Tools and Setup¶
What the department and university give you, and where to learn the rest. Generic setup advice (editors, dotfiles, shell themes) is a search away; this page sticks to what's specific to being a UofA CS student.
Department Machines¶
Your CS account uses your CCID (CCIDs in Computing Science).
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Remote login for undergrads | ssh yourccid@ohaton.cs.ualberta.ca. The SSH page recommends it because it has extended-hours support. |
| What ohaton is for | It's the undergraduate gateway to the department (Ubuntu 20.04). Don't run long or CPU-heavy jobs on it. |
| Lab machines | Linux workstations in UCommons rooms 2030, 2070, 2086, 2130, 2140, 3130, and 3140, named like ucomm-2086-w05 (full list). |
| Copying files | scp is the department's preferred method for moving files to and from your CS account. |
If a course outline names a marking environment, test there before you submit, even if your laptop runs a similar OS.
VPN¶
The department's VPN page (vpn.ualberta.ca/cs, CCID plus Duo) is for the CS Intranet, shared drives, and printers, and is aimed at people with a direct relationship with the department such as faculty and grad students. The SSH page doesn't list it as a requirement for reaching ohaton.
Compute and GPUs¶
The department doesn't publish any GPU or cluster access for undergrads. If you need serious compute for research, ask your supervisor; see Getting into Research.
Free Software¶
| Offer | How to get it |
|---|---|
| GitHub Student Developer Pack | Verify with your UofA email. As of October 2026 it includes Copilot Student, GitHub Pro, Codespaces at Pro level, $100 Azure credit, $50 MongoDB Atlas credit, a free .me domain from Namecheap for a year, and Heroku credit. |
| JetBrains IDEs | Free with a student email, renewed yearly (also listed in the GitHub pack). |
| Microsoft 365 | Free Office apps for UofA students through the university's OnTheHub store. |
| Microsoft developer software | The department's software page lists Visual Studio and other Microsoft dev tools for students in a CMPUT course, also through OnTheHub. |
If you're on Windows, install WSL so you have the same Unix tools as the lab machines. Several courses assume Linux: 274 is developed on Linux, 201 uses the Unix toolchain, and 404's marking environment is Ubuntu.
Learning Git and the Terminal¶
201 introduces the Unix toolchain and 301 uses revision control, but you'll want more fluency than either gives you. Pick one from each line:
- Terminal and tooling: The Missing Semester of Your CS Education (MIT)
- Git, interactively: Learn Git Branching
- Git, in depth: Pro Git (free book)
For what the courses do and don't cover, see the Curriculum Map.
Last verified: October 2026.