That depends on where you are coming from and how much time and effort you have invested.

• Coming from a Windows environment -- an easy transition to Windows Server 2003
  • The interface on the login machines will look familiar
  • Can customize this interface to look like your home machine
  • Better debugging environment

  If you are already working in a Windows environment, it will be an easy transition to Windows Server 2003. The interface on the login machines (e.g. winlogin1) will be similar to your home machine. You can customize your desktop on each of the login machines just as you have on your home machine. You may have more compiler choices and a better debugging environment, especially within Microsoft Visual Studio, so you should explore these options.

• Coming from Unix but you don't mind working in Windows
  • Access to Unix utilities and Windows command equivalents from the command line and GUI alternatives
  • Makefiles can be translated to Perl scripts, which work with both Unix and Windows

  If you have been using a flavor of Unix, the situation is more complicated. Now the direction you choose depends on how much you are wedded to the Unix environment and how much you have invested in complicated makefiles. If you are indifferent to the operating system, you can make use of both Unix and Windows. You will still have access to most of your favorite Unix utilities and you also have the option of using the Windows command equivalents from the command line. In addition you have the GUI alternatives that Windows provides. If you know Perl, you can translate your makefiles to Perl scripts, which have the added advantage of working in both Unix and Windows.

• Working in Unix and you want to stay there, on a Windows machine
  • Possible to remain within a Unix like environment by using Cygwin (covered in the module Unix-like Interface).
  • It looks like Unix, acts like Unix (mostly), but it isn't really Unix

  It is possible to remain within a Unix like environment (covered in the module UNIX-like Interface), but there are some drawbacks. The environment looks like Unix, acts like Unix (mostly), but it isn't really Unix. When problems arise with your projects, there will be another layer to examine for errors. But if your investment in Unix is high, this is a viable alternative.

• Working in Unix and you want to stay there, on a Linux machine
  • Login to one of the Linux Login machines, linuxlogin1 or linuxlogin2.

  Login to one of the Linux Login machines, linuxlogin1 or linuxlogin2.

Most commands have command line and GUI equivalents, and you can combine these two approaches in the way that works best for you. For example, copying files can be accomplished by dragging and dropping or by using copy or cp on the command line. There are exceptions. The Velocity Scheduler (vsched) commands and some of the compilers are only available on the command line. The extensive debugging suite in Microsoft Visual Studio can only be accessed via the GUI.

Once you have decided on the operating environment, you will need to compile your code and submit your job to the cluster. These are discussed in detail in other modules.