Jay,

Does E115 ever cover OSX?  My two cents would be to cover all of the
basic, common computing platforms supported on campus.

Jack

On Sat, Jan 09, 2010 at 11:35:58AM -0500, jpgoel@ncsu.[redacted] wrote:
> Thing is, I think we tend to think of E115 as "intro to linux". But from
> what I hear, it also aims to serve as a "intro to managing your own
> computer." This explains why more E115 sections are laptop-based, and I
> think its also a good goal.
>
> I've worked with CSC116 students who didn't take E115 or place out (they
> were still in first year college or something, and thus were not required
> to take it.)
>
> They were extremely bright, but had no concept of what a "directory" was
> or the difference between Windows' "shell" vs "gui". So I agree that E115
> can't just be about "linux", because the course is preparing people for
> hardcore computing classes. So it also needs to cover the bread and butter
> of filesystems and other underpinnings - on both Windows and Linux. It
> does us no good to have people who are experts in linux commandline but
> can't see the Windows analogies, they are both important technologies.
>
> As of late, the E115 folks seem to have shifted to more of a
> Windows-centric approach to teaching the material. This is fine - students
> will learn whatever linux they need as they take more courses. But I'm in
> favor of bumping up the linux-ness not so it doesn't seem arcane, but
> because it will boost students' grades when they enter CSC 116.
>

> Jay
>

> On Sat, January 9, 2010 11:06 am, iyare omoruyi wrote:
> > I placed out of E115 back in the summer of '96.  It was a summer session
> > before being formally accepted as a freshman in the college of
> > engineering.
> > We were provided an instructor who gave us classes for like 2 weeks
> > instruction or so in order to have enough information and place out.
> > E115,
> > for me, was just to get over the initial shock of linux.  That is it.  I
> > was
> > able to navigate to files, create directories...the basic stuff.  What was
> > lacking was the reason why it should have been taken further;The benefits
> > it
> > would provide later in life.  I think if the college of engineering where
> > serious, they would provide something beyond E115.  But then again, I
> > guess
> > they figure "You know where the library is."
> >
> > Iyare
> >
> > 10 years of newbiness
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 9:09 AM, Daniel Underwood
> > < daniel.underwood@ncsu.[redacted] >wrote:
> >

> >> I don't get it. What's wrong with the current material?  I kinda like
> >> it. Granted, it's simple, and granted, it doesn't represent the state of
> >> Linux art.  Is the dissatisfaction just due to the fact that the course
> >> does a poor job of "selling" Linux?
> >> --
> >> Daniel Underwood
> >> North Carolina State University
> >> Graduate Student - Operations Research
> >> email: daniel.underwood@ncsu.[redacted]
> >> phone: XXX.302.3291

> >> web: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~djunderw/ < http://www4.ncsu.edu/%7Edjunderw/ >
> >>
> >>
> >
>

--
Jack Neely < jjneely@ncsu.[redacted] >
Linux Czar, OIT Campus Linux Services
Office of Information Technology, NC State University
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