Course material for the Unix EdCert can be found on the Web. The course introduction explains how the course works and how to use the navigation buttons.
As you read through the course materials you will find that links to documents from other sources introduced with one of three words; essential, recommended, or optional. Links introduced with the word, essential, are a required part of the course. The information in these readings will be included in the quizzes at the end of topic and as part of the final exam. Links that are introduced with recommended contain information that we suggest you read. A number of the quiz questions involve problem solving and this information may help you with these types of questions. Links listed as optional contain further information that may be of interest. However, you will not be held accountable for optional information on the quizzes for this course.
In order to access the course materials you will need a Web browser. UCS Publications has a brochure on Netscape, titled Netscape 2.0 for X Unix workstations and X terminals. The information in this publication is applicable to Netscape 3.0, which is the Netscape version available from the UWSG ftp site. UCS Publications also provides EZinfo at IU: Web and news with Lynx, trn, and tin. Other Lynx documentation is also available on the Web.
Please keep in mind that this course is still fairly new. The pilot session helped us work many of the bugs out, but there may still be some. A great deal of the recent changes to the course were based on feedback we got from people taking the course. Please let us know what you like and don't like about the information, the way it's presented, the level of difficulty, etc.
Lab sessions for the first half of the class have been scheduled for the following dates:
Note:use the "schedule" button at the top and bottom of the EdCert documents to check the lab schedule page. This is where your scheduled lab time will be listed. If you need to change you lab time please let us know at least a week in advance. We will try to accommodate everyone's requests, but we have a limited number of machines to work with.
Everyone in this course will be placed in a mailing list; unixed-info. This list is intended to serve as forum for discussion between class participants. This is a place for you to talk to your classmates about problems you encounter and just generally share information. As a way to access class instructors between lab and discussion sessions, a second list, unixed-admin, will also be available. This is the place to send suggestions you may have for the course. If you have a specific problem that is not resolved in unixed-info you may send it in to unixed-admin.
Note: please do not send problems into unixed-admin first. All course instructors will be checking in to the unixed-info list. Send any questions or problems you may have there first.
In addition to the online course material, you will probably find it helpful to invest in some books on Unix and Unix system administration. Here's a list of what we recommend: