktop from the campus network, the virtual desktop may feel sluggish (e.g., noticeable lags when moving the mouse or typing something inside the virtual desktop). The virtual desktop can be useful to get acquainted with a Linux system if you’re unable to work through the Linux Tutorial in a CSIL lab, but bear in mind that you are not required to do all your work from a CSIL computer or the Virtual Desktop.

In particular, there are mechanisms to do your coursework on your own computer, while still having your code run on a CS machine. We will be providing a guide for this soon.

Step 1

Open a web browser on your computer, and go to: https://vdesk.cs.uchicago.edu/

You should see this:

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Your username is your CNetID and your password is your CNetID password. Type in your CNetID and password and click OK. It is up to you whether you click the “Save this password” box.

Step 2

You will see a series of screens. You can click OK for the first three screens:

../_images/vdesk-2.png
../_images/vdesk-3.png
../_images/vdesk-4.png

For the next one, we recommend clicking the box that says “Change the server resolution to match the client when I connect” before you hit OK.

../_images/vdesk-5.png

Step 3

Once you click through everything, you should get to a screen that looks something like this:

../_images/vdesk-6.png

To open a terminal window, click on the application launcher (bottom left icon) and type terminal in the search bar. You’ll see an icon that looks like a screen and is labelled Terminal. Click on it.

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And you’ll get:

../_images/vdesk-8.png

You will use the terminal application very frequently, so I recommend pinning it to the launch bar (the vertical bar with app icons on the left side of the screen). Right click on the terminal icon in the launch bar (if you are running MacOS, you may need to two-finger click instead) and choose the “Lock to Launcher” option.

To log out, click the power icon on the upper right corner to open the menu and choose Power Off / Log Out and then on Log Out. (Note: If you move your cursor too far into the corner of the screen, you will see the corner of the window “fold” down. Move your cursor away from the corner and try again to click the gear. If you accidentally click on the “folded corner,” click done to get back to the desktop.) You’ll be asked to confirm whether you want to log out:

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Click “Log Out” and you’ll be logged out. You can then close the browser tab.

Step 4 (Optional)

vDesk also offers a desktop client that will generally result in a faster and more responsive desktop experience. If you would like to install the vDesk Client (called NoMachine), you can find installation instructions here:

https://www.nomachine.com/download-enterprise#NoMachine-Enterprise-Client.

Once you have installed NoMachine, follow these instructions for setting up the client to talk to the linux servers: https://howto.cs.uchicago.edu/techstaff:vdesk:client.

If you run into any issues, please don’t hesitate to ask on Ed Discussion.