Installation

Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -
Number of replies: 27

I'm not familiar with using code or with computer programming. However, I'm willing to learn. I'm working on becoming a math teacher. I'm in a Master of Education program right now. I taught math at a high school for only one semester. Recently, I did research on how to become a more effective math teacher and I found research about WeBWorK. It would nice if I do not have to get a computer science degree to learn how to use WeBWorK. I currently have a personal laptop that I work on.

My goal is to learn how to use WeBWorK and eventually use it to teach a math class. I've completed all the math classes for a level 4 math endorsement, but I don't have much computer programming experience although I'm willing to learn. There seems to be so many different things to install to start using WeBWorK that I have no idea how to download WeBWorK and start learning how to use it. Do you have any suggestions on how a beginner like me should get started? Is there any WeBWorK books for a beginner?

I would appreciate any help. Thank you.

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by George Jennings -
Dear Dallin,

Someone who is an expert on this question probably will reply soon but until they do here are a few thoughts.

1.  Teachers don't need to know anything about programming or computer science to use WeBWorK.

2.  However, people who install WeBWorK on servers do need to be somewhat familiar with linux or unix-type operating systems and they need to know something about connecting servers to the internet.

3.  Fortunately there are ways to run webwork without installing it on a server yourself. 

a. You can pop a DVD that contains a running version of webwork into your pc laptop, reboot, and run webwork directly from the DVD.  (This works for pcs but I don't know if it works for Macs).  See 

http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Installing_from_WW2.4.9_Ubuntu10.04.2LTS_Vanilla_LiveDVD

Follow the instructions for downloading it, burn it to a DVD, then follow the instructions under the heading "Running directly from the Live DVD without installing".  (Don't follow the instructions under the heading "Install WeBWorK from the WeBWorK Live DVD" unless you are willing to make large changes in your pc!!)

If something seems mysterious or doesn't work reply to this forum and describe what went wrong.Someone will help you. 

b. If you want to try out webwork with a class you can request that the MAA host your class for free on their webwork server.  You can find out about that here:

http://webwork.maa.org/getwebwork.html

See the heading "Requesting limited free hosting from the MAA".   

It is also possible to have the MAA host your WeBWorK site permanently for a small fee.

c. Ask around in your school or district and see if there is anyone who knows about linux or unix-type operating systems and web servers who can help you set one up.  If you want your school to set up a WeBWorK server on their network then you'll need to work with your IT people.  Fortunately no special equipment is required for a small installation.  I used to run our installation on an old discarded desktop pc that I saved from the trash.  It worked fine for hosting five or six classes.  

This all begs the question: what does an instructor do with WeBWorK once it's set up?  Fire it up, create a class, add some homework problems (there are over 25,000 in the database) and play around to see how it works.  Don't worry about breaking it, it's very robust.  There are some hints for getting started here

http://webwork.maa.org/documentation.html

I like "A day in the live of a WeBWorK instructor." 

George

In reply to George Jennings

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -

George,

I appreciate your input. I'm going to look more into it. I'll have to let you know how it goes. If I have trouble, then I'll have to let you know. I do work on a pc laptop. You mentioned that I need to know linux or unix as well as connecting servers to the internet. Do you have any recommendations on books I could buy to learn all this?

I don't currently teach a math class right now, but I plan on doing so eventually. I'm working on my masters right now.

My goal right now is to experiment with WeBWorK. I would like to become familiar with designing a math course as an instructor using WeBWorK. I would like to make 2 or 3 fake students and log into the fake students as if I were one of the students and try out the homework. I would like to learn how to find homework sets and create my homework sets. I would also like to learn how to randomize homework sets that I've created. I think it's important that I learn how create my own homeworks sets just in case I can't find problems I'm looking for in the database. As well, I may design a math problem that hasn't been created before. I would like to learn how to imput graphics that I create as well. It would be helpful if I could imput graphics that I create in Microsoft Word.

Thanks again,

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by George Jennings -
Dallin,

If you are using a webwork system that someone else has installed then you can do all the webwork experiments that you mentioned on that system: creating fake students, creating homework problems, randomizing them, adding graphics, etc.   

However if you want to install linux and webwork on your own computer then I recommend ubuntu linux, which you can read about and download (free) here

http://www.ubuntu.com

Ubuntu is a good choice because it has a modern graphical user interface that makes it work a lot like Windows.  It is easy to install.  It is possible to install it alongside your working version of Windows so you can boot into either operating system but that requires repartitioning your hard drive.  This isn't hard but it has to be done right or you will lose all the data on your computer so I don't recommend installing linux on your laptop unless you know about repartitioning or can get help from someone who does.  If you do repartition your laptop be sure to back up all your data before you repartition, just in case. 

To avoid repartitioning your laptop you could get an old junk pc and install linux on that.  Then you won't have to worry about screwing something up and losing data.  

When I started using linux about thirteen years ago I relied a lot on the book "A Practical Guide to Linux" by Mark Sobell, Addison-Wesley 1997.  It's an excellent book and I still use it.  He has an updated version called "A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux".  I haven't looked at that one but I'll bet it's good. 

Connecting a webserver to the internet is also easy; you need a webserver software and you need an IP address.  Webwork uses the apache2 webserver, which you can download from the ubuntu software repository once you have installed ubuntu linux.  To obtain an IP address you have to contact your school's IT people or your own internet service provider.  

Installing and configuring webwork is less easy, mainly because there are many steps.  There are detailed instructions at for installing webwork on ubuntu linux here:

http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Installation_Manual_for_2.4

scroll about halfway down the page to find them.

Most people don't write their own webwork problems but if you find you need to there are some instructions here:

http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Category:Authors

They advise starting with a small project, like making small changes to an existing webwork problem.  Writing problems is a bit complicated because there are several different computer linguages involved.  The algorithms in the problem are written in the Perl language but mathematical typesetting is done in LaTeX because LaTeX is excellent for displaying math formulas, and WeBWorK has its own pg language with math objects which enlarges perl by adding many webwork-specific commands.  

There are many books on perl but I don't think anybody has written a book on how to write webwork problems.  There are a few links to articles on the above webpage. There also is a long liet of "problem templates" that you can modify to fit your purposes.  (See the ...Authors page mantioned above. Figuring all this out is somewhat time comsuming and a little frustrating, but it's doable. 
 
Webwork can display graphics.  It doesn't matter how you created the graphics, only the form that they are in matters so if you use Microsoft Word for creating graphics that ought to be OK, you just have to save them in the right form.  Problem templates that are devoted to graphics show how to include graphics in a webwork problem.

George 
In reply to George Jennings

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -
George,

I figured out how to run webwork from your instructions about "Running directly from the Live DVD without installing". It took me a little while to figure out how to boot from a dvd since I had never done that before, but I figured it out. I went to myTestCourse and logged in as user "jsmith" with password "jsmith". Doing so gave me the idea of what it would be like to be a student logging in and doing homework problems.

Now that I'm at this point, I'm trying to figure what I should do next. I suppose I need to figure out how to create my own username and password as an instructor and create 3 fake student usernames and passwords. Then, I think I need to learn how to find and create homework sets. As well, I think I should order the book "A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux" that you mentioned. Should I order a Perl book as well? Or, do I you think I should wait on that? Also, do you think I would need to purchase a LaTex book?

At this point, do I need to install ubuntu linux on my computer or can I install linux on the same DVD that I put webwork on and run linux and webwork off the DVD? If I do install linux on my computer, you mentioned repartitioning my labtop. Is there a difference between repartitioning and partitioning your hard drive? I was trying to learn how to do this by watching some youtube videos: "How to Re-Partition a Hard Drive" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5rl-5iIwN4 and "How To Partition A Hard Drive" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTAvuGeLuUM&feature=related. I did learn about right clicking on computer, going to manage, then storage, then disk management. Then from what I understood, I would need to create another drive out of the C drive and call it say "F" and use the F drive to put linux on it. How big would the F drive need to be? Am I on the right track?

I do have an old laptop that is kind of slow and I was thinking of experimenting on that so that I don't lose any information on my laptop.

You also mentioned that I need to obtain an IP address from my school's IT people or my own internet service provider. For right now, I would like to obtain a IP address from my own internet service provider. Later on, I will probably want to get it from my school's IT people. In order to obtain an IP address from my own internet service provider, do I need to give them a call or email them or is the IP address on my computer somewhere?

As for writing webwork problems, I'll have to look into that once I get to that point. I look forward to learning how to do that.

But, for now, are these the next logical steps I should take?

Thanks,

Dallin

In reply to George Jennings

Installing WeBWorK on Ubuntu 12.10?

by Dallin Stephens -
I installed Ubuntu 12.10 on my computer from http://www.ubuntu.com. Then I followed some directions I found to install Apache2. Hopefully, I did it right. At the terminal prompt on Ubuntu, I entered the following command:

  • sudo apt-get install apache2

Now I'm trying to install WeBWorK on my computer, but I'm having problems. I went to http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Installation_Manual_for_2.4 and went to the heading called "Installing the WeBWorK files". I followed the directions all the way down to "New installation from CVS". For Released version with patches I got this message:

dallins@ubuntu:~$ cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@cvs.webwork.rochester.edu:/webwork/cvs/system checkout -r rel-2-4-patches webwork2 pg
cvs [checkout aborted]: connect to cvs.webwork.rochester.edu(128.151.231.10):2401 failed: Connection timed out

What should I do so that I can continue in installing WeBWorK on my computer? Also, it says "After checkout finishes, become root..." What does "become root" mean?

Once I get WeBWorK installed on my computer, how do I set myself up as an instructor in WeBWorK so that I can add some fake students to fool around with?

Also, what do I do with the IP address? I'm wanting to use my own IP address from my internet service provider. I'm also wondering if I obtained the IP address in the correct manner. I went to google.com and typed this: What is my IP address? Google brought this up: Your public IP address is 67.2.244.45.

Should I use that IP address or do I need to obtain an IP address from my internet provider by calling them? And does it cost to get an IP address from my internet provider? Do I need a static IP address?

I would appreciate anybody who would respond.

Thanks,

Dallin
In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Installing WeBWorK on Ubuntu 12.10?

by Arnold Pizer -
Hi Dallin,

There are complete installation instructions at http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Installation_Manual_for_2.5_on_Ubuntu_12.04.

But in your case, it would be much easier to use the WeBWorK Live DVD (see the link on the above site for instructions, etc) or use the Consultants Live DVD:

The consultant DVD contains many courses already set up.  IP addresses, etc are already set up. In your case you almost  certainly want to use "localhost".

Arnie
In reply to Arnold Pizer

Re: Installing WeBWorK on Ubuntu 12.10?

by Dallin Stephens -
Summary of My Experience Installing WeBWorK with Ubuntu Linux:

I thought I should include a summary of my experience so far so that it might help others who may want to install WeBWorK with Ubuntu Linux. In the post, I do not pose any questions. This is just a summary of my experience. My computer is a HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx laptop. I first started by installing the iso file located below in Windows 7.
  • Rochester
  1. http://hosted2.webwork.rochester.edu/ww-downloads/WW2.4.9_Ubuntu10.04.2LTS_64bit_Vanilla_LiveDVD.iso.md5
  2. http://hosted2.webwork.rochester.edu/ww-downloads/WW2.4.9_Ubuntu10.04.2LTS_64bit_Vanilla_LiveDVD.iso

(***Note: I don't recommend downloading (the above) WeBWorK 2.4.9 with Ubuntu 10.04. I'll explain below. I recommend downloading WeBWorK 2.5 with Ubuntu 12.04. The iso file for WeBWorK 2.5 with Ubuntu 12.04 is listed below:

  • Rochester
  1. http://hosted2.webwork.rochester.edu/ww-downloads/WW2.5_Ubun12.04_Consultant.iso.md5
  2. http://hosted2.webwork.rochester.edu/ww-downloads/WW2.5_Ubun12.04_Consultant.iso

***)

Then I burned the iso to a DVD. Then I had to figure out how to boot my computer from the DVD. When I first started my computer I had to press esc (escape) to enter a menu where I could choose to boot from the DVD.

After I boot my computer from the DVD, Ubuntu 10.04 started. I could choose to run WeBWorK with Ubuntu from the DVD. I played around with that for a while. However, I wanted to install WeBWorK with Ubuntu so that I could eventually teach a math class using WeBWorK.

I went ahead with the process to install WeBWorK with Ubuntu 10.04 from the DVD. I came to the conclusion that I had to figure out how to re-partition my computer so that I could have both Windows 7 and Ubuntu on my computer. I looked up on youtube how to re-partition. I had a very vague idea about re-partitioning. When I was in the process of installing WeBWorK with Ubuntu from the DVD, I had three options to choose from : (a) install alongside Windows 7, (b) install Ubuntu and lose Windows 7, or (c) install by re-partitioning. I should have chosen "a" but I chose "c". I deleted all of the partitions and created new ones. I should have not deleted the partitions that showed up; I thought deleting them would be fine, but I lost Windows 7. Luckily, I had followed the advice in this forum section to back up all my personal files. However, I did not know how to back up Windows 7 so I lost Windows 7.

Anyway, I lost Windows 7 and spent over a day trying to figure out how to get it back. I ended up going to pcworld to download the Windows 7 64-bit iso: http://www.pcworld.com/article/248995/how_to_install_windows_7_without_the_disc.html

2. Download the ISO file for the version of Windows 7 you own:

I had to download the iso and then burn it onto a DVD. Then I had to boot my computer from the DVD. The DVD started loading the installation part for Windows 7. However, I couldn't install Windows 7 at that time because I had to have a NTSF partition. So, I went into Ubuntu and downloaded GParted so that I could create a NTSF partition in order to install Windows 7. In order for Ubuntu to connect to the internet, I had to have an ethernet cable plugged into my computer from a modem.

I was able to create a NTSF partition and install Windows 7 after entering a product key located on the bottom of my laptop. You will not be able to install Windows 7 without a product key. After I installed Windows 7, I had problems connecting Windows 7 to the internet. I found out I had to get the appropriate drivers. I had to right click on Control Panel and then search for Device Manager. Device Manager showed the drivers I was missing. I had to go to the HP site online and download the network drivers. I also lost Microsoft Office so I had to reinstall that again. Luckily I still had the product key, on a card I had bought, to put Microsoft Office back on my computer.

As for Ubuntu 10.04, I could connect to the internet using an ethernet cord but I could not connect to the internet wirelessly with my wireless modem. I wanted to connect to the internet without having to have the ethernet cord plugged in all the time. I clicked on hardware drivers and it said that I do not have any proprietary drivers in use. So, I tried to figure out how to get some proprietary drivers on my computer so I could connect to the internet wirelessly. I researched a lot of ways, but I could not figure it out. So, I thought that maybe clicking on update manager and updating the files may help me get proprietary drivers installed. However, that did not work. So, I thought I should upgrade Ubuntu 10.04 to Ubuntu 12.04 using update manager. I ended up doing that. With Ubuntu upgraded to 12.04, I had no problems connecting to the internet wirelessly. However, it messed up my WeBWorK files. For example on the website,

http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Installing_from_WW2.4.9_Ubuntu10.04.2LTS_Vanilla_LiveDVD#.ULBiaVTfu8Y

where it says "3. Open Firefox and access the URL: http://localhost/webwork2", I could not access localhost. So, I then knew that upgrading Ubuntu 10.04 to 12.04 messed up the WeBWorK files.

At that point, I decided it would be best to download and install WeBWorK 2.5 with Ubuntu 12.04. I had to download the iso file below and burn it to a DVD.

  • Rochester
  1. http://hosted2.webwork.rochester.edu/ww-downloads/WW2.5_Ubun12.04_Consultant.iso.md5
  2. http://hosted2.webwork.rochester.edu/ww-downloads/WW2.5_Ubun12.04_Consultant.iso

Then I had to boot from the DVD and install it. While installing it I had to choose the top option, option "a". It said (a) install Ubuntu (It says you will lose all files on Ubuntu (my previous Ubuntu). This is the option to install Ubuntu alongside with Windows 7), (b) install Ubuntu and lose Windows 7, or (c) install by re-partitioning. You can still install by choosing option "c", but make sure not to delete the partitions that show up. I still recommend option "a" over option "c". If you chose option "c" and re-partition wrong, you could lose windows 7. Some of the partitions that show up are for Windows 7, but it doesn't say that. I had no idea at the time which partitions were for Windows 7. They were sda this and sda that.

Now Windows 7 and WeBWorK 2.5 with Ubuntu 12.04 are both on my computer. Both operating systems are able to connect wirelessly to the internet with no problem.

I did not like the boot menu where I could select Windows 7 or Ubuntu 12.04 to boot into. So, I researched ways on the internet to change the boot menu. I downloaded a program called Grub Customizer. I was able to use Grub Customizer. To download and install Grub Customizer, do the following:

Open the terminal (control-alt-T) and run the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

After I used Grub Customizer to get the boot menu to look the way I wanted, I wanted to have my desktop background (wallpaper) automatically change on a time interval. This is basically a slide show where I can select how much time will pass before the desktop picture changes to another picture. The program I found to do this is Pictoric.

To install Pictoric, open the terminal and enter the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glacier-apps/pictoric
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pictoric

With Pictoric, I was able to create the slide show for my destop background. Now, I feel ready to start learning how to use WeBWorK. I'll post some questions I have in my next post. This post is just my summary of my experience.

Hopefully it will help someone.

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Creating My Own Server from My Personal Laptop?

by Dallin Stephens -
Now that I'm at this point, I want to figure out to create my own server on my laptop computer. I want to be able to set up my own server so that my future students will be able to access it. I may later have the server through my school, but for now I want to learn how to do it from my own computer.

My main question is to create my own server. Here are my questions:

1. How do I create my own server? Now that I've installed WeBWorK 2.5 with Ubuntu 12.04, what do I do? Should I go to the website http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Installation_Manual_for_2.5_on_Ubuntu_12.04#.ULB5aFTfu8Y and follow the directions there? If so, where on that page should I start?

I want to be able to use another computer elsewhere to see if I can connect to my server. Would using another computer at my house suffice to check if it is working? I want to feel confident that if I used a computer anywhere in the world, I would be able to connect to my server; that would mean that students could connect to my server.

2. How do I create 3 separate math sections or classes?

3. How do I create 2 fake students for each of the 3 separate math sections?

4. In the Ubuntu terminal, what is the command to list all of the commands? I just want the name of all the commands. I can use the command "man" to learn how the commands.

5. For the National WeBWorK Problem Library, are the problems organized in such a way that I could easily find the type of math problem I'm looking for? I may be using a certain math textbook to teach a class. How do I easily find similar problems? For example, let's say that I wanted to find a problem that resembles the form (x+2) ^2 = 2x^2 + 3x + 2 where you solve for x. My concern is that I may want to teach from a certain textbook, but it takes a long time to find all of the math problems that closely resemble the section in the math textbook I am using.

6. Do you have any recommendations of what I should do next so that I can best be ready to teach a math class using WeBWorK? I do know that it's a good idea to get in touch with instructors in my area that use WeBWorK. I plan on doing that eventually. But, for now I would like to learn more so that when I do talk to instructors that have used WeBWorK I have some idea of what I'm talking about.

Thanks,

Dallin
In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Creating My Own Server from My Personal Laptop?

by Hedley Pinsent -
Comments are attached.
Regards.
hp
In reply to Hedley Pinsent

IP address

by Dallin Stephens -
hp,

I found my IP address by following your attachment. I typed
<my IP address>/webwork2 and it worked on my current laptop. Then I got on my old laptop and typed <my IP address>/webwork2 and it worked on there as well. When I typed localhost/webwork2 it worked on my current laptop but
not my old laptop.

For the router address, it asked for authorization. I did not have the user name or password to access that.

So, would students or anybody be able to access my site by using
<my IP address>/webwork2 ? I typed in your IP address
http://192.168.1.101/webwork2 to see if it would access yours. The address http://192.168.1.101/webwork2 from my computer could not access you site.

How do I know if students would be able to access my site or not? I think you mentioned that 192.168.1.101 was your local IP address. Does that mean only people local to you could access http://192.168.1.101/webwork2 ? Would I need a public IP address?

When I go to google and type "what is my IP address", it tells me my public IP address. But, when I type
<my public IP address>/webwork2 it requires authorization. I have to enter a user name and password which I do not have. Do I need to get the user name and password from my internet provider? Or, will my local IP address suffice?

I noticed that the public IP address provided to me by Google did match any of my IP addresses such as IP address (local I think), Router address, or Broadcast address.

Thanks for the information you've been providing me.

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: IP address

by Dallin Stephens -

I noticed another thing. The site <my IP address>/webwork2 worked on my old laptop when my current laptop was running Ubuntu. However, when I boot into Windows 7 the site <my IP address>/webwork2 did not work on my old laptop. As well, when I typed in <my IP address>/webwork2 in Windows 7 on my current computer, it did not work either. But, when I boot back into Ubuntu <my IP address>/webwork2 it did work again.

Does that mean I would have to have my computer on all the time (in Ubuntu) in order for students to access my server?

Thanks,

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: IP address

by Hedley Pinsent -
I found my IP address by following your attachment. I typed
<my IP address>/webwork2 and it worked on my current laptop. Then I got on my old laptop and typed <my IP address>/webwork2 and it worked on there as well. When I typed localhost/webwork2 it worked on my current laptop but
not my old laptop.

-------------
Sounds like you have the server on your new laptop, but not your old.
It seems though it is working as a server.
-------------


I noticed another thing. The site <my IP address>/webwork2 worked on my old laptop when my current laptop was running Ubuntu. However, when I boot into Windows 7 the site <my IP address>/webwork2 did not work on my old laptop. As well, when I typed in <my IP address>/webwork2 in Windows 7 on my current computer, it did not work either. But, when I boot back into Ubuntu <my IP address>/webwork2 it did work again.

Does that mean I would have to have my computer on all the time (in Ubuntu) in order for students to access my server?

--------------------
Although you have me a little bit confused, the answer is yes. Servers need to be plugged in and running all the time. You old computer seems a good candidate for a server, sure beats the garbage. How old is it?

Presently I am running my "production" server of a used "off-lease" dual-core IBM computer that I paid about $165 for. It stays plugged in and continuously runs the UBUNTU (webwork) server.
----------------------

How do I know if students would be able to access my site or not? I think you mentioned that 192.168.1.101 was your local IP address. Does that mean only people local to you could access http://192.168.1.101/webwork2 ? Would I need a public IP address?

----------------------
Everybody has a public IP address somewhere. What kind of service do you have? Did you buy the router yourself at a store. If so defaults are typically admin,nothing or admin,admin. Typing the brand name into google "D-Link","Airlink" etc may yield the defaults.

I've noticed that fiber offers a free router included. I suspect that this is two devices in the one box. The same ideas apply?

Don't reset the router too quickly (there is usually a recessed button for this somewhere). Routers contain usernames and passwords for services that you have purchased from your provider. Unless you have this information on hand (it would be a scramble to find mine) you will end up with no internet access. This would all be the sort of information your service provider provides when you purchase your service.
--------------------------

How do I know if students would be able to access my site or not? I think you mentioned that 192.168.1.101 was your local IP address. Does that mean only people local to you could access http://192.168.1.101/webwork2 ? Would I need a public IP address?

--------------------------
There are millions of little networks that use IP addresses (locally) of the form 192.168.xxx.xxx These addresses do not go beyond your front door. Students outside this very small network cannot get access to you.
--------------------------

When I go to google and type "what is my IP address", it tells me my public IP address. But, when I type
<my public IP address>/webwork2 it requires authorization. I have to enter a user name and password which I do not have. Do I need to get the user name and password from my internet provider? Or, will my local IP address suffice?

--------------------------
The question is: who or what is asking? Can it be your router??
The question on my mind is: How was your service set up?; are there other persons involved in that setup (passwords on the router, etc)?; are you part of some larger network??
--------------------------

Hope this helps.
hp


In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Installing WeBWorK on Ubuntu 12.10?

by Hedley Pinsent -
Firstly, this is the blind leading the blind; but as a revolt of the hopelessly lost here are my comments.

What I do is: start over and over until it works.

Now starting over is a trick in itself. When you installed the LINUX it asked you whether you wanted to replace windows or have it run alongside windows. You possibly said that you wanted to keep both. It then downsized your windows partition and created one or two partitions for LINUX (ubuntu). Partitions are where operating systems reside. When you reboot, "something??" asks you what you want to boot (windows or linux).

We have three things here, LINUX, WINDOWS and the something. The something is the "boot loader?" and it is important to note that it is neither Linux nor windows. However Microsoft's version of the boot loader got removed and ubuntu replaced it by a version of it called "GRUB"

To start over we should probably remove the LINUX partition(s). The household name for a partition editor is "partition magic" although I have never owned it because it costs money; that is not why we are here. The last thing I did to remove a partition was to run GPARTED from a KNOPPIX dvd; there are other alternatives.

Remove the partition; the unsettling thing that will happen is that the booting mechanism will also be removed and you will not be able to boot to anything. However, done properly (ie don't remove the wrong partitions) the windows is still there and will be accessible when Ubuntu then replaces GRUB on re-install.

Once you have the process of "starting over" down you can try lots of stuff. Installing webwork 2.5 with ubuntu 12.10 seems the best outcome. The live 2.4.9 on ubuntu 10.04 seems easier as you have an older machine [see my comments in a recent thread]. I even tried installing from the live usb, but gave up on it when I realized that nowhere in the documentation does it say that I can do that.

"root" means supervisor type in su and then it will prompt for your password; the prompt will change fro $ to #. I learned this from the webwork install documentation; at least here some effort is made to educate.

IP addresses: I too, found it confusing (am still confused). Installing on a laptop for private experimentation is a different agenda from installing for production. Maybe I told lies to get it going; a good lie is http://127.0.0.1 which points back to the same machine (your laptop)

If you start over with the 2.5 on ubuntu 12.04 (12.10 now) document use wwadmin for any username you create. Use a real (your) password as you may eventually want to service real students with it. However, as there are different passwords everywhere, use the same one everywhere.

I suspect that the machine will automatically service outside requests to the ethernet card and the issue will be setting up your router, etc.

Hope this helps

hp
In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Hedley Pinsent -
Dallin:

I created a course for you on my server; it is only just to look and experiment.

http://www.teabun.ca/webwork2/dallin/
username: dallin
password: dallin
Change the password before someone else does.

Don't add any real students: the server is running from my home with a DSL connection (limited bandwidth); additionally you would then be storing student information (there is a place for student passwords) with a stranger in another country.

Here is a link to an attachment (instructions, if you will) that I generated for a previous post.
http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/file.php/3/moddata/forum/3/5846/Documentation.pdf

I have (really) been at it for only a year; although I did a lot of programming in my mid-twenties.

regards
hp
In reply to Hedley Pinsent

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -

Hedley Pinsent,

Thanks for setting that up for me. I'll have to give it a try and let you know how it goes. In my reply to George, I referred to some of my goals with WeBWorK. My main goal is to learn WeBWorK really well before I jump in and teach with it. I want to feel confident and prevent any future problems that I may encounter. Plus, right now, I have the time to learn the system. I would like to buy the books necessary such as how to use Unix, etc.

Thanks again,

Dallin

In reply to Hedley Pinsent

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -

hp,

I logged in at http://www.teabun.ca/webwork2/dallin/ and looked around for a little while. I'm interested in learning how to edit homework problems to eventually create my own homework problems. What kind of computer programming do they use to create the homework sets? I don't know very much computer programming so I would like to either buy a book or find a website where I can learn the computer programming they use to create the homework problems. I want to be able to understand the code used.

Thanks,

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Michael Gage -
The underlying language is perl -- and there are many perl books -- but you don't need to know a lot of perl to write WW problems.  For the most part it is best to start by modifying (very slightly) existing problems and seeing what happens.

This tutorial, written by Paul Pearson, might help with perl background.

It's linked to from the author page which has other useful resources:

In reply to Michael Gage

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -

Mike,

Thanks for the resources. I'm looking over some of it now. I particular like the simple examples so I can get ideas on how they work. I'll have to start modifying existing problems.

Where do I go to try code out on simple examples? For example,

if ( 5 >= 6 ) {$a = 1;} else {$a = 2;}

I want to test this out to see if 2 is produced.

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Hedley Pinsent -
You realize, of course, there is nothing you can hurt on that "teabun" account; everything is a copy.

The problem outputs what is in the BEGIN_TEXT and END_TEXT

Find a problem and tear away everything that you don't want.

To output $a it would be
BEGIN_TEXT
$a
END_TEXT

Edit away; I will not know you are there

hp
In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Michael Gage -
There are a couple of institutions near you who have been using WeBWorK for a long time. (see http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/WeBWorK_Sites ) -- Call the math department there and ask to speak to someone who is in charge of WeBWorK.  They may be able to help you out getting started and they might even be interested in hosting courses.  Having someone looking over your shoulder during the first hour you are getting started building a course will save you some time. 

If you have trouble finding a contact write me (gage@math.rochester.edu) and I'll get you in touch with someone.

-- Mike

In reply to Michael Gage

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -

Mike,

WeBWorK is a great system. From what I understand, you helped create it. I think that's great. I learned about WeBWorK from doing some academic research as part of my masters degree. WeBWorK has a lot to offer instructors and students. By learning the system, I could set a math computer lab for my future classes.

Thanks for the input. I'll have to get in touch with someone that uses WeBWorK here in Utah. Perhaps some of them are at the University of Utah and Weber State University. If I have trouble locating someone, I'll have to let you.

Thanks again,

Dallin

In reply to Dallin Stephens

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Arnold Pizer -
Hi Dallin,

I don't know anyone at Weber State using WeBWorK, but the University of Utah is a major user and has been for many years.  You could contact Hsiang-Ping Huang (Ping) who is now in charge running WeBWorK there.  Her email is hphuang@math.utah.edu (see also http://www.math.utah.edu/~hphuang/).

You can tell her that I gave you her name.

Sincerely,

Arnie


In reply to Arnold Pizer

Re: Completely New to WeBWork: Need Help

by Dallin Stephens -

Arnie,

Thanks, I appreciate the information. I'll have to eventually get in touch with Hsiang-Ping Huang (Ping).

Dallin