MY QUESTION:
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To: consult@acsu.buffalo.edu, cse-consult@cse.Buffalo.EDU
From: William J. Rapaport <rapaport@cse.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 13:41:16 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Using UBFS or Web Folders (or /projects ?) for CSE 111  (*NR*)

My students in CSE 111 will be using the Karel the Robot
software installed on the Public Site computers.

They will need to be able to save and read files.

I used to tell them to use a floppy disk or else to use UBFS.

1.  Can they still use floppies?  (I.e., do the public
    site computers have floppy drives, or has that
    archaic technology been replaced by something
    fancier and more expensive? :-)

2.  I went to the old UBFS homepage and was redirected
    to a newer page that has two properties:

	a)  it starts by telling you that UBFS is being
	    discontinued.
	b)  then it goes on to tell you how to use it
	    in the most complicated way possible.

    My question:  Should I continue to tell my students
    this semester to use UBFS?  If so, is there a
    *simpler* set of instructions I can give them?
    All they'll need is to know how to save files to their UBFS
    directory and how to read saved files back into
    the Karel software.

3.  Or should they be using Web Folders instead?  

Thanks.

-Bill Rapaport
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William J. Rapaport
Associate Professor of Computer Science/Adjunct Professor of Philosophy
Member, Center for Cognitive Science
Associate Director, SNePS Research Group (SNeRG)

201 Bell Hall (office: 214 Bell)        | 716-645-3180 x 112
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering | fax:  716-645-3464
University at Buffalo (SUNY)            | rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu
Buffalo, NY 14260-2000                  |
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THEIR ANSWER:
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Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 12:58:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: Help Desk Consultant <consult@acsu.buffalo.edu
To: "William J. Rapaport" <rapaport@cse.Buffalo.EDU
Subject: Re: Using UBFS or Web Folders (or /projects ?) for CSE 111  (*NR*)

Dr. Rapaport,

All the computers in the public sites still have floppy drives.  We recommend,
however, using UBFS over floppy disks which are very unreliable.  Students can
access their UBFS space at any public computer using UBFSHome. UBFSHome is a
program that maps their UBFS space to an S: drive on the computer they are
using.  It can be started from any public computer by clicking on the UBFS
icon in the quicklaunch bar or in the Start menu.  Once they log into
UBFSHome, a new drive called Ubfshome (S:) will be created.  Anything they
save to that drive will be available to them whenever they access their S:
drive.  Students can also use USB storage devices, re-writable CDs and Zip
disks to store data.  To access their UBFS space from home, they can use
UBFSHome, Filezilla (FTP), Webfolders, or SSH (secure file transfer).  There
are directions for downloading and installing each program on our website and
if any of your students have difficulty following them, they can always call
the helpdesk or stop by for hands-on instructions.

The message you read about UBFS being discontinued was regarding the UBFSHome
program.  We are trying to migrate to Webfolders, since it is better
integrated into Windows, and requires no special software to be installed.

I hope this answers your question fully, but if it does not, or if you have
any other questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

-Marc

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