Abstract

Historically, virtually all of the computers used by Computer Science and Engineering have been Windows based. However, an increasing number of students are choosing to purchase Macintoshes as their personal machines. Neither those machines themselves, nor the students’ experiences using them, interoperate well with Windows machines. To help leverage these students’ investment in Macintoshes, we would like to provide more compatible systems. In particular, we would like to add 35 new Linux workstations to the student laboratories.

Background

There are over 700 students majoring in Computer Science (two undergraduate programs in computer science and computer engineering; a PhD-track graduate program, and a Professional Masters program, aimed at working professionals seeking a graduate degree in computer science.) Additionally, the department teaches many non-majors courses, and frequently enrolls non-majors in majors courses. The department operates computing laboratories that allow students to develop self-initiated learning and research projects, work on coursework or senior research or special topics, and personally explore virtually any aspect of computing. Use of these facilities coursework for CSE courses is less than 50%, and they are not used for scheduled classes. Our laboratories have been nearly exclusively Windows based for the past roughly 15 years. We moved to that platform at that time because we thought it best served the students’ interests: overwhelmingly students had Windows machines at home, so providing the same environment at school allowed them to be more productive, and to easily translate their school experiences to their lives outside of the university. Additionally, job prospects for computer scientists were shifting towards Windows platforms, so having expertise there maximized our students’ options when it came time to choose a job.

In recent years both these motivations for running Windows systems have changed. We estimate that nearly a quarter of our students have already chosen to purchase Macintoshes as their personal machines, with that number having increased sharply in the past couple of years. Additionally, the rise of Linux as a commercial platform has changed job market prospects: many of the companies students are most interested in working for after graduation are now looking for Linux background. Both Macintoshes and Linux boxes are flavors of “Unix machines,” meaning that they have more in common than they have distinctions. This is in sharp contrast to Windows machines, which are a completely different platform. To use a somewhat strained analogy, the differences between Macintoshes and Linux machines is a bit like the difference among cars: if you can drive one, you know virtually everything required to drive another. The differences between any Unix machine and a Windows machine is more like the difference between a car and a motorcycle: having driven one might help with the other, but it’s essentially a different experience altogether.
We are asking to introduce new Linux machines to our laboratories, rather than Macintoshes, because they adequately interoperate with the Macintoshes students have, because job prospects with Linux experience are far greater than for Macintosh experience, and because Linux machines are much cheaper than Macintoshes.

Benefits

The primary benefits to students are outlined in the background section above: better synergy between students’ university and personal computing experiences, and re-shaping students’ computing background to match the changing demands of the job market. Those benefits are precisely what motivates us to make the proposed change to our laboratory infrastructure. Additionally, we expect that providing Linux-based platforms in the laboratories will allow some portion of our instructional activities to become more effective, as Linux is currently the platform of choice for much of the research and instructional development taking place worldwide, allowing us to make use of that work more easily.

Student Access

Access to these facilities is available to all students enrolled in CSE courses that use these facilities. This includes the nearly 700 CSE students, as well as non-majors taking CSE courses (approximately 150 non-majors per year). All enrolled students have full access to laboratory facilities for class work, for self-directed senior projects, and for any personal, self-initiated educational projects.
We make these labs available for use by the full campus community during slack periods (e.g., for new student orientations for incoming UW freshmen during summer or special workshops) on an appointment basis.

Available Resources

The department maintains an extremely strong commitment to student computing. We operate significant laboratory facilities – geared toward the study of both software and hardware. But just as important is the department’s track record providing excellent technical support for those facilities by operating a support desk as well as a staff who maintain the labs and the computing infrastructure behind those labs. Two years ago, the department moved into new quarters in the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science and Engineering, which was built through a unique public-private partnership. This move expanded laboratory space by a factor of three – important because of the experimental, hands-on nature of computer science and computer engineering.

Furthermore, the department works hard at providing the best resources possible to students, including seeking industrial donations for hardware and software to leverage the effectiveness of the student facilities. For example, Intel, Tektronix, and Dell have provided equipment for student labs. Microsoft supplies all their developer and server and enterprise-level software for use in student laboratories for free. (Additionally, Microsoft provides all developer, server and enterprise software to students enrolled in CSE courses for use on personal equipment, also at no charge.)

Installation Timeline

We expect to be able to incorporate the new workstations into laboratory facilities shortly after award.

Departmental Endorsement

Endorsement from CSE Chair…

I am writing to strongly and enthusiastically support the proposal titled "Linux Laboratory" developed by Erik Lundberg, the director of our computing facilities and consistent with the needs of the student population. I concur with the entire proposal, ranging from the motivation through the specific equipment that is listed.
STF has been very supportive of proposals from our unit, which was particularly critical (and deeply appreciated!) as part of equipping laboratories in the new Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering.

As the computing landscape is changing, however, our Windows-based laboratories are not, by themselves, sufficient to meet the needs of our students. The proposal is to bring in a set of Linux-based machines that are compatible with the Linux-based machines (including Macs) that many of our students use.

Our department has a long history of working closely with our students, including our undergraduates, to improve the quality of our educational offerings and the computing infrastructure so necessary to educate students who will succeed in their future careers. To ensure this close working relationship, we have developed a set of informal and formal mechanisms by which the students can provide feedback to the faculty and advising staff. (These feedback loops are required by the rigorous ABET accreditation process that our Computer Engineering program has passed and will pass again in two years; however, these loops are needed to continually improve the department, so they've been around for years.)
Among the most effective of these feedback loops is the once-a-month "lunch with the chair." We buy pizza and invite our undergraduates to eat, get an informal update on departmental goings-on, and then ask any and all questions that are on their mind. I can assure you that our students are not shrinking violets: they are loud and clear when there is a problem, or even when there is a minor improvement to be made. Our advising staff takes notes from these lunches so we don't drop the ball on the ideas and comments. Needless to say, many of the comments included in our STF proposal are echoes of specific comments made during these lunches.

Thanks for considering this proposal: I hope you'll find it consistent with the goals of the STF and that you'll be able to fund it. And thanks, separately, for your dedicated work in administering the student technology fee in general.

David Notkin Chair,

Computer Science and Engineering

Student Endorsement

We currently have a very small number of Linux machines in our student labs – the vast majority of stations are Windows-based. A chart of usage in our student labs over the past five quarters (see http://www.cs.washington.edu/LabUsage2005.pdf) indicates that students are voting with their feet, and we need to add more Linux stations to meet the student demand. We are requesting 35 stations for our Linux Lab, which may not be sufficient to meet the demand, but we are a little worried about the impact on classwork, since CSE courses – which tend to be more Windows-based – also use these labs, so are playing this somewhat conservatively.

Items

Below are the items making up the current proposal. The asterisk (*) beside items signify that they were approved by the committee. This however was not implemented correctly for our database before 2005, so earlier years may not show this.

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