PLNT2530 PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY   

Assignment 1 - January 15, 2024

This assignment is worth 5% of the course grade.

Due by 11:59 pm, Wednesday January 24.



This assignment serves to document the completion of all Introduction to Linux tutorials, as well as to show your proficiency with some fundamental desktop tasks.

1. (2 points) Create a folder for Assignment 1

Using the File Manager, create a directory (ie. folder) called PLNT2530. Inside that directory, create a sub-directory called as1, to hold materials associated with Assignment 1. Save all files in your PLNT2530/as1 directory.

To make it easier to write your report, you can download template files in LibreOffice or MS-Word format. These documents contain dummy data to be replaced with your own data. For reference, a  PDF file is also available. This file should also be saved in your PLNT2530/as1 directory.

2. (3 points) Verify settings

In a terminal window, type the following three commands, one after the other:

echo $birch
echo $SHELL
echo $PATH
ls -l

Take a screenshot of this window, showing output from all of these commands. If necessary, you may make the window taller to show all the output. Save the screenshot in a file. Click here for more information on how to capture screenshots.

3. (10 points) Verify setup of the Xfce desktop

This section will document the completion of the setup tasks from The Xfce Desktop tutorial.

Open your Firefox browser to the Plant Biotechnology Home page (https://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~frist/PLNT2530/). Because we will work extensively from this website throughout the course, make sure to Bookmark this page. Resize the browser so that it does not take up the entire screen. In particular, leave some space on the left edge of the screen so that the launchers on the desktop, labeled Computer, Home, BIRCH and Trash are visible.

Next, open your file manager to your PLNT2530/as1 directory. Make sure to show the List View, rather than the Icon View.  At this point, your File Manager should show the contents of your as1 directory. Resize the File Manager so that you can show Firefox and the File Manager. They can either be side by side, or cascaded as shown in the PDF template file. Take a screenshot of the entire screen and save it in a file. Make sure to give this file a different name than your terminal screenshot file.

4. (5 points) Create a document to show your results

You may write the report on the Linux using LibreOffice Writer, found in the Applications --> Office menu. Alternatively, you can install the Filezilla client on your own computer and download your files from your Linux account, to write the report there.

The report should include the following:
Export your report to a PDF file. See the PDF template file for an idea of what your report should look like. (It is usually good practice, when sending a file to someone else, to send a PDF, rather than the word processor file. PDF files should always look the same, regardless of the program or computer used to create them. Word processing files opened up on different computers often have different fonts or placement of graphics.)

Submitting your assignment

Your PDF file is due on by 11:59 pm, Wednesday, January 24 on the PLNT2530 UMLearn Dropbox site in the Assignment 1 folder. Files in word processing formats (.doc, .docx, .rtf, .odt) are not acceptable.


Notes: If you have questions, it may help to send me a message at frist@cc.umanitoba.ca.