In order to fully participate in RCS hands-on tutorial sessions either over Zoom or if you wish to use your own laptop during in-person sessions, students will want to install certain software packages in advance. In some cases, this will vary based on the operating system your machine is running; we will focus on Windows and Mac.

Using the SCC (free)🔗

For students of: “Introduction to BU’s Shared Computing Cluster”

There are two main methods to access and use the SCC. The first and much easier method is via your web browser using SCC OnDemand (documentation). The second is using a program called an SSH client and we have instructions on doing this for various operating systems. If you do not currently have an SCC account, you will not be able to log in to the SCC until the tutorial instructor provides you with instructions although you can also request a 3 month trial account now. If you are planning to use the SSH method of access, you should make sure you have the necessary software and know how to run it.

For Macintosh people using or planning to use the SSH method of connecting to the SCC, you may also want to consult our information on installing a file transfer program and enabling X Forwarding so that graphical programs on the SCC will work for you. For Windows people using MobaXTerm, both of these items are built-in to MobaXTerm so they don’t require doing anything special. SCC OnDemand also has built-in support for both of these things.

Accessing the SCC via SSH (free)🔗

For students of: “Introduction to Linux” and “Intermediate Usage of the SCC”

You need to have access to an SSH client to connect to the SCC. Mac and Linux have a built-in application, called ‘Terminal’ on the Mac and ‘ssh’ on Linux.

If you have a Windows machine, please install mobaXterm by following the steps below:

  1. Go to https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/download.html.
  2. Select Free Home Edition.
  3. On the next page select “Installer Edition”.
  4. Download the zip file.
  5. Important: Please unzip the content of the file before starting the installation process.
  6. Click on the installer file and follow the directions.

Installing MATLAB (free for BU people)🔗

Prior to the tutorial, please download and install MATLAB. License details are available. Detailed installation instructions are also available.

Installing Mathematica (free for BU people)🔗

Prior to the tutorial, please download and install Mathematica. BU people just need to go to
www.wolfram.com/siteinfo/ and enter their BU email.

Installing R and RStudio (free)🔗

All of the R tutorials will be using Rstudio as a graphical interface to the R programming language. Please install R and Rstudio in the following order:

R: https://cran.r-project.org/

Rstudio: https://rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/ (select Rstudio Desktop free version)

Installing Git (free)🔗

If you are taking one of our Git or GitHub tutorials, please install Git on your local computer before attending.

https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git

Getting SAS (there may be a cost)🔗

SAS is only available for Windows and is needed for the Hands-on portion of this tutorial. If you do not currently have it, you can purchase version 9.4. You can also email the instructor, Jack Chan of IS&T RCS (jack@bu.edu), to see if you may qualify to get it free from BUMC IT; do this at least a week in advance of the tutorial.

Installing SPSS (free for BU people)🔗

Prior to the tutorial, current BU students, faculty, and staff members should download and install SPSS for free.

Installing Python (free)🔗

Prior to the tutorial, download and install the Anaconda distribution of Python. Choose the 64-bit download that is associated with your Operating System of your local machine. This will install Python, numerous libraries, and the Spyder and Jupyter development environments that will be used in the Python tutorials. If you have previously installed Anaconda follow their instructions to update your software.

Installing ImageJ (free)🔗

Prior to the tutorial, please download and install Fiji, which includes ImageJ.

Installing QGIS (free)🔗

It is recommended to install the Long Term Version QGIS 3.34 as this is a stable version.   To make sure you download LTR version, please do the following:

  1. Go to the QGIS download page (https://qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html).
  2. Click on “Long Term Version…” for the operating system you are running locally to initiate the download.
  3. Initiate the install by running the downloaded file.