Stephen Becker: computer related

• June 2009: I just started using Mendeley to organize my PDFs. So far, it's exactly what I had been looking for and I highly recommend it.
• Research interests and info on the SHC Cluster at CACR; here's an introductory SHC guide I wrote in August '08.
• Matlab and Mathematica: I was a TA and an instructor for ACM 11, Intro to Matlab and Mathematica, in fall 2007 and fall 2008, repectively. For 2008: Course website, ACM 11, Intro Matlab and Mathematica, fall 2008. For 2007: Course website, ACM 11, fall 2007. Various tips and tricks from others are collected here, including writing fast matlab code (pdf); see also accelerating matlab.
  • Here's a brief and slightly random list of practical tips for Matlab I quickly wrote up to get students up and running with the software
  • Also, some of my miscellaneous Mathematica tips (this applied to versions 5 and 6; I am not up-to-date with version 7).
• The MindTerm SSH java applet runs a secure-shell session via a java applet, but no X-Windows. If you want X-Windows on a PC, you can try TunnelMate (trial only), or xterm32 (also costs $, but Caltech has a license and hosts a copy; version 8.2 and later allow ssh key forwarding, e.g. with Pageant) [update: Caltech now has version 9.x available on their software server]. Another good suggestion, though I haven't used it myself, is Xming, which is a free X Windows server for Microsoft Windows (XP, 2003, Vista).
• WebVPN simulates a VPN without additional software (of course, it must be setup by your server; the link above is for the main caltech IMSS server).
• Here's a short script to backup a mail folder, intended for users of the Caltech ACM system: mailBackupScript.txt (written in bash)

Page last modified Sep 17, 2009